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Michelle Hood, AHA executive vice president and COO, moderated a panel discussion with Chris Hasse, chief administrative officer, Mayo Clinic Health System, and Julie Yaroch, D.O., president, Promedica Charles and Virginia Hickman Hospital in Adrian, Mich., about the future of rural hospitals and health care. The wide-ranging discussion largely focused on the importance of rural health care, technology and community collaboration.

In a panel discussion moderated by Aaron Wesolowski, AHA vice president of research strategy and policy communications, John Allison, AHA senior associate director, health policy and analytics; Jeremy Martin, COO of St. James Parish Hospital in Lutcher, La.; and Carl Vaagenes, CEO, Alomere Health, in Alexandria, Minn., reviewed the impacts of certain Medicare Advantage programs on many rural hospitals, as revealed in the AHA’s new report, The Growing Impact of Medicare Advantage on Rural Hospitals Across America.

Attendees got a first-hand look at what happens when cybercriminals launch a ransomware attack.

Over 1,200 rural leaders are gathered at the AHA 2025 Rural Health Care Leadership Conference in San Antonio this week. Discussions about challenges and opportunities facing the field range from hospital leadership to grassroots advocacy. 

AHA Board of Trustees Chair Tina Freese Decker Feb. 24 presented the 2024 Rural Hospital Leadership Team Award to the team from Columbia Memorial Hospital, a critical access hospital in Astoria, Ore.

In his welcoming remarks, AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack discussed some of the immediate threats to rural hospitals' well-being due to possible federal budget cuts to Medicaid, the 340B program and site-neutral payment policies. He urged attendees to “light up the switchboards” on Capitol Hill to protect the programs vital to rural hospitals' sustainability. 

In a Q&A featured in the latest AHA Trustee Insights newsletter, leaders from UP Health System — Portage in Michigan discuss their process for implementing board rounding as a board orientation tool, providing trustees an opportunity to engage with front-line workers and better understand the organization's patient safety culture.

A shooting at UPMC Memorial Hospital Feb. 22 in York, Pa., left the suspected gunman and a police officer dead and injured others, according to multiple outlets. AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack Feb. 23 issued the following statement in response.

The AHA Feb. 24 filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the Supreme Court, urging the court to reverse a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit that would jeopardize cost-free access to certain preventive services covered by the Affordable Care Act.

In this Leadership Dialogue, Lynn Hanessian, former chief health strategist for Edelman, which recently released its 2025 Trust Barometer, and AHA Board Member Robert Trestman, M.D., chair of psychiatry and behavioral medicine at Carilion Clinic., join Tina Becker Freese to discuss the importance of trust and how it has evolved in recent years.

The Hospital Capacity Management Consortium, a professional membership group for hospital capacity management leaders, is now part of the AHA. The group consists of nearly 1,000 leaders representing 42 states and over 170 health care organizations across the U.S. 

The U.S. Senate voted 52-48, after a 10-hour “vote-a-rama" session, to adopt a budget resolution for fiscal year 2025 focusing on the border, military and energy. The bill would authorize roughly $340 billion in spending and be fully offset by corresponding spending cuts.

For the roughly 60 million Americans living in rural areas, their local hospital is the lifeblood of their community.

A new AHA report highlights how certain practices by Medicare Advantage plans are increasing rural hospitals' vulnerabilities and threatening access to care in rural communities.

A joint advisory released Feb. 19 by the FBI, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center warns of cybercriminal activity by the Ghost ransomware group.

The Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General Feb. 18 released a report that found about 40% of Medicare enrollees who began opioid use disorder treatment with buprenorphine continued with it for at least six months in office-based settings.

Rural hospitals’ limited access to technology, staff and financial resources constrains their ability to defend against the malicious actors behind today’s ever-escalating cyberattacks, writes John Riggi, AHA national advisor for cybersecurity and risk, in a new blog on protecting rural hospitals from cyberthreats.

Nearly one year after the cyberattack on Change Healthcare, the AHA released a

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Feb.

The Food and Drug Administration Feb.