Education and Training of the Rural Healthcare Workforce – News
News stories from the past 60 days.
Jun 29, 2026 - Kansas City University's Rural Health Scholars program is building up the rural health care workforce in the region where Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Missouri meet. By building relationships with 8 different community colleges and 2 four-year universities, the program will accelerate career pathways for students who want to become doctors or dentists in rural communities.
Source: The Daily Yonder
Jun 29, 2026 - The Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) has announced new funding for rural communities, including funding for rural substance use prevention, treatment, and recovery services; expansion of medical residencies; strengthening rural healthcare networks, and advancing telehealth.
Source: Health Resources & Services Administration
Related funding:
Delta Rural Integrated Health Network Program · Rural Communities Opioid Response Program – Impact (RCORP – Impact) · Rural Communities Opioid Response Program – Planning (RCORP – Planning) · Rural Health Network Advancement Program · Rural Northern Border Region Network Planning Program · Rural Residency Planning and Development Program · Technology-Enabled Collaborative Learning Program · Telehealth Nutrition Services Network Grant Program
Jun 23, 2026 - Highlights a medical school producing significant numbers of rural practicing physicians. Discusses perceived contributing factors including recruiting rural residents, a rural focus in the curriculum, and osteopathic medicine being suited to rural practice.
Source: KBIA
May 19, 2026 - The $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program is providing all states with funding over the next 5 years, to address rural health challenges. More than 60% of Health Professional Shortage Areas are in rural areas, and each state proposes to use at least some of the funding for healthcare workforce issues.
Source: Bipartisan Policy Center
HRSA: Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records
Federal Register
May 19, 2026 - The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) is establishing a new system of records, Graduate Medical
Education (GME) Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) Resident Assessment Records. The system will contain records about medical and dental residents training in children's hospitals and teaching health centers, which are used to justify the number of residents counted in calculated GME payments to the hospitals and health centers and avoid duplicate reimbursements. This notice is effective May 19, 2026, except for routine uses described in detail in this notice. Comments on this notice and the routine uses are due by June 18, 2026.
Source: Federal Register
May 15, 2026 - The University of Nebraska Medical Center has opened a new $95 million building on the Rural Health Education Complex in Kearney, allowing the campus to offer medicine, pharmacy, and public health programs for the first time. The number of healthcare students on the Kearney campus is expected to double, to about 625.
May 15, 2026 - Interview with former Mayo Clinic lead lab technologist Jim Checkel, who has developed a curriculum to train future rural healthcare providers and researchers. Since buying a Minnesota farm in 1992 Checkel has hosted over 12,000 people at events where students learn about agriculture-related topics, including mechanical injuries and diseases related to farming.
Source: The Daily Yonder
May 10, 2026 - The University of Minnesota Medical School is partnering with Lakewood Health System to launch a residency in Staples, a small city in west-central Minnesota. Residents will have one year of training in Minneapolis, followed by two years in Staples. The aim of the program is to address the shortage of doctors in rural Minnesota.
Source: MPR News