Final answer:
c) Provide both acute and skilled nursing care
The swing bed program enabled rural hospitals to use their beds for both acute care and skilled nursing care, providing flexibility to meet community health needs.
Step-by-step explanation:
The swing bed program allowed rural hospitals to convert their available beds to be used for either acute care or for skilled nursing care, depending on the current needs of the community. This flexibility helped ensure that hospitals could provide continuous care to patients even after they no longer required acute hospital services but still needed a less intensive level of medical support. By doing so, rural hospitals could effectively address varied health service demands and maintain their financial viability.