Rural Spotlight

Webinar: Smarter Spend, Safer Care: Real-world RTLS Strategies for Asset Management, Staff Safety and Compliance, May 6

April 16, 2026

Webinar: Smarter Spend, Safer Care: Real-world RTLS Strategies for Asset Management, Staff Safety and Compliance, May 6

Hospital executives face mounting pressure to reduce costs while protecting patients, staff and operations across the enterprise.

In this webinar, hospital leaders will learn how health systems are using Real-Time Location Systems (RTLS) to address some of healthcare’s most persistent challenges, from excess equipment spend and rental costs to staff risks and compliance gaps.

It will create clarity on which metrics matter most, how to evaluate performance gains and how RTLS data can support smarter capital, clinical and operational strategies.

Key takeaways include:

  • How RTLS reduces capital and rental costs through improved asset utilization,
  • Ways that staff protection and infant security technologies mitigate risk and liability,
  • How environmental monitoring supports compliance and patient safety.

Cost: Free

When: Wednesday, May 6, 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Click Here to Register

Webinar: How a California Hospital Cleared its Surgical Backlog in 3 Months, May 14

April 16, 2026

Webinar: How a California Hospital Cleared its Surgical Backlog in 3 Months, May 14

Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center, a 427-bed community medical center, faced a daunting surgical backlog – and then eliminated it entirely in just 90 days.

In this session, perioperative leaders from PVHMC share how their team used data-driven strategies and technology to overcome fragmented scheduling, manual workflows and communication barriers across multiple facilities.

Attendees will learn how the hospital increased case volumes, improved resource utilization and achieved financial ROI within six months while aligning 83 schedulers across sites.

Hear how PVHMC:

  • Transformed paper-based scheduling into streamlined, cross-department workflows across the main OR, outpatient pavilion and GI clinics,
  • Used proactive block management to release 142 blocks (46,000 minutes) and fill 47% with additional cases,
  • Achieved ROI within six months through FTE savings and increased post-implementation case volumes, and
  • Achieved 100% scheduler adoption and aligned 83 clinic schedulers into one cohesive team.

Cost: Free

When: Thursday, May 14, 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Click Here to Register

Funding Opportunity: Make America Healthy Again – Enhancing Lifestyle and Evaluating Value-based approaches Through Evidence (“MAHA ELEVATE”), CWS-2W2-27-001, Apply by May 15

April 15, 2026

Funding Opportunity: Make America Healthy Again – Enhancing Lifestyle and Evaluating Value-based approaches Through Evidence (“MAHA ELEVATE”), CWS-2W2-27-001, Apply by May 15

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), through its Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI or Innovation Center), is soliciting applications for the Make America Healthy Again: Enhancing Lifestyle & Evaluating Value-based Approaches Through Evidence (MAHA ELEVATE) Model. This voluntary, three-year service delivery model is designed to test evidence-based, whole person functional or lifestyle medicine (“whole-person FLM”) approaches to care. Rather than treating diseases separately after they develop, MAHA ELEVATE takes a proactive, comprehensive approach that combines psychological, nutritional, and physical interventions with personalized, lifestyle-based strategies for prevention and early treatment.

Eligible Applicants:

  • Unrestricted

Additional Information on Eligibility:

Eligible applicants include any organization that meets the requirements outlined in the NOFO. Individuals are not eligible to apply. Examples of eligible applicants may include but atr not limited to:

  • Private medical practices,
  • Health systems and Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs),
  • Academic organizations,
  • Functional, lifestyle, preventive, and integrative medicine centers,
  • Community-based organizations (CBOs),
  • Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs)
  • Rural Health Clinics (RHCs),
  • Indian Health Service/Tribal Services/Urban Indian Programs (ITUs)
  • Local and state governments
  • Organizations spanning multiple states are eligible to apply.

CMS will select a total of up to 30 recipients to participate in MAHA ELEVATE. The model will be split into two cohorts, one year apart (years 2026 and 2027).

