Howard County Medical Center is a 10-bed critical access hospital serving roughly 5,000 residents across a six-county rural area in Nebraska. The hospital has been regularly named a “Top 100 Critical Access Hospital” by The Chartis Center for Rural Health, most recently in 2025. The hospital addresses a major barrier to rural healthcare access by employing dedicated financial navigators who assist patients with copay assistance, drug rebates, gas cards, transportation and food donations, an approach that reduced self-pay bad debt by 42% in just two years while keeping accounts receivable days well below the rural hospital average. The specialty clinic has grown from 12 to 23 providers, and the hospital secured American Rescue Plan Act funding to add mental and behavioral health professionals to its staff. In May 2024, the hospital opened an $8 million, 17,000-square-foot wellness center funded through a public-private partnership and community fundraising, featuring a full-size lap pool, a warm-water therapy pool, an indoor walking track and expanded physical, occupational and speech therapy spaces. The wellness center signifies a shift from treating illness to proactively promoting community wellness. The hospital earned the “Platinum Recognition” in the 2025 Health Resources and Services Administration “DoNation Campaign.”
