Northumberland County is one of Pennsylvania’s 48 rural counties, though its population density — 206 people per square mile — is far greater than most of them. There are still three hospitals within a 30-minute drive of Sunbury, including Shamokin, Danville, and Lewisburg. Often, hospitals in even more rural areas, like the 21-bed Bucktail Medical Center in Renovo, Clinton County, are designated as “critical access hospitals” and rely on Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements. Those hospitals are deemed too critical because of the vast distances between them and other facilities.