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Rural Health Information Hub
Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Health
News by Topic: Hospitals

Mar 6, 2026 - Profiles a labor and delivery department in a rural North Carolina Critical Access Hospital. Maternity services were re-started in 2020 using family physicians after closing the department in 1991. Describes maternity care access across North Carolina, challenges with sustaining the service for rural communities, and how they can be a model to other rural communities.
Source: North Carolina Health News
Mar 5, 2026 - Describes challenges around building a new hospital on Navajo Nation. Discusses working within multiple levels of governments, funding, incorporating traditional medicine and facilities, and attracting workforce.
Source: Cronkite News
Mar 3, 2026 - Describes a teleoncology program in a rural Idaho hospital. The program allows cancer patients to meet with specialists through telehealth while using local facilities for lab work and treatment.
Source: KMVT, KSVT
Mar 2, 2026 - Summarizes remarks from Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) and the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) administrators at the 2026 National Rural Health Association Policy Institute. Discusses workforce, healthcare delivery, administration priorities, the Rural Health Transformation Program, and more.
Source: HRSA eNews
Feb 26, 2026 - Announces a bipartisan bill that would create a new Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) hospital designation called an "In Character" Critical Access Hospital. The new designation would ensure hospitals already designated as CAHs do not lose their designation and directs the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to provide administration for the designation.
Source: Office of Representative Glenn Thompson
Feb 23, 2026 - Notice from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) making technical corrections to the November 25, 2025, final rule. This correction is applicable January 1, 2026.
Source: Federal Register
Feb 23, 2026 - Discusses the opening of a new Critical Access Hospital in Montana. Highlights the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other funding that made the new facility possible.
Source: USDA Rural Development Newsroom
Related funding: USDA Community Facilities Direct Loan and Grant Program · USDA Community Facilities Guaranteed Loan Program
Feb 13, 2026 - The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is seeking comments on the following information collections: 1) Emergency and Foreign Hospital Services and Supporting Regulation in 42 CFR 424.103; 2) Consumer Experience Survey Data Collection; 3) Summary of Benefits and Coverage and Uniform Glossary; and 4) Transformed—Medicaid Statistical Information System (T-MSIS). Comments are due by April 14, 2026.
Source: Federal Register
Feb 13, 2026 - The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is seeking comments on the following information collections: 1) Medicare Advantage and Prescription Drug Program; 2) National Implementation of the Outpatient and Ambulatory Surgery Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (OAS CAHPS); and 3) Elimination of Cost-Sharing for Full Benefit Dual-Eligible Individuals Receiving Home and Community-Based Services. Comments are due by March 16, 2026.
Source: Federal Register
Feb 12, 2026 - Highlights policy efforts in the Mississippi legislature aiming to support rural hospitals in creating new revenue streams through new services. The proposed legislation amends certificate of need regulations in the state.
Source: Mississippi Today