Chair File: Celebrating the ‘Power of Rural’ and Keeping Rural Hospitals Strong

Every November, we celebrate National Rural Health Day to raise awareness of the challenges facing rural hospitals and health systems and help highlight the innovative work they are doing to preserve access to high-quality, affordable care.

Rural health care is personally important to me. Since 2017, I’ve had the pleasure of being CEO and president of Dartmouth Health, one of the most rural academic medical centers in the United States. In my current role as AHA board chair, I’ve learned a lot about the challenges facing rural hospitals and health systems around the country.

The simple truth: Rural hospitals and health systems are cornerstones of our communities, and most are struggling.

Consider these facts:

• Rural hospitals make up about 35% of all hospitals in the U.S., and nearly half of them have 25 or fewer beds.
• Rural Americans are more likely to develop chronic diseases and die younger than their urban counterparts.
• Current costs of labor, drugs and supplies strain rural hospitals’ resources that could otherwise be invested in clinical programs or physical plant enhancements.
• Since 2010, at least 148 rural hospitals have closed or converted to another type of provider. Each closure means more Americans will have to travel longer distances to receive care, affecting emergency care and maternity care most acutely.

Rural residents deserve the same access to health care as those who live in urban areas.

I encourage you to learn more about the issues facing rural hospitals and recognize National Rural Health Day on Nov. 21. All that week, the AHA will be sharing multimedia content on rural health care. That includes an Advancing Health podcast featuring my conversation with Shannon Wu, AHA’s director of inpatient payment policy, on the challenges facing rural hospitals and health systems.

Visit AHA.org for more resources and information on National Rural Health Day. And be sure to check out a new AHA webpage on rural behavioral health. In addition, registration is now open for the AHA Rural Health Care Leadership Conference, Feb. 23-26, 2025, in San Antonio.

For 61 million Americans, rural hospitals and health systems provide care close to home and serve as economic anchors in their communities. We need to educate patients, families, communities, the media and legislators — and get their support — on the important work that rural hospitals and all hospitals do: delivering vital care and services that people depend on every day of the year.

Today is Veterans Day, and I want to extend my thanks and gratitude to those who have served in the military and made sacrifices to keep our nation safe and to those who continue to protect us every day. Please see the Nov. 8 column from AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack on the great debt we owe to veterans and how the AHA is supporting them.