CMS will select recipients based on five key criteria:

  • Whole-person FLM intervention design, including cost savings,
  • Beneficiary recruitment and study design,
  • Organizational and administrative capacity,
  • Data management capabilities, and
  • Budget.

Highly competitive applicants must demonstrate several important strengths:

  • Strong evidence-based support for your proposed interventions(s) and proof of your own successful history of implementation of the intervention and cost savings.
  • Ability to recruit large numbers of participants with a clear randomization plan and advanced data management capabilities.

Given the model’s minimum beneficiary targets and extensive data management requirements, applicants who do not directly provide clinical care are strongly encouraged to form partnerships with care entities or organizations that deliver clinical care. This collaboration helps ensure you can meet the full operational requirements of the program.

Click Here to Learn More and Apply

 

Survey – Your Input is Needed – Building Stronger Muscles for Rural Policy & Systems Change, Survey Deadline April 17

April 15, 2026

Survey – Your Input is Needed – Building Stronger Muscles for Rural Policy & Systems Change, Survey Deadline April 17

Strong Foundations for Rural Advancement is a project focused on strengthening the systems, organizations, and networks needed to advance meaningful change for rural communities. The project is mapping the rural systems-change ecosystem to better understand how to support policy, advocacy, networks, and narrative change that lead to improved outcomes for rural kids and families.

Input is being requested from rural-smart practitioners, policy experts, decision makers, funders, and leaders across the country. Please take a few minutes to share your experience, insights, and ideas to help ensure this work reflects diverse rural perspectives.

Please respond by April 17.

Click Here to Take the Survey

Webinar: Escaping Pilot Purgatory: A Framework for Scaling Agentic AI in Healthcare Organizations, April 30

April 2, 2026

Webinar: Escaping Pilot Purgatory: A Framework for Scaling Agentic AI in Healthcare Organizations, April 30

Agentic AI is a board-level priority for most healthcare organizations, but whether you are still identifying where to start or trying to move a stalled pilot forward, the path to measurable results looks the same.

This session introduces a practical three-part framework for moving from concept to enterprise-wide deployment: a strategic blueprint to identify and prioritize the right workflows, an enterprise architecture that builds on technologies you already have, and a continuous optimization loop to protect and grow the investment.

Using real healthcare workflows including claims processing, prior authorization, and fax management, you will see how organizations redesign their operations and the roles within them, rather than simply digitize them.

You will leave with:

  • What differentiates agentic AI from traditional and generative AI in healthcare operations,
  • How to identify the right workflows for agentic AI and what it takes to move a pilot into full deployment, and
  • How leading health systems are redesigning roles with agentic AI, not just processes.

Cost: Free

When: Thursday, April 30, 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Click Here to Register

MHA Health Institute: 2026 CMS Hospitals CoPs Updates, April 22-23

April 2, 2026

MHA Health Institute: 2026 CMS Hospitals CoPs Updates, April 22-23

Regulations are evolving – are you prepared? This two-day event brings together the latest regulatory updates, real-world challenges Missouri hospitals are facing and actionable guidance you can apply immediately.

Designed for both hospital and critical access hospital leaders, this program equips you with the clarity and insight needed to strengthen compliance, reduce risk and support organizational excellence in an increasingly complex environment.

NEW for 2026: Choose the attendance experience that works best for you – join in-person to maximize networking with colleagues from across the state or opt to receive recordings of the live content after the event concludes.

Cost:

  • $495 MHA Members
  • $595 Non-members

When: Wednesday, April 22 – Thursday, April 23, 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Click Here to Learn More and Register

MHA Webinar: Navigating the Unexpected: Supporting Peripartum Parents Through Grief, Trauma and Medical Complexity, April 23

April 2, 2026

MHA Webinar: Navigating the Unexpected: Supporting Peripartum Parents Through Grief, Trauma and Medical Complexity, April 23

This training provides an overview of grief, trauma, and medical complexity across the perinatal and neonatal continuum, with a focus on how these experiences affect patients, families and health care teams.

