Emergency department volume at Sturgis Hospital fell 13 percent after it converted to a federal model Congress created specifically to keep rural emergency rooms open, according to state-level data cited by the Michigan Health & Hospital Association.
The century-old hospital closed anyway in June, leaving the roughly 11,000 residents of Sturgis without a local emergency department. It is the only rural US hospital to close completely this year, and it had been Michigan's first designated Rural Emergency Hospital when it converted three years ago.
