CARIBOU, Maine — Cary Medical Center CEO Kris Doody, RN, has been appointed as chair of the American Hospital Association National Committee on the Future of Rural Health Care.
Doody, who also serves as CEO for Pines Health Services, based in Caribou, will lead a task force with executives from AHA member hospitals and health systems to explore rural hospital challenges, identify future trends, increase awareness, and recommend policy changes as well as key operational considerations for the health care field.
Doody has, in the past, served as a member of the AHA national board of trustees and was named AHA Trustee of the Year in 2017. She said she is honored to be part of the effort to look to the future of rural health care.
“I think it is a great move by the AHA to take a specific look at the future of hospitals and other care settings for rural parts of this county,” said Doody, who is also a member of the Maine Hospital Association’s board.
“Our rural hospitals and other providers face many unique challenges from professional recruitment to an aging population, potential reductions in reimbursement and costly new technology including the high cost of prescription medications,” Doody said. “I will be working alongside some of the brightest minds in the country and I look forward to helping shape the way we will care for our communities.”
The task force’s responsibilities will include: defining the scope of “rural” and hospital characteristics for purposes of this initiative; affirming the challenges of providing care in rural communities; determining the existing strengths of provider care in rural settings to inform long-term solutions; identifying promising, scalable leading practices in rural health care; developing new care delivery and stable financial models to ensure access to care in rural settings; and crafting messaging to educate policy makers and the public about the need to transform rural health care in America and the unique challenges in doing so.
The task force will include hospital and health system executives, state hospital associations and the AHA board. The AHA will seek a diverse group of members based on region/geography, organizational structure, bed size and willingness to provide leadership in the development of AHA’s long-range policy agenda.
The task force will convene over a 12-18 month period, beginning this summer and ending in December 2020.
Submitted by the Community Relations and Development Office of Cary Medical Center.
