Protecting Your Rural Designation Status: Advocating for Essential Funding

At Germane Solutions, we recognize the important role your hospital plays in expanding access to care, training physicians, and supporting community health. We also understand the financial constraints you face in sustaining these efforts. Your current Rural Designation provides resources that make it possible to serve patients effectively while advancing Graduate Medical Education.

Recently, policymakers have raised concerns that funding intended for rural communities may be diluted as more urban hospitals seek rural designation status for these benefits. As these conversations continue, it is critical that your voice is heard in support of the positive impact your hospital delivers with these resources, especially when it comes to patient health outcomes and equitable access to quality care.

Protecting your designation and ensuring continued access to this funding requires proactive advocacy. By reaching out to your congressional representatives, you can highlight:

• How these funds allow you to sustain critical services for your community

• The importance of your programs in training physicians to serve across diverse care settings and building the physician pipeline that addresses the growing national physician shortage

• The long-term value of preserving financial support for hospitals like yours

We encourage you to contact your legislators today. Your advocacy ensures policymakers understand the importance of financially supporting urban hospitals with rural designations and the essential role you play in sustaining health care and Graduate Medical Education.

Germane Solutions stands ready to partner with you in these efforts. Together, we can protect vital resources, strengthen care delivery, and build the physician workforce of tomorrow. Through our Strategy service line, we help organizations anticipate potential implications, explore various scenarios, and design forward-looking strategies, ensuring even in the face of change, you are equipped to respond quickly and effectively.

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Muoio, D. (2025, August 4). Hundreds of urban hospitals could be double-dipping into rural Medicare funds, study finds. Fierce Healthcare. Retrieved from https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/providers/hundreds-urban-hospitals-could-be-double-dipping-rural-medicare-funds-study-finds