Rural Spotlight

SDOH Series: Radon, Lung Health and Health Equity Webinar, January 29

January 14, 2026

SDOH Series: Radon, Lung Health and Health Equity Webinar, January 29

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, Office of Minority Health and Health Equity, is partnering with the Bureau of Environmental Epidemiology and the American Lung Association to offer this free webinar.

Join this webinar to learn more about radon risks, how they connect to lung cancer and how to take action to improve environmental health and health equity.

Cost: Free

When: Thursday, January 29, 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Click Here to Register

Missouri Nurses Association Expands Membership to Licensed Practical Nurses in Historic First

January 14, 2026

Missouri Nurses Association Expands Membership to Licensed Practical Nurses in Historic First

In a historic milestone marking the first membership expansion in its more than 100-year history, the Missouri Nurses Association, (MONA) announced that it will begin welcoming Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs) as members effective January 1, 2026.

Founded over a century ago, MONA has long served as the professional voice for nursing in Missouri, advocating for nurses, patients, and the nursing profession at the state level. This expansion reflects MONA’s commitment to strengthening nursing advocacy by bringing nurses across roles and practice settings together under a unified voice.

“Advocacy is strongest when nurses stand together,” said Jill Kliethermes, Executive Director of the Missouri Nurses Association. “Licensed Practical Nurses play a vital role in healthcare delivery across Missouri, and welcoming LPNs into MONA strengthens our collective voice as we advocate for policies that impact nurses and the patients they serve.”

As LPN members, participants will have access to state-level advocacy and engagement opportunities, select educational programs and events, and member savings and benefits offered through MONA. While LPN membership does not include American Nurses Association (ANA) membership benefits currently, the expansion ensures that LPN perspectives are represented in conversations affecting nursing practice, workforce issues, and healthcare policy in Missouri.

The decision comes at a time when healthcare systems nationwide are navigating workforce challenges and evolving care models. MONA’s leadership emphasized that expanding membership reflects both the realities of modern nursing and the organization’s mission to advance the profession through inclusion, advocacy, and collaboration.

“This is an important evolution for MONA,” Kliethermes added. “For more than 100 years, we have adapted to meet the needs of nurses and patients. Welcoming LPNs as members reinforces our commitment to representing nursing as a profession and ensuring that nurses’ voices are heard at the Capitol.”

Annual Dues: $72 per year

Click Here to learn More and Join

Survey Opportunity: Stakeholder Perspectives on Rural Hospital Closures and Prevention

January 14, 2026

Survey Opportunity: Stakeholder Perspectives on Rural Hospital Closures and Prevention

The University of Illinois Chicago invites you to participate in this national survey of rural health stakeholders, a project designed to understand the challenges, strengths, and needs of rural hospitals and the communities they serve across the United States. The goal of this survey is to gather insights from rural healthcare providers, administrators, policymakers, and community members to help develop a predictive model that identifies rural hospitals at risk of closure.

By sharing your perspectives, you will help researchers better understand the factors that contribute to hospital sustainability – such as workforce capacity, community support, financial pressures, and access to care. Your input will directly inform data-driven strategies to support rural hospitals, strengthen healthcare infrastructure, and protect access to essential services in rural communities.

The survey takes approximately 10 minutes to complete. Participation is voluntary and confidential, and responses will be analyzed in aggregate only. Findings from this survey will be used to inform policymakers and national organizations working to stabilize and strengthen the rural healthcare system.

Click Here to Access the Survey

Whitepaper: How Orthopedic + MSK Practices are Optimizing Coding and Improving Cash Flow

January 9, 2026

Whitepaper: How Orthopedic + MSK Practices are Optimizing Coding and Improving Cash Flow

Orthopedic and musculoskeletal (MSK) practices are entering a new era of revenue cycle pressure – one defined by coding complexity, chronic staffing shortages, and rapidly shifting payer requirements. These forces are converging to create a perfect storm: rising denial rates, widening reimbursement delays, and growing strain on already over-extended coding teams.

This new report highlights how orthopedic and MSK groups are turning to technology to boost accuracy, improve cash flow, and build more resilient coding operations.

Learn from orthopedic practices that are seeing results – including:

  • A reduction in claim lag from 7 – 10 days to just 2-3 days,
  • A 50% – 100% increase in coder productivity with AI-enabled workflows, and
  • Reduced overhead with up to a 30% drop in coding headcount.

Click Here to Download the Whitepaper

Webinar: From Repetitive to Real-Time: AI that Lightens the Back-Office Load, January 22

January 9, 2026

Webinar: From Repetitive to Real-Time: AI that Lightens the Back-Office Load, January 22

While clinical AI gets the spotlight, back-office operations are quietly being reshaped by automation, data intelligence and workflow tools that ease burdens across finance, HR, administration and more.

The result? Leading health systems are improving efficiency, reducing burnout and building a more sustainable workforce behind the scenes.

This session explores how AI is actively solving pain points in non-clinical areas, unlocking time, insights and morale. From automating the repetitive to providing real-time insights, AI is helping back-office teams work smarter and stay longer.

