How Advocate Health Is Strengthening Its Rural Footprint

The nonprofit health system details its $3 billion in investments to expand rural healthcare access and quality in a new white paper.

Advocate Health is putting a spotlight on the critical role of access in rural healthcare, outlining how one of the nation’s largest nonprofit health systems is pouring significant resources into supporting vulnerable communities.

In a new report, Commitment to Community: Advocate Health’s Role as an Innovative National Rural Health Leader, the system details more than $3 billion in investments across its rural footprint. That includes approximately $600 million in annual uncompensated care, which underscores the financial challenges rural hospitals face and the scale of support required to keep them viable.

Of Advocate Health’s 69 hospitals, 21 are in rural counties across six states, alongside 322 rural clinics.

"We're combining the strength of a national health system with the heart of local care – delivered by people who live in and understand the communities they serve,” said Advocate Health CEO Eugene Woods. "From virtual visits that bring specialists to small towns to new facilities, expanded mental health services and training the next generation of rural health professionals, we're committed to transforming rural health and strengthening the communities we call home."

Technology and innovation are central to Advocate’s approach. Every rural hospital in its network now has 24/7 access to virtual care teams, while telepharmacy and hospital-at-home programs are expanding to meet patients where they live. More than 110 patients a day are receiving hospital-level care in their homes and Advocate Health is working to extend the model deeper into rural areas.

Workforce development is another pillar of the system’s rural strategy. Advocate Health is partnering with medical schools and foundations such as The Duke Endowment to expand rural residency programs and fortify physician pipelines. Meanwhile, the organization is working to increase access to clinical trials and advanced therapies, allowing rural patients to benefit from research opportunities typically available only in academic centers.

The report also highlights creative infrastructure solutions, from modular emergency departments like the one in Chattooga County in Georgia, which treats about 50 patients a day, to mobile hospitals deployed in disaster situations. Recent partnerships, such as Hugh Chatham Health joining Advocate Health in July, include a $100 million commitment to bolster technology, services, and staffing.

Beyond its own footprint, the system is pushing for policy changes to support rural care more broadly. Its recommendations in the report include creating a national Medicare provider licensure system to make it easier for clinicians to practice across state lines, making telehealth and hospital at home flexibilities permanent, and modernizing rural hospital payment models.

The report concludes that national scale and local connection are both vital to sustaining rural care, and notes that caregivers in rural areas often live in the same communities where they practice, providing a level of familiarity and trust that complements the resources of a larger health system. Access to high-quality care should be consistent across communities, regardless of geography or population size, Advocate Health stressed.

“We’re going to keep learning from our dedicated rural health leaders and clinicians and putting these lessons to good use in every rural community we serve, adapting for the local context,” Dr. Nwando Olayiwola, president of Advocate’s National Center for Clinical and Community Impact, said. “For Advocate Health, this is just the beginning. We are energized by the stories of our patients in rural communities and committed to continuing to serve them in the best way possible.”