IHA Small & Rural Hospitals Meeting: Transforming Rural Healthcare
Facing industry-wide challenges, small and rural hospital leaders have an opportunity to rethink how care is delivered, financed and sustained in rural communities. At the 2026 IHA Small & Rural Hospitals Annual Meeting, small and rural hospital leaders will hear from Sanford Health’s Chief Transformation Officer, Tommy Ibrahim, MD, MBA, MHA, about the rural health system’s successful transformation efforts and how its approaches can help strengthen rural healthcare in Illinois.

Dr. Ibrahim’s June 18 session—“Strengthening Access, Quality and Affordability Through Rural Healthcare Transformation”—will have two components, the first exploring strategies and intentional care redesign within the Sanford system. The second part will be a fireside chat highlighting actionable strategies for Illinois’ small and rural hospital leaders.

The session on transformation will offer several key takeaways, including:

• Practical guidance for rural and community hospitals of all sizes;

• Where to start, what to prioritize, what to partner on and how to drive meaningful transformation, even without scale;

• Strategic decisions and lessons learned in deploying new care models that improve outcomes and reduce costs; and

• The role of artificial intelligence-enabled workflows, virtual care, value-based strategies, and systems and capabilities to support innovation at scale.

See our registration website to learn more about the June 18 Annual Meeting and registration discount, as well as the June 17 pre-conference workshops and networking reception. IHA's discounted room rate at the Crowne Plaza Springfield is available through May 27. Register today.

Staff contact: Bridget McCarte

Participants Sought for Cook County Medicaid Impact Workgroup
Are you interested in aligning your expertise, sharing resources, and developing actionable solutions to preserve access to health coverage and care? Cook County Health’s Cook County Medicaid Impact Workgroup, a multi-sector, collective effort addressing Medicaid coverage losses and related harms from implementation of H.R. 1, is inviting additional participants to join. 

As part of the workgroup, three sub-groups focused on communication and education, coalition building, and innovation and creation are also active, providing an opportunity for more frequent discussion and ideation among the workgroup meetings. Read more about the Cook County Medicaid Impact Workgroup and sub-groups here. 

The recently launched GetMedicaidFacts.com microsite and toolkit came out of conversations within these sub-groups, which recommended the development of resources to inform Medicaid consumers and other stakeholders about current information on the Medicaid program. The materials can be downloaded and are intentionally unbranded to allow trusted partners to use their own logos. 

Contact Kathy Chan at kchan5@cookcountyhhs.org with any questions.

HSCC Releases Guide on Third-Party AI Risk, Supply Chain Transparency
The Health Sector Coordinating Council’s Cybersecurity Working Group has released a guide for healthcare organizations on third-party artificial intelligence (AI) risk and AI supply chain transparency. Saying the healthcare sector’s accelerated adoption of AI introduces “complex cybersecurity challenges that traditional risk management models cannot address,” the guide offers practical, step-by-step guidance for healthcare organizations to identify existing and evolving instances of AI within their technology supply chains. The document outlines best practices for healthcare organizations related to data lineage tracking, model auditability, embedded third-party dependencies and post-deployment monitoring, and offers strategies to mitigate related cyber and privacy risks, from procurement to deployment. The best practices are intended to align with frameworks such as the National Institute of Standards and Technology AI Risk Management Framework. 

CDC: Drug-resistant Shigella Infections Are Rising
A recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention brief highlights a rise in cases of drug-resistant Shigella infections. Shigellosis is a diarrheal illness caused by bacteria that is easily transmitted through fecal-oral transmission and sexual contact. Data show most drug-resistant Shigella cases occurred among adult men, and approximately one-third of the patients were hospitalized. At this time there are no Food and Drug Administration-approved oral treatments available for Shigella infections. Because the bacteria is easily transmissible and resistance genes can spread to other bacteria, the CDC said Shigella is a public health threat. 

The Infectious Respiratory Disease Surveillance Dashboard from the Illinois Dept. of Public Health (IDPH) provides the latest data on hospital visits, seasonal trends, lab test positivity and demographic data. IDPH also tracks COVID-19, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus information through the Illinois Wastewater Surveillance System dashboard.

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