Rural Health Advocates Meet With Lawmakers at State Capitol
Rural hospitals’ leaders and physicians participated Tuesday in Rural Health Advocacy Day at the Missouri State Capitol. The event, hosted by the Missouri Rural Health Association, included representatives of MHA and other health care organizations.
Among the attendees were Bill Bridges, CEO of Texas County Memorial Hospital, and Kristina Grant, D.O., a family medicine physician and obstetrics provider at TCMH.
Dr. Grant shared her concerns about health care deserts with lawmakers.
“These rural programs are really important to take care of that,” Dr. Grant said. “It increases the health of those communities, which increases the ability of those people to work, which increases the production in the state, and it works out for everybody — it’s that trickle-down effect.”
Family medicine physicians from University Health Lakewood Medical Center also attended the event to share the importance of primary care to rural health.
In addition to speaking with legislators, attendees had the opportunity to network with health care advocates from across the state.
The Missouri Hospital Association is a nonprofit association in Jefferson City that represents 136 Missouri hospitals. In addition to representation and advocacy on behalf of its membership, the association offers continuing education programs on current health care topics and seeks to educate the public about health care issues.