Rural Spotlight

May 6, 2026

Article: Agencies Warn of Agentic AI Cybersecurity Risks

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, National Security Agency and international cybersecurity arms have issued a guide about the careful adoption of agentic AI.

“The guidance primarily focuses on large language model-based agentic AI systems and highlights key security challenges and risks for organizations,” the American Hospital Association reported May 1. “It discusses threats and vulnerabilities within agentic AI systems and risks that arise from system behavior. The guidance also includes steps for designing, deploying and operating agentic AI systems safely.”

As health systems increasingly adopt agentic AI, the agencies warn of the expanded footprint and inconsistent behavior of the technology.

Click Here to Read Guidance

Click Here to Read More from America’s Cyber Defense Agency

May 6, 2026

Article: Closing the Access Gap: 6 Strategies to Redraw the Patient Care Map

For rural healthcare organizations, access has become the central organizing principle behind nearly every strategic decision.

This new operational reality is being shaped by a convergence of pressures. Workforce shortages, rapidly declining independent physician practices, geographic dispersion and aging populations have pushed traditional care models to their limits, widening gaps in access to routine and preventive services. A November 2025 Commonwealth Fund report highlights the consequences: nearly 40% of adults living in rural areas have sought care in emergency departments for conditions that likely could have been treated in primary care settings.

But the challenge, as athenahealth’s research and policy work make clear, runs deeper than geography alone. “I think access is much more nuanced,” Joe Ganley, vice president of government and regulatory affairs at athenahealth, said. “It’s great if I have a doctor’s office in my town. It’s not great if I can’t get an appointment for nine months because they’re totally booked, or I can’t afford it.”

In response, rural leaders are redesigning not just where but how care is delivered – through virtual-first workflows, expanded ambulatory and community-based care sites, stronger data-sharing and new partnerships that ease patients’ access to services while extending scarce clinical capacity.

This article, the first in a four-part series, “Rural healthcare excellence in 2026: 26 lessons in making less do more,” highlights six ways rural providers are expanding access through pragmatic innovation and what it signals for the future of care delivery.

Click Here to Read More

May 6, 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

May 6, 2026

Whitepaper: A New Era in Diabetes Management

A person living with diabetes may see providers across endocrinology, primary care, cardiology and bariatrics, yet continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) data is often not easily available to the full care team.

This guide shows how health systems can build a more connected, scalable approach to CGM management by making data more actionable inside the clinical workflow.

As CGM adoption grows, health systems have a chance to move from episodic review toward more continuous, team-based diabetes management. But success depends on more than device access. It requires workflows that support data visibility, clinical decision-making and financial sustainability.

This resource reviews the CGM landscape, outlines common workflow challenges and highlights opportunities to support enterprise CGM management across settings. It also examines how organizations can align CGM programs with value-based care, Remote Patient Monitoring and Chronic Care Management strategies.

Key takeaways:

• How to make CGM data actionable within the EHR workflow,
• How one regional health system approaches CGM management across care settings,
• Which reimbursement models can support long-term scale, and
• Why enterprise CGM strategies matter for chronic disease management.

Click Here to Download this Whitepaper