Rural issues
Your guide to the latest rural health news and resources.
Many daily commutes are on the ground — car, train, bikes — but what if you took to the air? Dr. Charles Frankum has spent over two decades flying himself to some of the most remote hospitals in Colorado and Kansas, including the Southeast Colorado Hospital District in Springfield, Colo.
A study published March 31 by the National Institutes of Health found that adults living in rural areas have worse cardiovascular health than those in urban communities due to social factors such as income, education, having enough food and owning a home. The agency found that those living in rural…
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.
In this Leadership Dialogue conversation, Tina Freese Decker, president and CEO of Corewell Health and 2025 AHA board chair, talks with Lori Wightman, R.N., CEO of Bothwell Regional Health Center, about the challenges that rural hospitals and health systems face.
A compilation of recent news from the AHA and the Rural Health Services team, whose focus is to ensure rural hospitals’ and health systems’ unique needs are national priorities.
A grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development has prevented the impending closure of Bucktail Medical Center and preserved its ability to deliver essential care to thousands of rural residents of central Pennsylvania.
AHA letter to the House leadership expressing support for the Conrad State 30 and Physician Access Reauthorization Act (H.R. 1585).
AHA expresses opposition to H.R. 2191, the Physician Led and Rural Access to Quality Care Act.
More than 550 rural hospitals have joined the Cybersecurity for Rural Hospitals Program, a partnership created last year by the American Hospital Association (AHA) and Microsoft to provide free and heavily discounted cybersecurity services.