Key takeaways:

  • Where AI is driving immediate gains in operational efficiency and workforce morale,
  • Case-based lessons on easing burnout and improving retention, and
  • How to strategically apply AI without adding complexity or cost.

Cost: Free

When: Thursday, January 22, 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Click Here to Register

Webinar: POCUS Without Chaos: How Health Systems Build Workflows That Actually Work, January 27

January 9, 2026

Webinar: POCUS Without Chaos: How Health Systems Build Workflows That Actually Work, January 27

Point-of-care ultrasound programs often grow faster than the workflows supporting them. Images live in silos. Exams go undocumented. Billing is missed and leaders lack a clear view of ROI.

Health systems like Baylor Scott & White Health, Yale New Haven Health and University of Maryland Medical System have taken a different approach – treating POCUS as an enterprise workflow, not a side project.

In this live session, system ultrasound, emergency medicine and IT leaders share how they’ve built scalable POCUS programs that improve documentation, reduce risk and surface real financial impact across departments.

Learnings Include:

  • How undocumented or unbilled POCUS exams quietly erode revenue
  • The governance, IT and clinical decisions required to scale POCUS beyond individual departments.
  • What successful systemwide deployments get right – from integration strategy to ongoing support.

Cost: Free

When: Tuesday, January 27, 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Click Here to Register

Webinar: Behavioral Health’s Breaking Point: New Survey Reveals What Leaders are Prioritizing Next, January 28

January 9, 2026

Webinar: Behavioral Health’s Breaking Point: New Survey Reveals What Leaders are Prioritizing Next, January 28

Burnout, denials, workforce gaps – behavioral health leaders are under pressure from all sides. With demand climbing and capacity stretched, the sector faces a defining moment.

This live webinar unpacks results from a nationwide Becker’s – NextGen Healthcare survey of senior behavioral health executives, surfacing where leaders are focused for 2026, and how technology, automation and AI are driving sustainable change.

Join to explore what forward-thinking organizations are doing to protect revenue, reduce clinician overload and scale resilient, tech-enabled care models.

You’ll Learn:

  • Why workforce sustainability ranks as the top priority heading into 2026 – and the strategies leaders are using to reduce burnout and boost retention.
  • What the data says about documentation burden, and how augmented intelligence is helping clinicians reclaim lost time.
  • The biggest sources of revenue leakage in behavioral health, from denials to coding complexity, and where automation is strengthening integrity across the board.
  • How leading organizations are structuring AI governance to safely scale use beyond pilots.

Cost: Free

When: Wednesday, January 28, 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Click Here to Register

Webinar: Federal Rural Definitions, January 22

January 9, 2026

Webinar: Federal Rural Definitions, January 22

In 2025, many agencies across the federal government released new data allowing users to understand how rural populations and areas are changing. This webinar will provide a brief history of rural population over time and review how the term “rural” is defined.

Presenters from the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) will focus on how FORHP compiles information from the Census Bureau, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Economic Research Services (ERS) to identify rural areas in the United States for rural health grant program eligibility. Changes to rural areas, as identified by FORHP with their most recent September 2025 data release, will be highlighted.

Cost: Free

When: Thursday, January 22, 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Click Here to Register

Webinar: From Insights to Action: Identifying Needs for Rural Substance Use Disorder Training Through Professional Listening Sessions, January 14

January 9, 2026

Webinar: From Insights to Action: Identifying Needs for Rural Substance Use Disorder Training Through Professional Listening Sessions, January 14

This two-part presentation from the Center of Rural Addiction at the University of Vermont (UVM CORA) will:

  • Share findings about what helps and hinders SUD treatment in rural communities, and
  • Introduce the UVM CORA Opioid and Substance Use Treatment Training Scholarship Program – an intensive, no-cost, two-day training initiative tailored for rural primary care practices.

Learning Objectives:

  • Identify methodologies used in listening sessions to explore facilitators and barriers to providing SUD services in rural communities in Northern New England.
  • Summarize practical insights and lessons learned from listening sessions across diverse rural settings.
  • Describe the structure, objectives, and intended impact of UVM CORA’s Opioid & Substance Use Treatment Training Scholarship Program.
  • Explain how feedback from health care professionals has shaped program design and informed broader strategies to support rural primary care teams.

Cost: Free

When: Wednesday, January 14, 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Click Here to Register

CMS Proposes Changes to Health Plan Price Transparency – Comment by February 23

January 9, 2026

CMS Proposes Changes to Health Plan Price Transparency – Comment by February 23

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), working with the Department of Labor and the Department of the Treasury (collectively, the Departments), requests public input on proposed changes to the payer price transparency regulations intended to make pricing information easier to access for participants, beneficiaries and enrollees, and to improve the consistency and reliability of public pricing disclosures.

Currently, most group health plans and issuers of group or individual health insurance post pricing information for covered items and services, which third parties, such as researchers and app developers, can use to help consumers better understand the costs associated with their health care.

Proposals include reducing the number and size of the machine-readable files that health plans post online, adding data elements to provide context around the data being reported, and improving the ease of locating and downloading the machine-readable files.

Click Here to Read More