A blog by Julia Resnik, AHA senior director of health outcomes and care transformation, describes a new project with the Commonwealth Fund that will explore how rural hospitals leverage assets in their hospital and community to maintain or expand access to care for pregnant women.
Rural Health Care Leadership Conference News Coverage
The American Hospital Association’s 2022 Rural Health Care Leadership Conference, February 6-9, Phoenix, AZ, brings together top practitioners and thinkers to share strategies and resources for accelerating the shift to a more integrated and sustainable rural health system. We’ll examine the most significant operational, financial and environmental challenges including the post-pandemic impact on rural hospitals and their communities, and present innovative approaches that will enable you to transform your organization’s care delivery model and business practices.
Couldn’t attend AHA’s 2022 Rural Health Care Leadership Conference? No problem. Follow along here for updates, and follow along on social media using hashtag #AHARuralHealth for more.
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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Sept. 15 announced that states can now apply for funding from the Rural Health Transformation Program created under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
The AHA detailed its key health care priorities for the remainder of the year in comments to House and Senate majority and minority leaders Sept. 15.
Health care leaders and other officials Sept.
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.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has released
The AHA Aug. 26 responded to a request for information as part of the introduction of the Healthy Moms and Babies Act, bipartisan legislation that seeks to improve maternal and child health by increasing services and support and coordinating care.
Applications for the 2026 AHA Rural Hospital Excellence in Innovation Award close Aug. 29 at 1 p.m. ET.
The Health Resources and Services Administration has awarded more than $15 million in grants to 58 rural health organizations for four-year projects as part of the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy’s Rural Health Care Services Outreach program.
The AHA Aug. 11 urged the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to prioritize payments to hospitals from the Rural Health Transformation Program.
The Senate Appropriations Committee July 31 advanced the fiscal year 2026 appropriations bill for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and other agencies by a bipartisan 26-3 vote. The bill provides approximately $197 billion in discretionary funding.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., July 15 introduced legislation that would repeal some of the Medicaid funding reductions included in the recently enacted One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Specifically, the Protect Medicaid and Rural Hospitals Act would repeal provider tax and state directed payment provisions within the OBBBA.
Efforts launched about 18 months ago by Microsoft to help rural health care facilities improve cybersecurity and expand access to artificial intelligence (AI) continue to gain traction.
The Rural Hospital Excellence in Innovation Award honors rural hospitals that are leading the way in innovative, sustainable and community-centered care.
The AHA June 16 released a fact sheet with analysis on the impact to rural patients and hospitals from proposed Medicaid cuts by Congress. The analysis found that key Medicaid provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R. 1) would result in a $50.4 billion reduction in federal Medicaid spending on rural hospitals over 10 years and 1.8 million individuals in rural communities losing their Medicaid coverage by 2034.
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission June 13 released its June report to Congress that outlines recommendations for hospital and other Medicare payment systems.
Data from the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill shows that health care cuts under consideration in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R. 1) could place over 300 rural hospitals across the U.S. at risk of closure, conversion or service reductions.
The Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health, with support from the Health Resources and Services Administration, will host a five-part learning series beginning June 25 on obstetric readiness for emergency medical services and emergency departments in rural and under-resourced communities.
The latest video in the AHA’s series “Medicaid: Real Lives, Real Care” features Jennifer Clowers, regional chief financial officer of Our Lady of the Lake Health in Louisiana, explaining how Medicaid helps the system provide services such as school-based health clinics in rural communities, and why those communities could be impacted by potential Medicaid cuts from Congress.
Rural hospitals and health systems may not have the size, resources or scale of their urban and academic medical center counterparts, but they have ideal traits to help spur technology innovation.