In Episode 338, Stacey Richter talks with Nikki King, DHA, about ideas to meet rural healthcare's toughest challenges. Nikki offers three community-centric ideas: freestanding ERs with the financial discipline not to take advantage of the communities they serve, telehealth that actually accounts for broadband access, and expanding nurse practitioner rights and PCP scope so more people in access deserts can get care — including low-risk maternity care. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN ✅ Why rural hospital closures set off a downward spiral that's hard for a community to escape ✅ Three community-centric ideas to meet rural healthcare access challenges: freestanding ERs, broadband-aware telehealth, and expanded NP/PCP scope ✅ Why broadband access is a real roadblock to telehealth as a rural health solution ✅ Why maternity care access is a particular crisis in rural America, and what other countries do differently ✅ Why perfect can't be the enemy of the good when a community has no healthcare options at all WHY THIS MATTERS When a rural hospital closes, it's often a bellwether for a community caught in a downward spiral: providers leave, jobs disappear, families relocate, and eventually there isn't even a population base big enough to support a hospital if one wanted to open. Rural communities are trying very hard to hang on to what they have — and creative, community-centric solutions like freestanding ERs and expanded NP scope may be the difference between some access and none at all. MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE EP312 with Douglas Eby, MD, MPH, CPE: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Other Apps === LINKS === 🔗 Show Notes with all mentioned links: Episode Page 🔗 Healthcare Industry Acronyms and Terms ✉️ Enjoy this podcast? Subscribe to the free weekly newsletter 🫙 Support the podcast with a small donation to the Tip Jar 📺 Subscribe to our YouTube channel 🎤 Listen on Apple Podcasts 🎤 Listen on Spotify === CONNECT WITH THE RHV TEAM === ✭ LinkedIn ✭ Threads ✭ Bluesky ✭ X 00:00 Introduction 05:57 How dire is the rural hospital situation right now? 06:18 How could freestanding ERs be a potential solution for rural hospitals? 08:21 What are other potential rural health access solutions? 09:25 Why is broadband a roadblock to telehealth as a solution for rural health access? 14:06 The "hot potato" of nurse practitioners in the healthcare world. 15:05 "The number of residencies for physicians each year is not increasing, but the population … is increasing." 19:06 EP312 with Douglas Eby, MD, MPH, CPE, of the Nuka System of Care. 20:41 What's the issue with maternity care in rural America? 22:53 "As healthcare becomes more and more specialized, [the] ability to treat high-risk cases is better, but access gets worse." 26:50 How is mental health care affected in rural communities? 27:23 "Rural communities are trying very hard to hang on to what they have." 28:49 "When you look at the one market plan that's available in a rural community, you probably can't afford it." 30:39 What's the single biggest challenge to moving to a model that incentivizes keeping people healthy? 31:33 "The easiest low-hanging fruit … is having national Medicaid and have that put under the same hood as Medicare."