Rural Spotlight

NRHA Webinar: Turning IT Challenges into Opportunity: How Freestone Medical Center Saved $500K and Expanded Care, September 30

September 9, 2025

NRHA Webinar: Turning IT Challenges into Opportunity: How Freestone Medical Center Saved $500K and Expanded Care, September 30

Many rural hospitals recognize that their IT systems need an upgrade, but they lack the time, staff, or budget to undertake a comprehensive overhaul. This session shares how one rural facility took a phased, strategic approach to modernization, resulting in improved cybersecurity, reduced downtime, and over $500,000 reinvested into expanded care delivery.

You’ll hear from Brian Doerr, a rural IT expert who has helped hospitals in more than 40 states navigate telecom funding, privacy planning, and infrastructure strategy. A frequent speaker at AHA’s Rural Healthcare Leadership Conferences, Brian brings practical, tested advice for rural leaders who need solutions, not more systems.

Participants will:

  • Learn how a phased approach to IT upgrades can minimize disruption and avoid common pitfalls,
  • Understand how to identify and prioritize improvement s that align with rural staffing and budget realities, and
  • See how tracking metrics like downtime, efficiency, and savings can support future planning and reporting.

If you’re responsible for IT decisions and stretched thin on resources, this session offers real-world strategies you can apply now, without adding complexity.

Cost: Free

When: Tuesday, September 30, 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Click Here to Register

NRHA Webinar: How Air Medical Transport Saves Lives After Traumatic Brain Injury – and What Rural Hospitals Risk Losing, September 11

September 9, 2025

NRHA Webinar: How Air Medical Transport Saves Lives After Traumatic Brain Injury – and What Rural Hospitals Risk Losing, September 11

In rural America, time and distance can be deadly – especially after a traumatic brain injury. This session explores the critical role of air medical services in bridging rural trauma care gaps and improving survival outcomes for patients with brain injuries.

Join Stephanie Queen, RN, a senior clinical leader with more than 20 years in healthcare operations and clinical care, Peggy Reisher, MSW, a 30-year brain injury advocate and executive director of the Brain Injury Association of  Nebraska, and Tim Chiarolanza, a brain injury survivor whose life was saved by sir medical transport. Together, they’ll share compelling data, personal insights, and urgent policy concerns affecting air ambulance access.

Attendees will:

  • Understand the unique causes and long-term impacts of brain injury in rural communities,
  • Learn how air ambulances deliver ICU-level care en route and improve TBI survival rates, and
  • Hear how current Medicare reimbursement gaps threaten access to these life-saving services.

This is more than a discussion – it’s a call to protect care access for rural Americans.

Cost: Free

When: Thursday, September 11, 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Click Here to Register

NRHA Webinar: How to Assess Capital Readiness and Align Your Team for a Successful Project, September 10

September 9, 2025

NRHA Webinar: How to Assess Capital Readiness and Align Your Team for a Successful Project, September 10

Capital projects in rural healthcare come with high stakes – and limited room for missteps. Often, the biggest roadblocks aren’t funding or feasibility. They’re mindset, misalignment, and unclear next steps.

In this session, Brian Haapala – who has spent more than 20 years guiding rural hospitals through successful capital planning – introduces the S.C.O.P.E. method, a practical framework to evaluate readiness, align leadership, and build a plan that’s both strategic and fundable.

You’ll also explore the Capital Planning Styles Matrix to better understand how leadership approaches impact momentum – from early strategy through execution.

Attendees Will Learn How to:

  • Recognize their team’s current capital planning style,
  • Understand how leadership mindset influences progress, and
  • Identify immediate steps to build clarity and alignment.

Whether you’re planning, mid-project, or stalled – this session offers a clear and actionable reset.

Bonus Opportunity:

Attendees can express interest in a late 2025 learning cohort: a focused, multi-week program designed for rural healthcare leaders seeking deeper guidance, peer connection, and real-world tools to strengthen capital project success.

Cost: Free

When: Wednesday, September 10, 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Click Here to Register

Webinar: AI for Healthcare CX: Strategies and Playbooks for Real Transformation, September 16

September 9, 2025

Webinar: AI for Healthcare CX: Strategies and Playbooks for Real Transformation, September 16

Patients are frustrated. Health systems are stretched thin. Regulatory requirements are changing. For many organizations, improving healthcare consumer experience feels impossible under current conditions.

But leaders from Johns Hopkins Healthcare System, Hummingbird Health, and Talkdesk are proving transformation is possible – using AI and automation not to replace people but to support them.

During this live virtual session, Johns Hopkins Health System’s VP of Clinical Systems will discuss how they’re modernizing patient access and streamlining the healthcare consumer experience, delivering better outcomes with greater efficiency.

Learnings Include:

  • How to use AI and automation to unify disconnected access points and reduce friction,
  • What regulatory shifts mean for digital strategy and how health systems can adapt, and
  • Real lessons from John Hopkins on aligning clinical operations with consumer experience goals.

Cost: Free

When: Tuesday, September 16, 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Click Here to Register

GOP Lawmakers Uphold NIH Funding: 5 Federal Health Updates

September 9, 2025

GOP Lawmakers Uphold NIH Funding: 5 Federal Health Updates

The Republican-led House Appropriations Committee has released a spending bill for 2026 that quietly ignores an $18 billion cut to the National Institutes of Health that President Donald Trump proposed earlier this year.

The proposed budget bill, released September 2, calls for $48 billion in NIH funding for fiscal 2026, which would keep funding levels for the agency in line with what it has received in the last few years. The bill stands in opposition to the 40% cut President Trump outlined for the NIH in a budget proposal released in June.

