Built to Withstand the Shift: Medical Credentialing and Provider Enrollment in the Age of Closures

Healthcare organizations are absorbing shock after shock

Healthcare organizations are facing enormous operational pressures. Since 2010, more than 140 rural hospitals have closed across the U.S., with hundreds more at risk. These closures reflect a broader systemic instability—a result of mounting operational complexity outpacing the capacity of legacy infrastructure and strained financial models.

Hospital closures are rarely isolated events. When hospitals shut down, the burden shifts rather than disappears.

The ripple effects of hospital closures

When a health system closes, patients feel the impact first — longer travel times, disrupted continuity of care, and the challenge of re-establishing trusted provider relationships — but that burden doesn’t stop there. It quickly extends to the front-line operational teams who must absorb the surge, reallocate resources, and maintain quality of care under mounting pressure.

At the same time, financial resilience is under intense stress. Margins are shrinking, payer mixes are becoming increasingly unpredictable, and staffing shortages are affecting nearly every level of care delivery. 

Operational leaders, those overseeing onboarding, credentialing, compliance, and revenue cycle performance, are being asked to do more with less, under heightened stakes and tighter timelines.

This guide is specifically designed for healthcare professionals responsible for managing these critical functions.

If your role involves onboarding providers, ensuring credentialing accuracy, maintaining regulatory compliance, or meeting key operational and revenue targets, you're already navigating these pressures daily. This resource aims to provide clarity, actionable strategies, and practical solutions to help you manage complexity effectively.

Whether you lead a provider group, payer, or digital health organization, this playbook will help you: