Rural Health News is a weekly segment of Rural Health Today, a podcast by Hillsdale Hospital.
Welcome back to Rural Health News, the segment of Rural Health Today where we fill you in on the latest in rural health headlines. We’ll cover three headlines in today’s episode: what’s most urgent, a rural health damage report, and a success story to send us into the week.
Most Urgent
A recent report from the Center for Healthcare Quality & Payment Reform shows that over 130 rural hospitals have stopped delivering babies since the end of 2020. These closures represent a 13% reduction in rural maternal and infant care, leaving less than half of US rural hospitals still offering labor and delivery. Travel time to care has increased as a result of these losses, and postpartum care is less likely to be available. Without labor and delivery care, rural communities are left vulnerable to emergencies and high-risk situations, which can be especially dangerous when transportation is limited and ambulance services are strained. CHQPR found that the most significant causes behind rural maternity care closures are national workforce shortages, inadequate reimbursement models from private payers, and the downstream effect of inadequate reimbursement for other services the hospital provides.
Damage Report
Researchers are tracking correlations between health funding cuts and rising disease threats.
In New York and Florida, flesh-eating bacteria has been found in coastal waters and infection cases are experiencing an increase from 2025.
Just last month, the USDA confirmed the presence of New World Screwworm in the US, threatening the wellbeing of livestock and farms. Though the USDA’s inspection service responded immediately upon detection, it is working with 18% less workforce than this time last year, due to funding cuts.
Some life-threatening diseases come from bacteria found in seafood such as raw shellfish. While previously, these threats were surveilled by deep-sea monitoring systems, the instruments collecting that data have been removed and research cut short.
The researchers behind this study expressed concern that this year’s increased risk of threats to public health is compounded by the Trump Administration’s funding cuts for the programs and agencies our communities rely on to track and prevent these kinds of health hazards. It’s alarming how quickly our communities have faced new threats without the adequate resources needed for responding to them. Additional programs experiencing drastic cuts include vaccine research, global food and agriculture safety programs, and the dissolving of the U.S. Agency for International Development and the CDC’s Division of Parasitic Diseases and Malaria. Shutting down USAID and withdrawing from the WHO have not only put countries requiring humanitarian aid at risk, but also put the US at greater risk of exposure to events like the current Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Success Story
Rural community members often experience longer wait times for emergency care when they call 911, leading to poorer outcomes in situations when timely care is vital. Workforce shortages and ambulance expenses are the leading causes of this disparity in emergency care. To aid their rural communities, Minnesota developed the Sprint Medic program, which employs travelling paramedics in pickup trucks equipped with the same lifesaving equipment found in ambulances. Paramedics in the program can respond immediately to healthcare emergencies, often stabilizing patients well before the ambulance arrives. Programs like these both showcase the ingenuity so often found in rural healthcare, and emphasize the need for better resources for our rural hospitals and neighborhoods.
Sources
Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform, “Stopping the Loss of Rural Maternity Care,” June 2026, https://chqpr.org/downloads/Rural_Maternity_Care_Crisis.pdf.
Stephanie Armour, “New Disease Threats Follow Trump Administration’s Health Program Cuts,” July 2, 2026, https://kffhealthnews.org/public-health/new-disease-threats-follow-trump-administrations-health-program-cuts/, KFF Health News.
Grace van Deelen, “Trump Administration to Remove Hundreds of Deep-Ocean Observation Instruments, Dismantling $368 Million Program,” June 3, 2026, https://eos.org/research-and-developments/trump-administration-to-remove-hundreds-of-deep-ocean-observation-instruments-dismantling-368-million-program, Eos.
U.S. Department of Agriculture, “USDA Confirms Presence of New World Screwworm in the United States,” June 3, 2026, https://www.aphis.usda.gov/news/agency-announcements/usda-confirms-presence-new-world-screwworm-united-states.
Nikhil Ranadive, M.D. Et al., “CDC Operational Guidance for Investigating Locally Acquired Mosquito-Transmitted Malaria,” May 21, 2026, https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/75/rr/rr7501a1.htm.
Sarah J. Topping, “Statement from the Southampton Town Trustees Regarding Vibrio Vulnificus,” April 23, 2026, https://www.southamptontownny.gov/DocumentCenter/View/46859/04-23-2026-Trustees-Press-Release—Statement-from-the-Southampton-Town-Trustees-Regarding-Vibrio-vulnificus, Town of Southampton Board of Trustees.
Rick Mayer, “Florida is up to eight cases of Vibrio vulnificus – so-called ‘flesh-eating bacteria’ – in 2026,” June 12, 2026, https://www.wusf.org/health-news-florida/2026-06-12/florida-is-up-to-eight-cases-of-vibrio-vulnificus-so-called-flesh-eating-bacteria-in-2026, WUSF.
Amy Maxmen, “‘We Live With Fear’: In Congo, Doctors Face Ebola With Little Protection,” June 5, 2026, https://kffhealthnews.org/public-health/ebola-congo-virus-outbreak-drc-africa-health-workers-bundibugyo/, KFF Health News.
U.S. Agency for International Development, https://oig.usaid.gov/.
Molly Castle Work, “Minnesota’s ‘sprint medic’ pilot program aims to get paramedics to rural emergencies faster,” July 1, 2026, https://www.mprnews.org/story/2026/06/30/minnesotas-sprint-medic-pilot-program-aims-to-get-paramedics-to-rural-emergencies-faster, Minnesota Public Radio News.