In a fact sheet on the bill, House Appropriations Committee members wrote that providing $48 billion in NIH funding will “maintain America’s edge in basic biomedical research cures to cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and rare diseases and supports the Trump administration’s priority of increasing research for other chronic diseases impacting Americans.”

The bill, however, does call for a $7 billion budget cut to HHS, which is about 6% less than 2025 levels. It proposes a 19% cut to the CDC “and streamlining 35 duplicative and controversial programs,” positioning the agency to focus solely on infectious disease. It would also eliminate the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The proposal puts several billion in funding toward primary care, the healthcare workforce and rural health.

Click Here to Read Four More Updates

Whitepaper: RCM at a Crossroads: How 100+ Finance Leaders are Preparing for What’s Next

September 9, 2025

Whitepaper: RCM at a Crossroads: How 100+ Finance Leaders are Preparing for What’s Next

Delayed reimbursements, rising denials and under-resources revenue cycle teams are putting hospital margins at risk.

This report shares insights from 115 finance and RCM leaders on how health systems are upgrading workflows with automation, hybrid staffing models and strategic partnerships to regain control.

Download now to explore the most pressing RCM challenges and see how top performers are building resilient revenue cycles for 2025 and beyond.

You’ll Learn:

  • Why traditional denial management falls short and what high performers do differently,
  • How hybrid RCM staffing models support scalability and reduce burnout, and
  • Automation strategies that drive real ROI – not just added complexity.

Click Here to Download Whitepaper

Webinar: From Legacy ERP to Lasting Security: A Smarter Archival Strategy for Hospitals, September 19

September 9, 2025

Webinar: From Legacy ERP to Lasting Security: A Smarter Archival Strategy for Hospitals, September 19

Hospitals are sunsetting outdated systems but holding onto the data – and with it, the risk.

Legacy ERP platforms often store sensitive information like W-2s, salary data and vendor contracts. Yet these systems lack modern security controls and remain vulnerable to breach. Many health systems maintain access solely for compliance or audit purposes, not realizing they’re exposing sensitive data and wasting resources in the process.

In this session, you’ll learn how hospital IT, operations and compliance teams can use data archival to reduce risk, cut costs and ensure long-term access.

Join this webinar to learn how to:

  • Identify hidden threats tied to legacy ERP data retention,
  • Reduce your organization’s attack surface, and
  • Use archival strategies to meet compliance needs without keeping outdated systems online.

Cost:  Free

When: Friday, September 19, 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Click Here to Register

Free Training: DIMENSIONS: Tobacco-Free Advanced Techniques Training, October 15 – 16

September 8, 2025

Free Training: DIMENSIONS: Tobacco-Free Advanced Techniques Training, October 15 – 16

This one and a half day training covers tobacco fundamentals, tobacco addiction, tobacco treatment strategies and a motivational intervention for tobacco cessation. Trainees will also be trained to facilitate the DIMENSIONS Tobacco Free Group – a 6-week group curriculum.

The Advanced Techniques training is a train-the-trainer model, meaning participants will leave the training with the materials and knowledge to train other at their organization. Every trainee will have download access to the program materials at the completion of training.

Attendees Will:

  • Promote tobacco cessation for persons with behavioral health conditions,
  • Conduct 30-minute motivational intervention,
  • Facilitate the Tobacco Free group,
  • Build awareness around tobacco dependence, and
  • Make referrals to community resources

Cost: This training is sponsored by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services and is therefore offered at no-cost to qualified participants.

When: October 15, 8:30 a.m. – October 16, 12:30 p.m.

Pre-Registration is Required.

Click Here to Register

Whitepaper: Transforming Patient Monitoring: The Story of Modern CMUs’ Success

September 8, 2025

Whitepaper: Transforming Patient Monitoring: The Story of Modern CMUs’ Success

Across the country, leading health systems are taking a new approach to their remote telemetry operations: next-generation central monitoring units that shed old constraints to promote patient safety and support overburdened frontline teams.

Next-generation CMUs unify monitoring across entire systems, providing consistent, reliable alarm management. Learn from Baptist Health Jacksonville and Jackson Memorial on successful CMU deployment.

Key takeaways:

  • Real-world impact: Baptist Health Jacksonville reports a 10% drop in unnecessary telemetry.
  • Efficiency gains: Jackson Memorial saves eight hours daily with modern telemetry strategies.
  • Enhanced safety: Seamless integration with EMR/ADT systems enhances real-time outcomes.

Click Here to Download Whitepaper

Webinar: Shared Responsibility, Stronger Defense: Healthcare Data Compliance in The Cloud Era, September 17

September 8, 2025

Webinar: Shared Responsibility, Stronger Defense: Healthcare Data Compliance in The Cloud Era, September 17

Cyber threats are up. Breach investigations are intensifying. And with 2025 already seeing a 20% rise in healthcare data breaches, compliance can’t be an afterthought.

In today’s cloud-first environment, protecting personal data and maintaining audit readiness takes more than just security tools — it requires resilient, shared strategies across IT, compliance and clinical leadership.

Join healthcare leaders for a discussion on what it takes to stay compliant and operational in hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

You’ll learn:

  • How top systems are evolving HIPAA/HITRUST compliance strategies
  • The role of shared responsibility models in clarifying compliance ownership between cloud providers and healthcare organizations
  • Real-world tactics for aligning IT resilience, ransomware recovery and audit readiness

Cost: Free

When: Wednesday, September 17, 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Click Here to Register