Rural Spotlight

2026 Health Care Human Resources Spring Conference, April 16 – 17

January 9, 2026

2026 Health Care Human Resources Spring Conference, April 16 – 17

The Missouri Society for Healthcare human Resources Administration is pleased to announce the 2026 health Care Human Resources Spring Conference, scheduled for Thursday, April 16 and Friday, April 17, in Lake Ozark, MO.

Mark your calendars and make plans to connect with health care HR colleagues for two days of energizing content, innovative insights from industry leaders, expanded networking opportunities, and the chance to earn SHRM and HRCI professional development credits.

Don’t miss this opportunity to invest in your growth and help shape the future of health care HR.

Cost:

  • MHA Members: $500
  • Nonmembers: $600
  • MSHHRA Members: $400
  • New MSHHRA members $475

When: Thursday, April 16 – 17

Click Here to Learn More and Register

Training Opportunity: Emerging Health Care Leaders, March 24-25

January 9, 2026

Training Opportunity: Emerging Health Care Leaders, March 24-25

Emerging Health Care Leaders is a leadership development experience designed for early-career professionals and new leaders in your organization. This program equips high-potential contributors with the insight, tools and awareness they need to lead effectively – now and in the future.

Participants will explore their personality, communication style, coaching skills, personal brand and leadership approach, gaining valuable feedback on their strengths, potential blind spots and growth opportunities. The program is designed to enhance current performance, boost leadership confidence and build readiness for next-level responsibilities.

The ultimate goal of this program is to help your emerging leaders make a greater impact today while preparing them to grow into tomorrow’s leadership roles.

Objectives

Upon completion of this program, participants will be able to:

  • Understand the skills and next-level leadership competencies needed to lead at each stage of career development.
  • Have increased self-awareness of personality, work and communication style, and how these strengths and challenges may impact effectiveness as a leader.
  • Learn the importance of professional presence, communication and image.
  • Learn ways to build influence and trust in the organization.
  • Have improved perspective around business ethics and decision-making.
  • Learn new tools for effective communication and giving feedback.
  • Build a personal mini leadership development plan to develop competencies for the future
  • Learn to share a growth and development plan with their manager for feedback and alignment.

Cost:

  • MHA Members: $495 per person
  • Non-MHA members: $595 per person

This event is eligible for the use of the MHA Health Institute coupon

When: March 24 – 25

Where: Drury Plaza Hotel Columbia East

Click Here to Learn More and Register

23rd Annual Health Care Leadership Series, March 20 – October 9

January 9, 2026

23rd Annual Health Care Leadership Series, March 20 – October 9

In today’s changing health care environment, accepting a leadership role is far more complex than ever before. MHA Health Institute’s Health Care Leadership Series is a comprehensive leadership training curriculum designed to assist hospitals in developing effective internal leaders.

The series provides:

  • Professional development education,
  • Tools to enhance skills of hospital leaders,
  • Opportunity to develop a professional network, and
  • Template plan for action to implement changes.

The Health Care Leadership Series consists of eight one-day training sessions that will be held monthly, from March through October.

Sessions will be held at Drury Plaza Hotel Columbia East in Columbia, MO.

Cost:

  • $1,399 per person
    • Includes all eight sessions
    • Includes continental breakfast, lunch, refreshments and access to all program materials
    • This event is eligible for use of the MHA Health Institute Coupon

When:

  • Friday, March 20
  • Friday, April 10
  • Friday, May 8
  • Friday, June 5
  • Friday, July 10
  • Friday August 14
  • Friday, September 18
  • Friday, October 9

Click Here to Learn More and Register

Webinar: Public Health and Regulatory Considerations for Kratom and 7 -OH Products, January 30

January 9, 2026

Webinar: Public Health and Regulatory Considerations for Kratom and 7 -OH Products, January 30

This session is designed to clarify the distinctions between natural kratom leaf (which contains trace amounts of 7-OH) and the newer potent products with added or synthetic 7-OH that are increasingly available in retail settings and online. The webinar will address the growing concerns among health care professionals, public health officials, and community advocates regarding the misuse, unpredictable potency, and emerging health risks associated with these unregulated substances and current legislative efforts.

