Public Hearing on Rural Health Redesign Center Authority Set for February 9

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HARRISBURG - The Center for Rural Pennsylvania, chaired by Sen. Gene Yaw, will hold a public hearing on Wednesday, February 9 at 9 a.m. at the State Capitol Building to learn more about the work of the Rural Health Redesign Center Authority (RHRCA), how it affects rural hospitals/providers, and what the legislature could do to support or enhance its work in the future. The hearing will also be held via Zoom.

"Pennsylvania was the first state in the nation to design and implement the rural health model to address the needs of our rural hospitals as they faced resource constraints in providing critical services to our rural communities," Sen. Yaw said. "This hearing will bring together those who helped implement the model and those who are participating in the model so that we can learn more about how it is working and any future implications."

Featured panelists at the hearing are: Pennsylvania Acting Secretary of Health Keara Klinepeter, Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania Vice President of Innovative Payment and Care Delivery Kate Slatt, Rural Health Redesign Center Chief Operating Officer Janice Walters, Chan Soon-Shiong Medical Center at Windber Chief Executive Officer Thomas Kurtz, Endless Mountains Health Systems Chief Executive Officer Loren Stone, Highmark Health Provider Payment & Network Infrastructure Vice President Sean Burns, National Rural Health Association Chief Operations Officer Brock Slabach, Armstrong Center for Medicine and Health Hospital President and CEO John Lewis, and Rural Health Redesign Center Executive Director Gary Zegiestowsky.

In addition to Sen. Yaw, Center Board members are: Board Vice Chairman Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski; Board Secretary Dr. Nancy Falvo, Clarion University of Pennsylvania; Board Treasurer Stephen Brame, Governor's representative; Sen. Katie Muth; Rep. Dan Moul; Richard Esch, University of Pittsburgh at Bradford and Titusville; Dr. Timothy Kelsey, Pennsylvania State University; Shannon Munro, Pennsylvania College of Technology; Dr. Charles Patterson, Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania; Susan Snelick, Northern Pennsylvania Regional College; and Darrin Youker, Governor's representative.

The public hearing will be held in the Main Capitol Building, Hearing Room 8E-B, EW, Harrisburg. To attend the hearing via Zoom, attendees are asked to register in advance here .

The Center for Rural Pennsylvania is a bipartisan, bicameral legislative agency that serves as a resource for rural policy within the Pennsylvania General Assembly. The Center works with the legislature, educators, state and federal executive branch agencies, and national, statewide, regional and local organizations to maximize resources and strategies that can better serve Pennsylvania's nearly 3.4 million rural residents.