The Current Landscape of Rural Health Care: One Hospital’s Journey

• November 21, 2025

Rural health care has been facing significant headwinds, and that was before the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), which has introduced additional uncertainty. Donn Herring, Partner, Spencer Fane LLP, speaks with Lori Wightman, CEO, Bothwell Regional Health Center, and Jon Doolittle, President, Missouri Hospital Association, about the unique challenges facing rural health facilities and how government policy has a disproportionate impact on them, focusing on the journey of Wightman’s rural Missouri hospital. Wightman shares some innovative things her hospital is doing to address these challenges while remaining independent, and Doolittle shares how the OBBBA’s Rural Health Transformation Fund is being implemented.