NOSORH is excited to announce the launch of the popular NOSORH Rural Primary Care Institute in an “on-demand” format! Tailored specifically for State Offices of Rural Health and their partners and stakeholders, NOSORH’s Rural Primary Care Institute – On-Demand equips participants with the tools to deliver effective technical assistance to rural primary care providers. The courses cover a wide range of relevant topics and best practices. Whether you opt for the entire institute or select individual courses, you’ll gain invaluable insights to better support your state’s rural primary care and safety net providers, empowering you to make a meaningful impact. Visit NOSORH’s iSpring Marketplace.

FY 2024 Spending Bill Signed into Law:  

In late March, President Biden signed into law the final Fiscal Year 2024 spending bill for federal agencies, including HHS. The $1.2 trillion bill finalized the funding levels for rural health programs through September 30, 2024. HRSA’s Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) is funded at $364 million for FY24, included in that funding is: 

Each year, County Health Rankings & Roadmaps releases new data and publishes a National Findings Report to influence understanding and action about what shapes health. The Annual Data Release provides a snapshot of the health of nearly every county in the nation. The program seeks and advocates for a new understanding of data and evidence, and develops methods that can challenge assumptions, explore possibilities and build collective power. The National Findings Report is a call to action for leaders and community members to dig into local data to better understand health in communities and implement strategies so everyone can thrive. Check out the annual Report to learn more.

The Washington State Department of Health Rural Health Workforce (DOH Workforce) team just released a Grow Your Own Toolkit to provide resources and best practices on how to implement Grow Your Own programs for rural health facilities to expand their workforce in a sustainable and equitable way.

Over the past year, the DOH Workforce team engaged with leaders and staff from various rural health facilities to understand how healthcare workforce development programs are being implemented. They also gained insight from other key stakeholders in the rural health workforce landscape, including educational facilities, community organizations, and policy and government leaders.

The rural health community lost a long-time friend last week with the passing of Jerry Coopey. Jerry was an employee of HRSA and one of the first members of the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy. I met Jerry when I attended my first NOSORH Annual Meeting many years ago. That was when we had a lot of enthusiasm, but very little funding, and the Flex program was something that we hardly dared to dream about. Jerry was one of the first people that I met all those years ago, and it was a little difficult to comprehend this man who was dressed impeccably, communicated in DC jargon, knew and talked to everyone (whether they agreed with him or not), and had a strategy to grow what I came to know as the rural health movement.

Jerry became a dear friend to me and so many others. He believed deeply in peace, justice and humanity. He loved to talk to people and actively sought to understand them, no matter their position or beliefs. He was a fierce advocate for equality and thought that it was often better to ask for forgiveness rather than permission, particularly when trying to make change within the federal bureaucracy.

It was Jerry’s vision to have an Office of Rural Health in every state. He facilitated the development of organizations that contributed to the movement, including a group to organize and advocate for the offices (NOSORH), a grassroots structure to advocate at the state level (state rural health associations), a platform to help states with recruitment and retention (3RNet), and data to make the economic case for rural health (Rural Health Works). He helped create the camaraderie that we have today and loved to have as large a group as possible go to dinner, where he would walk around the table talking to everyone and sampling their food as he went.

It is difficult to imagine a world without Jerry. While I am fairly certain that rural health work would have happened in some regard, I know without a doubt that the rural health community that we have today is a result of his vision and personality. Thank you, Jerry, for your advocacy, for your love of people, and for your friendship.