Key Topics

  • Pharmacology and Health Effects:
    • Discuss how kratom’s primary compounds, mitragynine and 7-OH, interact with the body’s opioid receptors and the potential for both stimulant and potent opioid-like effects.
  • Public Health Concerns:
    • Review data on adverse effects, including addiction potential, neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome, overdose risks (especially when combined with other substances like alcohol or benzodiazepines) and contamination issues.
  • Regulatory Landscape:
    • Examine the complex and patchwork regulatory status at federal and state levels, including the FDA’s position that kratom is an unapproved new dietary ingredient and cannot be lawfully marketed as such.
  • Recent Agency Actions:
    • Outline recent actions by the FDA and state authorities, such as FDA warning letters to companies illegally marketing 7-OH products and the FDA’s recommendation to the DEA to classify concentrated 7-OH as a controlled substance.

Cost: Complimentary for all attendees

When: Friday, January 30, 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Click Here to Register

Hospital Preparedness Academy 2026 – Nine-part Virtual Series, Starts February 10

January 9, 2026

Hospital Preparedness Academy 2026 – Nine-part Virtual Series, Starts February 10

The Hospital Preparedness Academy is a comprehensive training series designed to build the capabilities of hospital emergency preparedness professionals across all phases of emergency management. Through nine targeted sessions, participants will explore regulatory frameworks, risk assessment methodologies, planning tools, clinical and infrastructure considerations, technology systems and collaborative strategies.

Series Objectives

By the end of the Hospital Preparedness Academy, participants will be able to:

  • Understand and apply key regulatory requirements and foundational components of hospital emergency preparedness programs,
  • Develop and implement core emergency management plans, including risk assessments, emergency operations, communications and continuity of operations, and
  • Integrate clinical preparedness, technology tools, infrastructure resilience, collaborative relationships and responder wellness strategies into hospital emergency planning and response.

Audience:

Early to mid-career hospital emergency preparedness professionals and staff on hospital emergency management committees.

Agenda

  • Tuesday, February 10 – Preparedness Fundamentals: Regulations and Understanding Risks as the Foundation to Your Program
  • Tuesday, February 17 – Emergency Operations Plan: Building a Framework
  • Tuesday, February 24 – Developing a Hospital Emergency Communications Plan
  • Tuesday, March 3 – Technology Tools and Systems for Emergency Communication and Coordination
  • Tuesday, March 10 – Continuity of Operations: Sustaining Essential Services During and After Emergencies
  • Tuesday, March 17 – Infrastructure Resilience in Hospital Emergency Management: Systems, Standards and Sustainability
  • Tuesday, March 24 – Clinical Preparedness: Special Considerations and Threats
  • Tuesday, March 31 – Collaborating with Community Partners and Taking Care of Your Responders
  • Tuesday, April 17 – Emerging Threats in Hospital Preparedness

Cost:

$395 MHA Members

$495 Non-MHA Members

NOTE: this virtual event is eligible for the use of the MHA Health Institute Coupon

Click Here to Learn More and Register

Webinar: UAMS’ AI Playbook for Capacity Lift & Fewer Cancellations, January 21

January 8, 2026

Webinar: UAMS’ AI Playbook for Capacity Lift & Fewer Cancellations, January 21

Manual, fragmented pre-admission testing strains perioperative teams and the operating room. Phone tag for histories, missing documents and late risk discovery all drive day-of surgery delays, idle rooms and staff burnout. Leaders need a faster, more reliable way to prepare patients without adding FTEs.

University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) reworked its pre-admission testing model with AI-enabled workflows to give each nurse an assistant for information gathering, risk flagging and follow-up tasks. The result: a 50% increase in PAT nurse capacity, a 25% reduction in surgical cancellations and a 60% drop in manual document processing time.

In this session, Tammy Jones, PhD, RN, CNO and associate vice chancellor for patient care services and clinical operations at UAMS, will detail how her team changed the work, not just the tools. She will be joined by Andrew Fisher, MD, assistant professor of anesthesiology at the Medical University of South Carolina, to discuss perioperative governance, clinical criteria and integration considerations.

