2026 SRAM President’s Address: Redefining the Rural Hospital of Tomorrow
Approximately 100 small and rural hospital leaders from across Illinois gathered today at the 2026 IHA Small & Rural Hospitals Annual Meeting to celebrate how the small and rural hospital community is innovating and adapting. A.J. Wilhelmi, IHA President and CEO, delivered his President’s Address, highlighting the transformative ways these hospitals are reshaping healthcare delivery in their communities and improving lives throughout the state.
“Across Illinois, small and rural hospitals are proving that the future of healthcare is not something that simply happens to us. It is something we are actively creating. We are already seeing remarkable examples of rural hospitals responding to the health needs of their communities,” said Wilhelmi. “You are developing new care models, embracing technology, building partnerships and finding creative ways to meet the evolving needs of the people you serve. The rural hospital of tomorrow is not defined by its size. It’s defined by your ability to connect patients with the right care, at the right time, in the right setting.”
Illinois’ 85 small and rural hospitals represent more than 38% of all hospitals in our state. Together, they generate an annual economic impact of $21.4 billion and serve as critical anchors for the communities that depend on them. Small and rural hospitals directly employ nearly 34,000 individuals and support nearly 87,000 jobs statewide.
“We know that our small and rural hospitals are more than healthcare providers—you are also major employers and economic engines. Beyond the care you provide, when a rural hospital succeeds, communities succeed, and when a rural hospital grows stronger, local economies grow stronger,” Wilhelmi emphasized.
Wilhelmi acknowledged the rapidly evolving nature of healthcare, underscoring both the challenges and opportunities it presents—and the critical role of leadership, vision, and partnership in improving the health and wellbeing of Illinois’ rural communities.
“We know every hospital is unique, each community is different, and all of your organizations are facing your own challenges. Yet you are united by the common mission of improving the health and wellbeing of the people you serve,” said Wilhelmi. “By advocating together in support of that common mission, the hospital community is a force in the halls of government. Advocacy outcomes achieved together will position you to care for your patients today—and continue to redefine the rural hospital of tomorrow—all with the goal of making sure rural communities continue to have the strong, vibrant hospitals they deserve.”
See IHA’s Small and Rural Backgrounder to learn more about the innovative ways small and rural hospitals are providing essential, lifesaving healthcare.
See more about this year’s Annual Meeting on IHA’s X, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Redefining Rural Hospitals: IHA Small & Rural Hospitals Meeting Keynote
Facing financial pressures and evolving patient needs, small and rural hospitals are at a turning point. At today’s Small & Rural Hospitals Annual Meeting in Springfield, Global Futurist Shawn DuBravac, PhD, CFA, encouraged hospital leaders to carve out time to examine the future—a future he described as centered around technology, not bricks mortar, and datafication.
“You can think about what does my community need and how do I deliver it without owning the full asset stack,” said DuBravac, president of the Avrio Institute consultancy. “We are able to scale in very different ways—technology allows us to think beyond the confines of a physical footprint. So often we’ve thought of rural healthcare as a physical footprint, but technology can allow us to think much more broadly than that.”
In redefining rural hospitals, smarter systems, stronger community partnerships, and technology that helps hospitals do more with what they have will be key. “Now is the time to think, ‘What are the capabilities our communities need?’” DuBravac said, noting the move from analog to digital over the last 25 years.
Society is now undergoing the next big shift, from digitization to datafication, which transforms people’s actions and behaviors into quantifiable data to analyze. Data will be fundamental to how hospitals operate in the future, DuBravac said. Learning how to harvest and leverage that data will help improve efficiency, enhance productivity, and improve decision-making.
Artificial intelligence (AI) will continue to have a role, with machine learning AI as a predictive tool for operational issues such as hospital admissions, he said. While not replacing humans, AI will contribute by “removing the ‘cognitive load,’ and the burden of the cognitive load,” allowing leaders to streamline decisions to redeploy staff, alleviate burnout, retain staff, and achieve desired outcomes.
“Rural healthcare systems are embracing technology because they already have labor scarcity and shortages across all domains,” DuBravac said, adding that leaders can learn from starting small pilot projects this year. “You are well-positioned to embrace technology because it’s going to satisfy a need that you have.”
See more about this year’s Annual Meeting on IHA’s X, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Rural Healthcare Transformation: IHA Small & Rural Hospitals Meeting Session
How can rural hospitals and health systems reach their local population to provide care that’s close to home? That question was front and center during a rural healthcare transformation session led by Tommy Ibrahim, MD, MBA, MHA, during today’s IHA Small & Rural Hospitals Annual Meeting.
With rural healthcare at an inflection point—with incredible pain points and barriers to delivering on the hospital mission—he said the experiences of patients and employees are of paramount importance.
“We can’t continue to cut our way to profitability,” said Dr. Ibrahim, Executive Vice President and Chief Transformation Officer with Sanford Health. “We need to identify an alternative way. At that heart of transformation is leveraging technology.”
Healthcare ranks second to the tech industry in its adoption of artificial intelligence (AI), which he said reflects a need to address converging challenges. AI’s utility spans hospital functions, from revenue cycle management to predictive analytics for diseases such as chronic kidney disease.
“There are so many opportunities to help us take better care of these patients in these remote areas and manage them in a more comprehensive fashion,” Dr. Ibrahim said.
AI-enabled ambient listening has helped physicians see more patients. Some, he noted, are delaying retirement because of the technology. Ambient intelligence can spot patients at high risk of falls, which can lead to significantly fewer falls.
Beyond these wins, achieving true transformation requires a system-wide approach. Dr. Ibrahim pointed to its key components: executive committee and governance involvement, strategic alignment, cross-functional collaboration, and change management.
“Leadership needs to demonstrate a level of commitment to invest in these technologies and focus on garnering support across the organization more broadly,” he said.
See more about this year’s Annual Meeting on IHA’s X, Facebook and LinkedIn.
EXTENSION DEADLINE TOMORROW: RHTP Hospital Transformation Planning Grant Application
Yesterday, the Illinois Dept. of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) extended the deadline to tomorrow, Friday, June 19, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. CT to submit applications for the HFS Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for Year 1 Hospital Transformation Planning Grants under the federal Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP). Late submissions will not be accepted. If your hospital has already submitted an application, no further action is required. However, if your hospital would like to revise your application, you must withdraw your current submission and submit a new application before the application deadline. Instructions on how to withdraw your application can be found here.
