Rural Health

Ivy Tech Community College Bloomington (Ind.) has received a gift from Bloomington philanthropists Connie and Steve Ferguson to expand its nursing programs, part of a broader effort with Indianapolis-based IU Health to strengthen Indiana’s nursing workforce. The gift, combined with…

The digitization of rural healthcare is at a critical juncture, and efforts are underway to address the longstanding challenges, physician shortages, a rising wave of hospital closures, geographic isolation, transportation barriers, and limited access to broadband internet. These issues persist…

South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden signed HB 1043 into law Feb. 25, a bill aimed at supporting rural healthcare recruitment. The measure appropriates funds to reimburse healthcare professionals who have complied with the requirements for rural recruitment assistance programs, according…

As funds begin flowing to states through the five-year, $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program, hospital leaders are confronting a central question: Will the initiative meaningfully stabilize struggling providers — or will it fall short of offsetting an estimated $137…

A new national coalition of health systems and strategic partners has launched to address worsening shortages in access to medical specialists in rural areas and underserved urban communities across the United States. The National Specialty Care Access Coalition — a…

The Bristow (Okla.) Hospital Authority has joined Tulsa, Okla.-based Saint Francis Health System under a five-year lease agreement as Saint Francis Bristow. Saint Francis received approval from the Bristow City Council for the takeover in late November, however, the health…

Healthcare is fueling U.S. job growth, but inside hospitals and health systems, momentum is changing.  Healthcare added 81,900 of the 130,000 jobs created nationwide in January, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “way outperforming most of the rest…

Ms. Connor is a mother of six children. A grandmother of twice as many. She was raised on a farm, knows the meaning of hard work and reads her Bible daily. Unexpectedly, she suffered a stroke at the top of…

One of WVU Medicine’s small hospitals in rural West Virginia was nearing closure just a few years ago. Today its beds are nearly full, and leaders say a low-cost virtual care model helped reverse its trajectory. The Morgantown, W.Va.-based health…

Texas is set to receive $281 million in the first year of Rural Health Transformation Program funding — the largest total award of any state — yet it will receive the lowest amount per rural resident, according to KFF.  The…