Learnings include:

  • How to supercharge pre-admission testing programs with AI,
  • How to successfully implement an AI solution, ensuring staff and integration into existing workflows, and
  • How to use AI to enhance staff productivity and optimize patients before surgery.

Cost: Free

When: Wednesday, January 1, 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Click Here to Register

On-Demand Webinar: The Cost of Getting it Wrong: Smarter Verification for a Tighter Budget

January 8, 2026

On-Demand Webinar: The Cost of Getting it Wrong: Smarter Verification for a Tighter Budget

Budget cuts, identify fraud, and adversarial AI are putting critical security functions like verification at risk. But as regulations tighten and fraud becomes more sophisticated, getting it wrong has real consequences.

Manual verification, weak authentication, and account recovery vulnerabilities are being exploited.

In this session, hear how health systems are automating user journeys, prioritizing identity verification and making smarter security investments with cost in mind.

Key takeaways:

  • How identity gaps impact patient, payer, and provider safety, revenue cycle and compliance,
  • Where automation delivers quick winds in authentication and verification, and
  • How to invest in security without overextending your budget or infuriating users.

Click Here to Access this On-Demand Webinar

On-Demand Webinar: From Data Overload to Intelligent Decisions: How AI Agents Will Reshape Health System Efficiency by 2030

January 8, 2026

On-Demand Webinar: From Data Overload to Intelligent Decisions: How AI Agents Will Reshape Health System Efficiency by 2030

Healthcare accounts for nearly 30% of the world’s data. That data holds transformative potential, but few health systems are equipped top act on it.

Without better systems to manage, interpret and act on this information, health systems risk falling further behind.

This session will explore how AI agents can reduce cognitive load, streamline workflows, and uncover insights that drive cost savings and better care. Hear how organizations are preparing for an AI-enabled 2030 and what your system can do to separate hype from reality.

Key takeaways:

  • Why healthcare’s data is only growing and what it means for operations,
  • How AI agents convert unmanaged data into decisions that reduce costs, and
  • Where AI agents can realistically be deployed now to increase efficiency.

Click Here to Access this On-Demand Webinar

Webinar: RCM Tech Trends You Can’t ignore: Fresh Insights from US San Diego Health, February 11

January 8, 2026

Webinar: RCM Tech Trends You Can’t ignore: Fresh Insights from US San Diego Health, February 11

Revenue cycle management priorities are shifting – and technology investments are leading the charge. In this session, join UC San Diego Health’s Chief Revenue Officer, Mike Vigo, as we explore today’s top organizational goals set forth by hospital and health system leaders, explore how those priorities vary across EHR platforms and share predictions for what’s next.

Backed by fresh data and market insights from more than 100+ healthcare finance leaders, we’ll examine where organizations are focusing their investments and how AI, automation and analytics are driving measurable results.

Walk away with a clear view of current trends, future outlooks and strategies to align technology with long-term financial performance.

Key takeaways:

  • Where health systems are investing in RCM tech and what’s driving ROI,
  • How EHR platform influences RCM strategy and spend, and
  • Real-world impact of AI and automation on revenue cycle performance.

Cost: Free

When: Wednesday, February 11, 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Click Here to Register

Webinar: RCM Trend Report: How Leaders Can Protect Revenue + Adapt to Disruption, February 19

January 8, 2026

Webinar: RCM Trend Report: How Leaders Can Protect Revenue + Adapt to Disruption, February 19

As 2026 approaches, practices face growing pressure on all sides – from tighter reimbursements and unpredictable payer behavior to increasing patient affordability challenges and rapid shifts in technology.

This webinar will break down key findings from a 2026 revenue cycle management trend report – featured in Becker’s Hospital Review – highlighting the most pressing threats and where forward-looking practices are finding opportunity.

You’ll learn how to:

  • Navigate top-of-mind pressures, including tighter margins, provider recruitment challenges and why scale matters more than ever,
  • Use benchmarking data and the independent dispute resolution (IDR) process to challenge underpayments and strengthen payer negotiations, and
  • Treat AI and automation as strategic investments – to reduce denials, speed claims, improve cash flow and stay ahead of payer-driven disruption.

Cost: Free

When: Thursday, February 19, 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Click Here to Register