The One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s new $50 billion rural hospital fund is a positive step toward advancing rural health infrastructure — but short-term injections of cash won’t fix deeply rooted systemic challenges, one expert pointed out.
“Money is not the only answer,” said Jason Griffin, managing director at consulting firm Nordic Global.
During his time at Nordic, Griffin has worked alongside organizations like Microsoft and CHIME to help modernize rural hospitals’ IT infrastructure and expand the use of digital health tools amid ongoing workforce and reimbursement challenges.
He knows that rural providers’ stability is deeply threatened by looming Medicaid cuts. While last-minute funding was added as a stopgap, Griffin noted it will only cover about 37% of these providers’ potential losses over the next five years.
In the future, he said he would like to see federal and state governments invest in infrastructure — such as reliable broadband connectivity and stable EHR systems — instead of leaving rural hospitals to shoulder costs.
Better infrastructure would enable sustainable telehealth and value-based care, Griffin added.
Federal and state funding should also support healthcare workforce development in rural communities, including partnerships with universities and medical training programs, he stated.
“All of that really would be needed to support long-term sustainability with that cash injection. I mean, we can spend a lot of money, and then five years from now, be in the same boat,” Griffin remarked.
Cybersecurity is one area where rural hospitals’ staffing challenges are especially acute, he noted — pointing out that these providers often have only four or five people in their IT departments
Most rural providers struggle to manage third-party risk, which is now a leading cause of healthcare data breaches, Griffin said.
“Extended downtime, even over a week, can shut your organization down permanently. And we’ve seen these breaches cause up to five or six weeks of downtime — and it just can’t be sustained,” he declared.
Rural hospitals must constantly choose between investing in clinical equipment or cybersecurity — which is a burden urban hospitals don’t face, Griffin added.
He also noted that there are no requirements for state-by-state reporting or for measuring outcomes tied to the funding. He stressed the need for metrics — such as emergency department wait times and maternal health outcomes — to track whether this funding improves care for rural communities.
In Griffin’s view, a one-time cash injection risks being wasted without clear investment strategies. He believes investments should go toward infrastructure improvements, workforce development and shared services.
