Here is a sentence I wish someone would carry into every room where rural health care gets decided: the best care is often the care that stays home, and it costs the system less, not more. I have spent my…
Rural Healthcare
States are moving at markedly different speeds to deploy billions of dollars in new federal funding for rural healthcare. The $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program was established under HR 1 and is administered by CMS, which will distribute $10…
Cityblock Health has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Homeward Health, a rural-focused Medicare Advantage provider, in an all-stock transaction. The combination pairs Cityblock’s urban Medicaid and dual-eligible care model with Homeward’s rural-first approach, Cityblock CEO and co-founder Toyin Ajayi,…
In many parts of rural North Carolina, giving birth means driving farther, waiting longer and arriving sicker. As Erin Fraher, PhD, of the University of North Carolina’s Sheps Center told lawmakers in March, North Carolina does not have a maternity…
Rural healthcare is at an inflection point Rural healthcare organizations are under intensifying pressure. Nearly 46% of rural hospitals are operating with negative margins, and more than 400 are considered vulnerable to closure. At the same time, workforce shortages persist:…
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Lebanon, N.H.-based Dartmouth Health has received an $11.8 million federal grant to establish the Center for Aging with Serious Illness, a multidisciplinary research program focused on older adults with serious illness. The National Institute of General Medical Sciences, part of…
Roughly a third of the nation’s rural hospitals — 720 in all — are at risk of closing, according to a report from the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform. The findings begs a familiar question among ASC leaders:…
Oregon will distribute $37.5 million in state and federal funds to 21 rural hospitals to stabilize maternity services, though leaders warn the one-time investment won’t offset looming Medicaid cuts. In January, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek announced a $25 million state…
Four U.S. senators sent a June 18 letter to CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz, MD, urging targeted adjustments to the Rural Health Transformation Program to help ensure its $50 billion reaches the smallest and most financially vulnerable rural providers. Sens. Michael…
Nationally, roughly 1% of U.S. physicians have opted out of Medicare entirely, according to 2025 data from KFF. While 1% appears to be a marginal number upon first glance, a closer look at where those exits are happening, and what…