Background: Since 2010, 130 rural hospitals have closed, leaving only 2,250 rural hospitals remaining in the United States. Of the remaining facilities, outmigration and/or the bypassing of the local hospitals to a larger facility remains problematic and impacts a community’s access to healthcare while affecting the long-term business viability of the city. In December of [...]

Background: In a time when rural hospitals across the United States are closing for various reasons and local residents are left with limited access to healthcare, our academic medical center successfully built one of the few new rural facilities in the country and opened it in January 2023. The new hospital is a seventeen bed [...]

Background: Since 2010, 130 rural hospitals have closed, leaving only 2,250 rural hospitals remaining in the United States. Of the remaining facilities, outmigration and/or the bypassing of the local hospitals to a larger facility remains problematic and impacts a community’s access to healthcare while affecting the long-term business viability of the city. In December of [...]

Background: Physician shortage and healthcare access is a serious issue especially in a rural state like Arkansas and the dearth of physicians has further worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many US trained International Medical Graduates (IMGs) serve the underserved communities of Arkansas to fill in the physician gap. However, the uncertainties surrounding immigration policies, especially [...]

Background: High-quality medication reconciliation is key to reducing medication errors during care transitions. This concept is of paramount importance to Veterans living in rural areas due to less access to clinical pharmacy services. We adapted MARQUIS (Multicenter Medication Reconciliation Quality Improvement Study), in which hospitalists mentored teams in implementation of best practices for inpatient medication [...]

Background: Rural healthcare in both the US and Brazil faces critical challenges in diagnostic services accessibility and efficiency. The Decentralized Integrated Laboratory System (DILS), an evolved form of Point of Care Testing (POCT) technology, aims to overcome these obstacles by enhancing diagnostic processes and patient care in rural settings of both countries. Building on successful [...]

Background: Prior to the COVID Pandemic, the telemedicine market was expected to grow at a rate of 18.4 percent a year. With the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act signed into law in March 2020, Telehealth has experienced rapid expansion. Tele-hospital medicine is carving out several new niches. One is providing a virtual hospitalist [...]

Case Presentation: A 33-year-old Kenyan male school teacher presented to the hospital with a 3-day history of a gradually worsening diffuse headache, nausea and vomiting, and fevers. His past medical history was notable for liver cirrhosis of unknown etiology (Child-Pugh class B), complicated by portal hypertension. He had no known history of tuberculosis. His vital [...]

Background: In a time when rural hospitals across the United States are closing for various reasons and local residents are left with limited access to healthcare, our academic medical center successfully built one of the few new rural facilities in the country and opened it in January 2023. The new hospital is a seventeen bed [...]

Background: In the United States (US), obesity is associated with a high burden of morbidity and mortality, and its prevalence is increasing. A higher prevalence of obesity disproportionately impacts rural (vs. urban) areas and the Midwest and South (vs. West and Northeast) regions (1-2). In addition, obesity is linked with greater healthcare costs compared to [...]