By Stephanie Fraser
Conference Correspondent, Answers Media Network
LinkedIn: Stephanie Fraser
Event: HIMSS 2026
When: March 2026
Where: Las Vegas NV
As new federal funding targets rural healthcare modernization, conversations in Las Vegas centered on staffing shortages, digital infrastructure, and new models of care.
At HIMSS 2026, rural health emerged as a central theme in conversations about healthcare transformation. The focus reflects growing national attention on rural care delivery, particularly following the launch of the federal Rural Health Transformation Program, a five-year, $50 billion initiative designed to help states strengthen access to care, modernize infrastructure, and stabilize rural providers.
The initiative arrives at a pivotal moment for rural hospitals. Federal policymakers have signaled that Medicaid spending could be reduced by as much as $1 trillion over the next decade, raising concerns about how rural providers, many of which rely heavily on Medicaid reimbursement, will sustain operations while adapting to new care models.
During his HIMSS keynote address, CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz pointed to the Rural Health Transformation Program as an opportunity to expand access to care in underserved communities through digital tools and new care delivery models.
“I can’t buy mental health practitioners,” Oz said. “They don’t live there. They don’t want to work there. They don’t want to be there. It’s not going to happen.”
Oz emphasized that technology-enabled care models, including telehealth and digital platforms, will be essential to expanding access where workforce shortages make traditional staffing models difficult. “When you get $50 billion to the rural health care system, what they learn is translatable to urban health care,” Oz said.
Across HIMSS sessions and interviews, rural healthcare leaders echoed that perspective, noting that workforce shortages, aging infrastructure, cybersecurity risks, and limited capital are forcing organizations to rethink how care delivery models operate.
Phil Sobol, COO of CeraCore, said many rural hospitals face modernization challenges that go well beyond implementing new software or infrastructure. “Their biggest challenge is twofold,” he said. “One is access to good talent in the IT space; to attain it and retain it.” Sobol noted rural hospitals often operate with minimal IT leadership compared with urban systems. “Nine times out of ten into these rural hospitals, the top IT resource is at best a manager, certainly not a director or even a CIO,” he said.
Those workforce constraints are particularly acute in rural communities, where access to care is already limited and delays in treatment can lead to more complex and costly interventions.
“In rural regions with limited access to primary care and specialists, the more effort required to access care, the longer patients delay treatment, often leading to higher-acuity needs,” said Cynthia Church, chief strategy officer at Xealth.
Technologies such as remote patient monitoring, telehealth, and digital communication tools are increasingly being used to help reduce those barriers and extend care beyond traditional clinical settings.
Cybersecurity is also a growing concern. Rural hospitals often lack dedicated security leadership and instead rely on partnerships, managed services, and fractional leadership models to build foundational cybersecurity programs. The importance of partnerships and shared infrastructure also surfaced in discussions around data integration and care coordination.
Arcadia is among the organizations participating in the Alliance for Advancing Rural Healthcare, a collaboration launched earlier this year to help states implement modernization initiatives tied to the federal transformation program. Luke Hansen, MD, Chief Medical Officer at Arcadia, said many HIMSS conversations reflected the broader shift underway as rural communities prepare for the next phase of transformation. “They’re not thinking about the activation opportunity that’s going to come through rural transformation funding yet,” Hansen said. “It’s still very abstract.”
Hansen noted that rural healthcare challenges have developed gradually over decades as economic and demographic shifts reshaped many communities. “There’s been a gradual decline in services,” he said. “Healthcare is a major part of the economic engine that remains in these communities.”
As states begin planning how to deploy new federal funding, HIMSS sessions highlighted several approaches emerging across the rural health ecosystem.
One example came from Missouri’s Transformation of Rural Community Health (ToRCH) initiative, discussed during a HIMSS panel. The program connects Missouri Medicaid, rural hospitals, and community organizations through coordinated case management designed to address both clinical care needs and non-clinical drivers of health.
“Healthcare providers and community care programs shouldn’t operate in silos,” said Dr. Halima Ahmadi-Montecalvo, VP of Research and Evaluation at Unite Us. “This program brought government, healthcare delivery and social services into one ecosystem.”
Dr. Marvin Smoot, VP of Clinic Operations at Bothwell Regional Health Center, said the effort has improved operational performance and care coordination.
“The value of what we are doing goes beyond cost savings,” Smoot said. “We’ve seen improvements in efficiency, quality, and satisfaction.”
Other discussions in Las Vegas focused on how emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence could be applied in smaller community hospitals that often lack the resources of larger systems.
During the HIMSS AI in Healthcare Forum, Scott Perryman, interim CEO of Three Crosses Regional Hospital, challenged common assumptions about rural healthcare organizations. “The biggest misconception is that rural communities lack expertise or capability,” Perryman said.
Panelists agreed the challenge is not a lack of innovation, but the resources and infrastructure needed to scale emerging technologies.
“Innovation is not great until it is actually meaningful and practical,” said Laura Edell, Chief Innovation and Technology Officer at Csuite Growth Advisors, emphasizing the need for AI tools that are accessible to smaller hospitals with limited staffing and budgets.
Another HIMSS session focused on the role of data standards and interoperability in supporting rural health innovation. Speakers from HL7’s Gravity Project discussed how standardized data frameworks can help providers, payers, and community organizations coordinate care more effectively.
Emily Anders, Director of Payments Strategy at Unite Us and a committee member of the Gravity Project, said shared coding standards for social needs screenings and referrals can help organizations connect patients to community-based services while supporting reimbursement for those services.
Speakers emphasized that aligning early around common standards can accelerate interoperability and improve coordination across clinical and community-based care partners.
As states begin shaping plans for the Rural Health Transformation Program, industry leaders say the coming years will test how effectively new funding translates into sustainable care models for rural communities. With Medicaid spending projected to decline significantly over the next decade, many rural providers face the dual challenge of modernizing infrastructure while maintaining financial stability.
At HIMSS, the conversations made clear that technology alone will not solve those challenges. Success will likely depend on coordinated efforts across providers, policymakers, technology partners, and community organizations working to build durable healthcare systems capable of supporting rural populations for the long term.