Rural hospitals struggle with staffing shortage, and not just doctors
Chief Healthcare Executive
While hardly any hospitals are having an easy time these days, rural health systems are facing profound difficulties.
“In rural America, the challenges are a little more difficult to navigate,” says Joanne Conroy, CEO and president of Dartmouth Health.
Conroy and two other healthcare leaders - Andrew Mueller, CEO of MaineHealth, and Sunny Eappen, president and CEO of The University of Vermont Health Network - participated in a panel discussion Monday afternoon about rural hospitals and their difficult headwinds.
Rural hospitals were struggling well before the COVID-19 pandemic, but they are now looking at a tougher road. In a recent op-ed, Conroy wrote that rural health systems are reaching a breaking point as they continue to lose money.