The Rural Emergency Hospital program guarantees hospitals extra cash if they provide emergency and outpatient services but end inpatient care, although just 18 out of 1,700 eligible hospitals have won the new designation.

The retailer has partnered with mobile medical services company DocGo to deploy mobile clinics catering to those who want urgent or primary care and takes private insurance as well as Medicaid and Medicare.

Over half of Medicare enrollees are now enrolled in Medicare Advantage, however, the plans have become dubious payers for many large and small hospitals, which report the insurers are often slow to pay or don't pay.

Democrats have not coalesced around any one plan as they seek to push through Congress a massive spending bill.

The announcement comes in response to Trump's executive order last month calling for improved rural health and telehealth access.

As COVID-19 continues to spread, an increasing number of rural communities find themselves without their hospital.

When financial incentives like copay coupons and debit cards won't work, pharmaceutical companies sometimes will write a check.

The patenting of a small change in an existing drug is part of a tried-and-true strategy of enveloping products with a series of protective patents.