Rural Health

The wave of maternity service closures has shown no signs of slowing down in 2026. As hospitals continue to grapple with persistent financial pressures, staffing shortages and falling birth rates, more facilities weigh ending labor and delivery services. The closures…

The Maryland Department of Health awarded $80 million to 41 grantees in the first round of funding under the Rural Health Transformation Program, Gov. Wes Moore announced Aug. 10. The awards fund projects to expand primary care, behavioral health and…

Healthcare and social assistance job openings fell by 147,000 in June, the largest single-month decline for the sector in nearly a year, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released Aug. 4. The drop brought healthcare and…

Rural healthcare leaders are turning resource limits into a sharper lens for technology investment. As federal initiatives like the $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program infuse rural health systems with new capital, the organizations seeing the most impact are not…

Nebraska’s Department of Health and Human Services launched a public dashboard July 30 tracking the state’s Rural Health Transformation Program funding.  Six notes: 1. The agency built the tool to show stakeholders and the public how transformation program dollars are…

When I read the recent Becker’s Hospital Review brief, “Rural hospital CEO sees ‘no hope in the rural health transformation funds,'” I understood the frustration behind the headline. For decades, rural hospitals have been asked to do more with less.…

After a brief post-pandemic lull, hospital consolidation is accelerating again, with large health systems expanding across state lines, absorbing independent hospitals and reshaping regional care markets.  From portfolio resets and strategic exits to cross-market mergers and billion-dollar investments, these moves…

In today’s healthcare environment, technology has become central to delivering high-quality patient care. It influences access, financial sustainability, workforce capacity, regulatory compliance and organizational resilience. That reality is becoming even more apparent as federal policymakers increase their focus on both…

Independent rural hospitals in Minnesota, North Dakota and Ohio are banding together into regional networks to compete with larger, consolidating health systems and payers, according to a July 22 Commonwealth Fund article. Here are four things to know: 1. North…

Baton Rouge, La.-based FMOL Health was sending patients to outside hospitals, even when the system could provide the same care. The 10-hospital system’s transfer acceptance rate sat at 67.5%. President and CEO E.J. Kuiper decided the system needed a dedicated…