The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.
HOT SPRINGS, S.D. — Two of the nation’s most powerful health officials predict artificial intelligence will play a key role in solving rural America’s health challenges.
This story also ran on The Daily Yonder. It can be republished for free.
Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told a panel of U.S. senators that AI nurses can provide “concierge care” to rural patients. Mehmet Oz, who leads the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, has said “the best way to help some of these communities is going to be AI-based avatars” that connect rural patients to mental health services.
And many state health leaders agree. They are using some of their funding from the $50 billion federal Rural Health Transformation Program to expand AI among rural health organizations.
AI is computer technology that performs tasks that typically rely on human intelligence by finding patterns or generating words. It has the potential to improve the healthcare system by automating back-office work or identifying patients at risk, but several reports contend there’s little evidence AI can improve access to care and patient health in rural areas. It’s unclear how well states will track and share outcomes of the tech they invest in.
Meanwhile, some rural Americans are skeptical, according to interviews with people in Hot Springs, South Dakota, a city of about 3,400 residents at the southern end of the Black Hills.
“I get artificial intelligence for certain things, but for personal healthcare — no,” Tara Haffner said while standing outside the American Legion.
Haffner said she’s worried about AI making mistakes and wants healthcare to stay between her and her doctor.
But Phillip Mues, who oversees technology at Cherry County Hospital and Clinic in rural Valentine, Nebraska, said AI is already helping clinicians save time, reduce burnout, and focus more on patient care.
“I think it will help reduce burden on actual staffing,” he said. “It won’t replace people, but I think it will help in rural communities.”
Still, Mues said, AI can’t fix every challenge. Rural hospitals at risk of closing or ending certain services probably can’t use AI to save enough money to prevent those consequences, he said.
Congressional Republicans created the five-year Rural Health Transformation Program last summer as a last-minute sweetener to President Donald Trump’s signature One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The funding was intended to offset concerns about the outsize fallout anticipated in rural communities from the law, which is expected to reduce overall Medicaid spending by more than $900 billion over a decade.
Hot Springs, which has a 25-bed independent hospital and a Department of Veterans Affairs hospital, is known for its sandstone buildings, veterans’ services, and, yes, hot springs. Residents must drive at least an hour for more advanced care.
Six people interviewed there by KFF Health News said the biggest problem in rural healthcare is the cost or long wait times caused by staffing shortages.
