UnitedHealthcare is expanding rural healthcare initiatives to cover the entire U.S., according to an April 20 news release shared with Becker’s. These efforts include accelerating payments by up to 50% for roughly 1,500 hospitals and all critical access hospitals, reducing…
Rural Health
Rural hospital CEOs are hitting a breaking point. Inpatient volumes are shrinking, workforce costs are climbing, and the fee-for-service model that once anchored community hospitals offers diminishing returns. But rather than waiting for the margin pressure to resolve itself, a…
Missouri lawmakers are right to treat the collapse of rural healthcare as an urgent crisis. Nearly half of the state’s remaining rural hospitals are at risk of closure, and many communities already know what it means to lose emergency rooms,…
Texas State University was selected to represent Texas State University System in a new statewide initiative — the Texas Rural Hospital Officers Academy — that will strengthen financial and operational leadership and stability of rural hospitals and protect access to…
While Pennsylvania’s healthcare challenges are widespread, they hit rural communities hardest, Terry Gilliland, MD, president and CEO of Danville, Pa.-based Geisinger, wrote in a March 19 commentary piece published in the Pennsylvania Capital-Star. Limited access to care, workforce shortages and…
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Aspen Valley Health, a critical access hospital in Colorado, is taking on a role typically reserved for large health systems: serving as an Epic host for other rural providers through the vendor’s Community Connect program. The strategy aims to give…
As rural hospital leaders guide their organizations through 2026, they are juggling the financial pressure of federal Medicaid changes while looking to state legislatures for tools to stabilize their organizations. From Nebraska’s Medicaid work requirements to New Mexico’s updated physician…
CMS’ $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program expedited South Dakota’s plan to join the PA licensure compact, according to the American Academy of Physician Associates. The federal rural health program examined each state’s scope of practice laws to determine its…
Little Rock, Ark.-based Baptist Health has reached a definitive agreement to acquire South Arkansas Regional Hospital in El Dorado and add the facility to its system June 14, pending regulatory approvals. The 151-bed hospital will be renamed Baptist Health Medical…
The rise in telemedicine over the past several years hasn’t translated to more behavioral healthcare access in rural areas, according to a March 5 study in JAMA Network Open. Researchers from Boston-based Harvard Medical School and Providence, R.I.-based Brown University…