Arizona Tribune - Equum Medical and NRHA Renew Partnership to Transform Rural Healthcare Access

Alliance Brings Advanced Telehealth and Workforce Solutions to Rural Communities

NEW YORK, NY / ACCESS Newswire / September 9, 2025 / Equum Medical, a leading provider of telehealth-enabled clinical services, and the National Rural Health Association (NRHA) have announced a renewed strategic partnership that will carry their collaboration through five years. This continued alliance - which affirms Equum as NRHA's Gold Partner - is focused on expanding access to care for rural hospitals nationwide through innovative telehealth and workforce solutions. The partnership comes at a critical juncture in rural health, as regulatory reforms and care delivery transformations accelerate efforts to improve health access in underserved communities.

A Pivotal time for Rural Health

The renewal comes at a time where nearly 46% of rural hospitals currently operate at a loss, and 432 facilities are deemed vulnerable to closure. These financial strains, coupled with persistent workforce shortages, have created expanding "care deserts" in many rural regions - leaving gaps in vital services like emergency care, and specialty medicine. Telehealth has emerged as a crucial lifeline to help bridge these gaps. By leveraging virtual care platforms, patients in remote areas can receive timely consultations and critical interventions from specialists without traveling long distances. In fact, telehealth utilization across the U.S. has stabilized at roughly ten times pre-pandemic levels, underscoring the technology's permanent role in care delivery and its immense promise for rural hospitals striving to keep care local.

"Telehealth has fundamentally changed how we deliver care in rural areas, and extending this partnership ensures we can continue that positive transformation for years to come," said Brock Slabach, MPH, FACHE, Chief Operating Officer of NRHA. "Rural hospitals are navigating unprecedented challenges - from workforce shortages to financial pressures, and Equum Medical's support gives them the tools and specialist expertise to overcome resource constraints. By keeping more care local, we're not only improving patient outcomes but also strengthening the viability of our rural health systems."

Value of Partnership

Since first joining NRHA's partner network in 2022, Equum Medical has collaborated with NRHA on multiple initiatives to bolster rural care delivery. Last year, Equum launched a Collaborative Shared Services Program, a novel model developed in response to NRHA member needs, that allows groups of critical access and community hospitals to share telehealth services and specialist coverage as a unified network. This peer-driven approach helps reduce patient outmigration by enabling even the smallest hospitals to offer high-acuity care locally, forming "virtual regional alliances" that extend from emergency tele-neurology to ICU oversight. Equum's telehealth offerings now span emergency medicine, critical care, behavioral health, virtual nursing, remote patient monitoring and more, giving rural facilities on-demand access to a broad spectrum of expertise that was often out of reach. Through its national Virtual Care Collaboration Center, Equum has already delivered over 2 million hours of virtual care in the past year - a volume expected to double in the near term amid surging demand for telehealth services.

Reach and Impact

The impact of these telehealth interventions has been both measurable and meaningful. Rural hospitals leveraging Equum's services are able to treat more patients in place, avoiding unnecessary transfers to distant facilities. For example, tele-neurology consults now allow stroke patients to receive clot-busting therapy (tPA) at their local hospital, significantly improving survival rates and recovery times. Virtual specialist support in areas like critical care, cardiology, and infectious disease enables rural clinicians to co-manage complex cases instead of defaulting to transfers. By keeping patients closer to home, hospitals provide a smoother care experience and enhance patient safety and satisfaction. This also yields major operational benefits - each patient retained locally boosts bed utilization and can generate $12-$14,000 in revenue for a critical access hospital and each avoided transfer saves roughly $2,500 in transport expenses. These outcomes underscore why telehealth adoption is accelerating in rural areas and why innovative care models are vital to rural hospitals' future.

"Equum Medical was founded to address the unique challenges of rural hospitals, and our mission has always been to keep patients and care accessible in their communities," said Dr. Corey Scurlock, MD, MBA, CEO and Founder of Equum Medical. "Over the past few years, we've seen firsthand how telehealth can save lives and strengthen rural hospitals - from providing ICU coverage that prevented patient transfers to deploying virtual specialists who delivered stroke treatments in time. Renewing our collaboration with NRHA is a commitment to accelerate these successes on a national scale. In the coming five years, we will broaden telehealth adoption even further, introduce new services like tele-hospitalists to support inpatient care, and help rural providers navigate every regulatory change and workforce challenge. Together with NRHA, we are confident we can drive transformative change in rural health delivery, ensuring that geography is no longer a barrier to high-quality care."

This renewed partnership solidifies Equum Medical's role as a key resource for NRHA's 21,000 members across all 50 states. Equum will continue as a Gold-level annual sponsor, providing education, advocacy, and shared expertise to help rural providers adapt and thrive. With telehealth poised to play an even larger role in bridging rural care gaps, the time is now to embrace this technology fully and invest in the health of our rural communities. This extended Equum-NRHA alliance is positioned to drive significant improvements in access, quality and financial stability for rural hospitals in the years ahead.

About Equum Medical

Equum Medical is a nationally recognized leader in telehealth-enabled clinical services, helping hospitals and health systems enhance care delivery and serve more patients while achieving positive clinical, operational, and financial outcomes. Equum works with providers large and small - urban and rural - with a focus on ensuring medically underserved communities have access to world-class specialist expertise. Founded over a decade ago by physicians committed to improving rural health, Equum offers a flexible, hybrid-care approach and a wide menu of multi-specialty, critical care, virtual nursing, and other services tailored to the needs of critical access and community hospitals. Equum's mission is to enhance access to care, improve patient outcomes, and support healthcare providers through innovative, technology-driven solutions. For more information, visit EquumMedical.com.

About the National Rural Health Association (NRHA)

NRHA is a nonprofit organization working to improve the health and well-being of rural Americans and to provide leadership on rural health issues through advocacy, communications, education, and research. The Association's membership comprises approximately 26,000 individuals and organizations across all 50 states, all dedicated to addressing the unique healthcare challenges facing rural communities. NRHA brings together rural health care providers, policymakers, and stakeholders to develop and promote innovative solutions and policies that ensure equitable, high-quality, and affordable care for rural populations. For more information, visit RuralHealth.us.

For further information:

Media Contact
Karsten Russell-Wood
Chief Marketing & Experience Officer
Equum Medical
[email protected]
1.833.240.8966

SOURCE: Equum Medical

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire

W.Moreno--AT