ETSU Center for Rural Health and Research reflects on 2026 report

JOHNSON CITY — The East Tennessee State University Center for Rural Health and Research has published its sixth annual report, highlighting new projects and more than $1.3 million in new funding for fiscal year 2026. The center, which is one of the only federally funded rural research groups in the nation, studies rural health and collaborates with other facilities and healthcare groups to improve well-being. Its unique work hopefully has implications for federal decision-makers and legislators, CRHR Director Michael Meit said. "Because of regional universities and who we are, I think it gives us more of a toehold in rural communities and helps keep us grounded in what it really means to be rural," he said. Meit highlighted the national work the center has done in the past year, including its fourth year of participation in a collaborative initiative to study key issues affecting the public health workforce. Its program partners include the University of Minnesota, Columbia University, Indiana University, Johns Hopkins University and the University of Washington. It also recently secured $200,000 from The Commonwealth Fund to identify the healthcare services that rural residents consider a need. The research will conduct focus groups and listening sessions across the nation. "We're actually going to communities and letting them tell us what they need, which I think is unique," Meit said. The staff and faculty also conduct projects with regional and local groups like the Appalachian Regional Commission and Ballad Health. Much of the center's work is achieved through collaboration — a strategy Meit said comes with the territory in rural areas. "No rural community has the resources it needs," he said. "To get things done, you have to figure out who to bring to the table." Moving forward, the center will continue many of its ongoing projects, such as its Strong LINK research with Ballad. The research is in its third year of surveying expectant mothers on their health and children's development to better understand medical, social and educational outcomes.The facility also plans to start new federally funded projects in the coming year. One such initiative will look at why healthcare facilities open or close service lines, which are services grouped around a particular patient need or condition."[That's] really, really important, particularly as we start to face funding cuts, which are going to hit rural communities," Meit said. The director noted that many people are focused on the Rural Health Transformation Program, a federal fund created to lessen the disproportionate effect federal Medicaid cuts will have on rural health. But people are less focused, Meit said, on those impending cuts. "The transformation investment, while good, is not a backfill for the cuts that are happening," he said. "Transforming a system, creating innovation is exciting, but the problem that our rural facilities are facing is that they are soon to be… providing a lot more uncompensated care, and they're already operating in ways that are not profitable."Meit is proud, he added, of the center's "world-class" team that works to provide evidence on what succeeds in rural health and what investments should be made."We have a group of dedicated, super committed and talented faculty and staff who are smart as a whip," he said. "For me to be able to get to spend time with them every day, it's just a privilege for me."