Leaders at Coalition-sponsored event discuss issues challenging rural health care access

Health care leaders and other officials Sept. 9 shared their perspectives on issues related to health care access, particularly in rural areas, during an event in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the Coalition to Strengthen America's Healthcare: Protecting 24/7 Care. The event, hosted by Punchbowl News, included discussions on ramifications following the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R. 1) and other issues that will have impacts in rural areas and nationwide.

Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., discussed the impacts the budget reconciliation bill could have on rural hospitals in Vermont during an interview with Punchbowl News Co-founder Anna Palmer. “Our rural hospitals are all operating on the thinnest of margins,” Welch said. “Those hospitals will open the doors when someone comes in — they just won't get paid. And at a certain point they can't stay in existence. Rural America is in great jeopardy as a result of this." 

Wright Lassiter III, CEO of CommonSpirit Health and Coalition member, expressed concerns that reductions in Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital funds and restrictions on provider taxes would have significant impacts on hospitals.  

“H.R. 1 attempts to suggest that is somehow inappropriate financing,” Lassiter said on the provider tax restrictions. Lassiter said that the limits on provider taxes would be particularly damaging to rural areas. 

The event also included a panel discussion on the bill and the overall state of rural health care with Emily Holubowich, national senior vice president of advocacy for the American Heart Association; Torey Mack, M.D., chief medical officer of the Children's Hospital Association; Robin Rudowitz, vice president of KFF; and Julie Yaroch, D.O., president and CEO of ProMedica Charles and Virginia Hickman Hospital. 

“When you lose that funding, patients no longer come and seek care,” Yaroch said on federal funding reductions. “Outcomes are poorer. People wait with their illness to the point that I can't save them. Compliance goes down. Readmission rates go up. There's a story that goes beyond just receiving that initial payment. There’s a story about how it affects that community and what solutions that we have to address that.” 

The AHA is a founding member of the Coalition.