Rural Health Blog Posts

Every day, hospitals and health systems are finding new and better ways to care for the people and communities they serve.

The latest report from Paragon, which has targeted hospitals, relies on a long list of distorted and debunked arguments.

This year I’ll be continuing the AHA Leadership Dialogue series and talking with health care, business and community leaders on trending topics in the field.

All hospital and health system leaders are committed to delivering the best possible care to the people we serve while navigating the changes and challenges we face.

Working alongside hospitals and health systems, the American Hospital Association’s Better Health for Mothers and Babies (BHMB) initiative aims to eliminate preventable maternal deaths and reduce pregnancy-related morbidity across the United States.

More than 57 million rural Americans depend on their hospital not only as an important source of care but also as a critical component of their area's economic and social framework. Rural hospitals also face the same difficulties shared by many hospitals — including financial stress, workforce shortages, and inadequate reimbursement from government payers like Medicare and Medicaid, just to name a few. The AHA is engaged in many advocacy efforts to support rural hospitals and ensure access to care in rural communities.

The 39th Annual AHA Rural Health Care Leadership Conference will be held Feb. 8-11 in San Antonio, Texas. The conference brings together senior executives, physician leaders, trustees and nurse executives from the nation's leading rural hospitals and health systems to share actionable strategies and resources aimed at improving access to care, leveraging unique workforce approaches and implementing digital technologies.

Nov. 20 is National Rural Health Day.

Rural hospital leaders from across the country came together to share strategies and insights for improving safety culture, governance and care reliability.

Susan Doherty, AHA’s Vice President of Field Engagement, and Rebecca Chickey, AHA’s Senior Director of Behavioral Health Services, write on the unique ways suicide affects rural communities and the innovative ways rural health care providers are caring for their neighbors.

Every pregnant woman deserves access to high-quality maternal care — from conception through postpartum. Yet in parts of the country, some of that care is disappearing.

In this Leadership Dialogue, I’m joined by Lori Wightman, R.N., CEO of Bothwell Regional Health Center, in Sedalia, Mo. Lori and I discuss working in a “family atmosphere” unique to a rural hospital and navigating the same pressures that face urban hospitals.

Leading a rural hospital can feel like you are battling alone, but together with a unified voice we can advocate for what our rural patients need.

Every November, we celebrate National Rural Health Day to raise awareness of the challenges facing rural hospitals and health systems and help highlight the innovative work they are doing to preserve access to high-quality, affordable care.

Sean Fadale, FACHE President and CEO, Nathan Littauer Hospital and Nursing Home Gloversville, N.Y. 

Helen Newberry Joy Hospital worked with the Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation to strengthen emergency response and surge management.

It is important to use the August recess that begins next week as an opportunity to engage senators and representatives while they are back home. It is critical for federal lawmakers to understand the challenges hospitals and health systems face.

For the 61 million people who live in rural America, their local hospital provides essential services and programs to advance their health and the health of their communities.

For the 57 million Americans who live in rural areas, their hospital is the lifeblood of the community.

Once again, the anti-hospital, billionaire-backed Arnold Ventures is pushing its anti-hospital agenda with a “report” that is so disingenuous and has so many limitations that it cannot be t