Participants will learn to recognize trauma and grief responses related to pregnancy complications, birth experiences, NICU care and loss, while applying trauma-informed and equity-centered care principles.

The session emphasizes practical strategies for interdisciplinary collaboration, compassionate communication, screening and referral to support better mental health and family outcomes.

Cost: Complimentary to all attendees

When: Thursday, April 23, 12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.

Click Here to Learn More and Register

MHA Health Institute: EMTALA Regulatory Series, June 29 – July 27

April 2, 2026

MHA Health Institute: EMTALA Regulatory Series, June 29 – July 27

Hospitals must follow federal law, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ regulations and interpretative guidelines for the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act.

This three-part series will focus on EMTALA regulations, emphasizing problematic areas of EMTALA concepts, adequacy of medical screening and on-call physician issues.

Audience

  • CEOs
  • Chief Medical Officers,
  • Chief Nursing Officers,
  • Compliance Officers and Legal Counsel,
  • Department Directors,
  • Emergency Department Staff,
  • Governing Board Members,
  • Nurses,
  • Obstetric Department Staff,
  • On-call Physicians,
  • Physicians,
  • Quality Improvement Staff,
  • Regulatory Readiness Liaisons,
  • Risk Managers and Safety Officers

Cost:

  • $600 MHA Members
  • $700 Non-Members

When:

  • Monday, June 29, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
  • Monday, July 13, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
  • Monday, July 27, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Click Here to Learn More and Register

Whitepaper: 5 Strategies to Bring Discipline to Healthcare Labor Cost Management

April 2, 2026

Whitepaper: 5 Strategies to Bring Discipline to Healthcare Labor Cost Management

Labor remains hospitals’ largest expense, yet many organizations still struggle to manage it effectively.

Persistent workforce shortages, rising premium labor and fluctuating patient demand have made traditional approaches insufficient. Organizations that rely on retrospective reporting often react too late, absorbing overtime costs and operational disruption.

This e-book outlines five proven labor management strategies used by high-performing healthcare organizations to better align staffing with demand, improve efficiency and sustain performance.

In this report, leaders will learn how to build a more structured, systemwide approach to labor management that connects daily decisions to long-term financial outcomes.

Insights include:

  • Setting clear targets grounded in volume, rate and efficiency,
  • Managing labor through consistent operating rhythms,
  • Ensuring accountability at every level,
  • Analyzing and reducing premium labor spend, and
  • Approaching position control strategically.

Click Here to Download this Whitepaper

Webinar: Rethinking Revenue Cycle: From Fragmented Workflows to a Unified Operating Model, May 7

April 2, 2026

Webinar: Rethinking Revenue Cycle: From Fragmented Workflows to a Unified Operating Model, May 7

Revenue cycle is often managed as a series of discrete functions, but for clinicians and frontline teams its fragmentation creates daily friction that directly impacts patient care. From prior authorization delays that postpone treatments and procedures to downstream coding and billing rework, disconnected workflows introduce complexity, slow decision-making, and pull clinicians away from the work they trained to do.

As AI becomes more deeply embedded in revenue operations, these fragmented approaches are increasingly exposed. Without a system-level view, AI risks amplifying inefficiencies rather than transforming how work gets done.

Join leaders from Singing River Health for a discussion on why AI-enabled revenue operating systems are becoming essential to improve visibility, reduce rework and help teams move from reactive tasks to proactive operations.

You’ll walk away with:

  • How fragmented revenue workflows create hidden clinical and operational costs,
  • Why a revenue operating system is different from traditional revenue cycle optimization, and
  • Common pitfalls when applying AI to fragmented operations and how to avoid them.

Cost: Free

When: Thursday, May 7, 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Click Here to Register