Rural Healthcare

On the surface, the conventional rural health story is one marked by rising financial pressures, dwindling care access and closure risks. But those constraints don’t define rural healthcare, and the idea that rural systems are always playing “catch up” to…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

Health systems plan to grow their telehealth offerings after the federal government’s recent two-year extension for Medicare reimbursement, though executives are still calling for a permanent solution. President Donald Trump signed a two-year reprieve for Medicare telehealth flexibilities Feb. 3…

Congress must make telehealth authority permanent to contain healthcare costs  Dr. Gallagher is a cardiologist and founder and chief strategy officer at Access TeleCare The temporary federal funding package enacted in November that ended the federal government shutdown also re-started…

Emporia, Kan.-based Newman Regional Health plans to launch a two-year telehealth initiative backed by a $485,000 grant. The Telehealth for Rural Health Equity Initiative is designed to expand telehealth services across the hospital’s primary care clinics and emergency department, according…

For patients scattered across Sioux Falls, S.D.-based Sanford Health’s rural footprint, telemedicine has become embedded in everyday care. But as pandemic-era telehealth policies face an uncertain future in Washington, Sanford leaders say the stakes are significant for the communities they…