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Rural hospitals around the country have struggled to stay afloat; at least 80 have shut down since 2010. Thirteen of those closures occurred in Texas, the most of any state, according to the data from the North Carolina Rural Health Research Program. But Childress Regional, which has just 39 beds, is a case study in success. It’s solvent. It’s expanding its services. And in an era when medical care seems increasingly fragmented — with high-tech diagnostics and high-priced specialists called in for every ailment — it’s a reminder that the old-fashioned way can work, too. (Huff, 1/4)

Even patients who read and speak English fluently face challenges navigating the increasingly Byzantine health care system. But patients who are less well-equipped, whether because of poverty, education level, or cultural barriers, are at a particular disadvantage when it comes to getting the health care they need. For these patients, seemingly small concerns, such as how and when to make a doctor’s appointment or how to get to the clinic, play an outsize role in their care. For instance, women without the skills to understand and process essential health information — a capacity known as health literacy — are twice as likely to have never received a Pap test and are 50 percent less likely to have had a mammogram in the past two years compared to those with better health literacy. (Bond, 1/4)

The acquisition of Washington’s historic Group Health Cooperative by California-based Kaiser Permanente moved a key step closer to completion Tuesday. State regulators endorsed the deal at a hearing before Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler, who has final say on the proposal. Kreidler is expected to issue his decision by the end of the month. Accountants, lawyers and other experts with the Office of Insurance Commissioner began reviewing the deal early last year. (Young, 1/3)

Wentworth-Douglass Hospital was officially acquired by Massachusetts General Hospital on Jan. 1. Officials at the hospital announced their plans to merge in April of last year. In November, the director of the Attorney General’s Office of Charitable Trusts concluded the proposed deal included sufficient protections for the charitable purposes and assets of Dover’s hospital — but made full approval of the merger conditional on the addition of eight full-time behavioral health staff to provide mental health and substance abuse services, and the creation of a new system for the collection and reporting of data over time so the AG’s office can track access to WDH. The hospitals also had to promise to keep up their levels of community benefit spending. (Haas, 1/3)

In its first new market expansion in Northern California in more than two decades, Kaiser Permanente on Tuesday opened three new medical offices to serve its 5,800 current members who live in Santa Cruz County. (Seipel, 1/3)

Providers keen to attract millennial patients should make sure to impress them the first time around or risk losing them to another provider, according to a recent study. Millennials are paying close attention to office appearance, cost, customer service and the quality of products used during a visit, according to a recent survey conducted by the Health Industry Distributors Association. The insights on millennials follow a wider survey HIDA released last year on the impact medical products have on patient satisfaction. (Rubenfire, 1/3)