Leading Rural Health Care

Real leaders. Real challenges. Real impact in rural health.Rural health care is personal, complex and deeply rooted in community. On Leading Rural Health Care: Conversations Beyond the Margin, your host, Brendan Hurley, sits down with the executives, innovators and changemakers balancing financial pressures, workforce shortages, infrastructure and technology challenges and the urgent need to deliver quality care close to home. Their stories go beyond the balance sheet to reveal the ideas, innovations and people working tirelessly to keep quality care accessible in their communities. From community trust and perception to financial survival, you'll hear what's working, what's not and what's next in the field. Tune in for lessons from peers and a renewed sense of what leadership looks like when the stakes couldn't be higher.If you lead or aspire to lead in rural health care, this is your front-row seat to real conversations.

Leading Rural Health Care is a health podcast hosted by Brendan Hurley, with 10 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Brendan Hurley hosts Leading Rural Health Care, a health show with 10 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

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  Episode #11

  The Hospital That Wouldn't Let Him Leave

  Aug 19, 20261h 15m

  What does it take to turn around a struggling rural hospital? In this episode, Bill Hellebusch, Administrator of Hermann Area District Hospital, walks through the financial and cultural turnaround he led since becoming CEO in 2023 — from tackling a revenue cycle in crisis to rebuilding employee and community confidence. Hellebusch also reflects on stepping away from his role last year, and the community and staff support that brought him back. He shares how partnerships with regional systems have strengthened patient care, including during a mass casualty event that tested the hospital's readiness, and offers his perspective on payer relations, bond restructuring and the future of rural health policy in Missouri.

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  Episode #10

  Bridging Academic Medicine and Rural Care

  Aug 5, 202641 min

  Rural health care in Missouri is fragile, and Ric Ransom knows it firsthand. As CEO of MU Health Care, Ransom leads the University of Missouri's academic health system while navigating many of the same pressures — workforce shortages, reimbursement gaps, rising costs — that rural hospitals face at a different scale. He shares how his legal background shapes his approach to partnerships, why he describes the state of rural health care as "fragile," and how MU Health Care has responded when hospitals in Boonville, Fulton and Mexico closed. He also discusses expanding specialty care access, the promise and limits of technology, and why workforce investment is one of his biggest sources of optimism.

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  Episode #9

  A Paramedic's Path to the Corner Office

  Jul 21, 20261h 34m

  What does it take to turn around a rural hospital in under three months? In this episode, Steve Henson, CEO of Ste. Genevieve County Memorial Hospital, shares the story behind his fast-moving restructuring plan and the unconventional career path — from ambulance driver to attorney to hospital executive — that prepared him for it. Henson discusses the realities of critical access hospital finances, the growing impact of Medicare Advantage on rural hospital margins, and why rural hospitals function as economic engines for their communities. He also shares his approach to building trust with staff quickly, including the informal leaders every organization relies on. This episode offers a clear-eyed view of the financial and leadership challenges shaping rural health care today.

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  Episode #8

  Building Trust Through Vulnerability and Presence

  Jun 24, 20261h 11m

  Earning trust is the foundation of leadership—especially for a leader stepping into a century-old organization. In this episode, Matt Fry, president and CEO of Freeman Health System in Joplin, Missouri, shares what it takes to lead a locally owned, nonprofit health system through a period of growth and change. As the first CEO hired from outside the organization in its 100-year history, Fry explains how presence, humility and a willingness to be vulnerable is helping him build trust with his team and community. He also discusses empowering his leadership team, advancing quality through lean process improvement and integrating behavioral health across the system. This conversation offers a candid look at the mindset required to lead rural health care forward while keeping people and communities at the center.

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  Episode #7

  A National View on Rural Health Care

  Jun 22, 202659 min

  Rural hospitals are often misunderstood, underfunded and underestimated, but they are also some of the most innovative health care organizations in the country. In this episode, Alan Morgan, CEO of the National Rural Health Association, shares a national perspective on the forces shaping rural health care today. Drawing on more than 35 years of health policy experience, Morgan covers the real reasons rural hospitals close, what the Rural Health Transformation Fund could mean for the future, the ongoing battle over the 340B drug program and why collaboration — inside and outside the hospital — is the defining trait of successful rural health leaders. He also offers a direct challenge to rural leaders: tell your story, because it matters more than you think.

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