• Georgia: Rural Americans are at a higher risk of death from one of the five leading causes of death than those who live in urban areas, according to a recent Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report from CDC. Researchers at CDC analyzed the number of potentially preventable deaths between 2010 and 2022 and found that rural Americans were more likely to die from heart disease, cancer, unintentional injuries, stroke, and chronic lower respiratory disease before the age of 80 compared to urban Americans. "There is a well-described, rural-urban divide in the United States, where rural residents tend to be sicker and poorer and to have worse health outcomes than do their non-rural peers," said Macarena Garcia, a senior health scientist at CDC's Office of Rural Health. (Kekatos, ABC News, 4/30; Rodriguez, KFF Health News, 4/15)
• Illinois: The Joint Commission on Tuesday announced it is launching the Rural Health Clinic Accreditation Program, which will aim to standardize patient care practices and staff training among rural health clinics throughout the United States. The program will be open to applicants this summer and intends to help clinics in medically underserved, rural communities. The new program will include standards for rural clinics to follow regarding emergency preparedness, medical error reduction, and health information and medication management. (Deveraux, Modern Healthcare, 5/7)
• Texas: Steward Health Care, which filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy on Monday, has placed all its 31 hospitals in the United States up for sale in hopes of finalizing transactions by the end of the summer to address its $9 billion debt, according to the health system's attorneys in a court hearing on Tuesday. "Our goal remains that there are zero hospitals closed on our watch," said Ray Schrock, an attorney for Steward. "There's going to be a change in ownership in many hospitals, we recognize that. But we don't want to see any of these communities fail to be served." Schrock added that the sale of the hospitals will be complicated since some of the hospitals are profitable while others aren't, and each state has its own interests and priorities. "As we're conducting a massive M&A process like this, we need to get it done efficiently, we need to get it done fast, but we also need to do it safely," he said. "We think that there’s a home for all of these facilities." (Knauth, Reuters, 5/7; Kacik, Modern Healthcare, 5/7; Kacik, Modern Healthcare, 5/8)

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