Upcoming Events
Information for Current & Future Health Professionals
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Save the Date! 2025 Iowa Rural Health Association's (IRHA) Annual Conference
IRHA is thrilled to announce their Annual Conference will be held on National Rural Health Day this year. On Thursday, November 20, 2025, join healthcare professionals, policymakers, researchers, and community leaders tackle the unique challenges and opportunities in rural health care throughout Iowa. Stay tuned for registration details and agenda highlights! Rural Health Fellows Leadership Program Applications Open
Application deadline: Thursday, September 11, 2025 National Rural Health Association (NRHA) is now accepting applications for the 2026 Rural Health Fellows Leadership Program. NRHA’s Rural Health Fellows is a yearlong training initiative designed to develop a diverse, professional network of rural health leaders from across the country. Each year, NRHA selects 15 to 20 individuals who have demonstrated a dedication to improving rural health through their professional or community experience. Learn More and Apply Now |
News
Rural Patients Face Tough Choices When Their Hospitals Stop Delivering Babies
More than 100 rural hospitals nationwide have shut down birthing units since 2021, disproportionately affecting low-income and Native American patients and leading to increased health risks, financial burdens, and emotional distress for families. This article demonstrates the systemic decline in rural obstetric care and the long-term health and community consequences of these closures.
Tools & Resources
Healthcare Leadership Trends in 2025: Must-Know Leadership Trends Healthcare Decision Makers Can't Ignore
B.E. Smith Leadership Solutions, an AMN Healthcare company, is a leading provider of healthcare interim leadership, executive search and academic leadership services. Each year for the past decade, the company has surveyed executives to glean timely insights on pressing issues and influential forces in leadership talent management. Healthcare Leadership Trends for 2025 presents findings on recruitment, retention, engagement, and development along with an opening discussion of the financial and operational context in which the leadership issues play out.
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Understanding the Social Vulnerability Index: A Key Tool for Rural Health
The Social Vulnerability Index (SVI), developed by the CDC, identifies communities most at risk during emergencies due to social and economic factors. It measures 15 factors across four areas: socioeconomic status, household composition and disability, minority status and language, and housing and transportation. For rural Iowa, the SVI is especially valuable. Our communities often face higher poverty rates, limited healthcare access, and transportation challenges. The SVI helps rural health leaders pinpoint vulnerable populations to better allocate resources, plan emergency responses, and advance health equity.
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Publications
Medicaid Plays A Key Role for Maternal and Infant Health in Rural Communities
This paper examines the role of Medicaid in covering women of childbearing age (19 through 44 years old) living in small towns and rural areas.
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The Rural Emergency Hospital Model: Year Two Progress Report
The Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) released a report on rural emergency hospitals and hosted a related discussion, Keeping Care Local: Federal Policies to Support Rural Hospitals, with NRHA, the Texas Organization of Rural and Community Hospitals, the North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center, and KFF. The webinar focused on preserving access to rural hospital care and strengthening long-term stability in underserved communities. They also explored how federal policy can better support rural care delivery.
Please find the recording of this event here. |
Bipartisan Policy Center April 2025 Report
The Bipartisan Policy Center's (BPC) April 2025 report, Sustaining Rural Hospital Access: Adjustments to Medicare Rural Hospital Designations, presents a set of actionable policy recommendations to preserve rural hospitals that are vital to 60 million Americans living in rural communities.
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Training a rural oral health workforce: Effects of rural background on dentist practice choice
This study compares access to, and services offered by, Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHCs) in rural and urban communities. The increasing numbers of CCBHCs in rural communities combined with their range of offered services holds promise towards increasing the availability of care for rural communities within an integrated model.
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Job Assessments and the Anticipated Retention of Behavioral Health Clinicians Working in US Health Professional Shortage Areas
A shortage of behavioral health clinicians is limiting access to mental health care across the United States, particularly in areas designated as Mental Health Professional Shortage Areas (mHPSAs). Retaining clinicians in these high-need areas is essential to improving access. This article examines behavioral health clinicians’ assessments of various job and workplace factors associated with their intention to remain in mHPSA practices.
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Improving Access to Maternity Care in Iowa's Healthcare Deserts
The U.S. has the highest maternal death rate among high-income countries, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And with a surge of labor-and-delivery unit closures across the country, it is getting even harder for women to access high-quality maternity care- particularly in rural areas where these closures are most prevalent. In Iowa, for instance, there are 3.3 ob-gyns per 10,000 women of reproductive age. This is compared to 4.5 ob-gyns for the same number of women in the U.S.
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Physician Training in Rural and Health Center Settings More Than Doubled, 2008–24
This paper examines the growth of graduate medical education programs in rural areas and federally qualified health centers (FQHC) between academic years 2008–09 and 2023–24.
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A Qualitative Review of Community Health Workers’ Training, Supervision, and Service Delivery Needs
Community Health Workers (CHW) are part of an emerging workforce in the field of mental health, but few studies have examined their training, supervision, and service delivery needs in the United States.
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A Holistic and Sustainable Approach to Public Health Staffing and Workforce DevelopmentPublic health in the United States faces a continuous cycle of “neglect, panic, repeat.” As seen with 9/11, H1N1, and COVID-19, public health emergencies create a flurry of attention and resources, but once the crisis passes, focus quickly shifts to other matters until the next emergency, when the cycle repeats.
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Rural Populations are Shifting Older
The Economic Research Service (ERS) at the U.S. Department of Agriculture reports on recent data showing that the number of rural people of working age (between 15 and 64 years old) has fallen in recent years, dropping to 28 million in 2023 from more than 30 million in 2010. At the same time, the number of rural residents aged 65 and over grew from 7.4 million in 2010 to 9.7 million in 2023.
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Composition of the Public Health Workforce: Distribution, Training, and TenureLocal health departments play a critical role in promoting the overall health and well-being of communities across the country, and influxes of response-related funding and attention make it challenging to build and sustain a consistent and well-trained public health workforce.
This article describes the composition of the local public health workforce (including staffing levels, demographic characteristics, tenure, and training in public health) at the local, agency-level. |
Why Are Rural Areas Losing Independent Healthcare Providers?
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