What’s touted to be the Northwest’s largest gathering on rural health will take place here March 17-19 during two conferences that are expected to draw health professionals from Alaska, Montana, Oregon, Idaho and Washington, organizers say. 

Building on the theme, “Policy to Reality: Rural Health Tools for Success,” experts and community leaders will present new strategies and innovations in patient care, community health, workforce retention, telehealth and health care reform, organizers say. Also, federal agency representatives will discuss what’s happening on the national level, they say. 

Registration is required to attend the conferences. 

Both of them, the 13th Northwest Regional Critical Access Hospital (CAH) Conference and the 28th NW Regional Rural Health Conference, will be held at the Red Lion Hotel at the Park, 303 W. North River Drive.

The one-day CAH conference will be held Tuesday, March 17, and is designed specifically for CAH administrators, staff, clinicians and board members. 

“Health care will always be about caring for people as individuals, but we’re moving toward a more holistic system that also cares for a community or population and pays for care based on how well we do that rather than how often people receive care,” said conference chairperson Kim Kelley, in a press release about the event. “At this conference, we’ll see how this is happening in rural areas across the Northwest.” 

That conference costs $75 to attend. 

The other conference, the 28th NW Regional Rural Health Conference, set for March 18-19, is designed for a wide range of rural health advocates, including providers, community leaders, administrators, board members, commissioners, policy makers, and public health professionals.

That conference strives to help attendees stay abreast of policy and regulatory developments that impact health care delivery at the federal, regional, state and local levels, while also including information on topics such as collaborative rural models, innovative community projects, and health care information technology, organizers say.

That conference costs $125 to $245 to attend.

For details about the conferences, go to extension.wsu.edu/ahec/conferences/cah-rhc/ or contact the Area Health Education Center of Eastern Washington, Washington State University Extension, at 509-358-7640 or ahec@wsu.edu.