To the Journal editor:

Distance defines daily life in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula — from where your children go to school to how far it is to the nearest emergency room. For our communities, the local hospital isn’t just a building. It’s a lifeline, providing emergency care, maternity services, behavioral health support and good jobs that keep our local economy strong.

That’s why the new Rural Health Transformation Program is such an important opportunity to stabilize and modernize rural healthcare. As the Market CEO of UP Health System, which includes Marquette, Bell and Portage, I see every day how these dollars could make a real, meaningful difference.

I’ve worked closely with my rural colleagues across the state to outline how Michigan should use these funds: invest in workforce recruitment and retention, support rural hospitals in retaining key services like maternity care and create flexible funding for rural hospital technology innovation. If we want to preserve and strengthen rural healthcare, we must invest directly in the people and systems that deliver it.

When Congress enacted the RHTP, the legislative intent was clear: help rural hospitals weather significant Medicaid reductions and preserve access to essential care in underserved areas. Lawmakers recognized that federal funding should flow directly to rural hospitals, and not be diverted to unrelated programs, because these facilities are the backbone of the rural health system.

That need is urgent. Many of our Michigan rural hospitals operate on negative margins and risk closure. Hospitals across the state report more than 23,000 workforce vacancies, with the most severe shortages in nursing and behavioral health. In the Upper Peninsula, we sometimes face staffing shortages so severe that ambulances are diverted and patients must transfer to downstate facilities. Without dedicated support, many hospitals are forced to eliminate services like obstetrics because of the high cost, pushing families to drive as much as two or three hours to deliver their babies.

We also need flexible rural hospital funding to support technology enhancements. One-size-fits-all grants don’t work for small hospitals that are already stretched thin. Many operate with outdated electronic health record systems, limited broadband and minimal IT support, which restrict their ability to exchange data or expand telehealth. A recent report found 25% of rural hospitals cite lack of funding as the biggest barrier to modernizing technology. Flexible funding would let each hospital invest in what it needs most, ensuring technology dollars actually improve patient care rather than sit unused due to program restrictions.

These priorities are exactly what Congress envisioned with the RHTP — to sustain rural hospitals, protect access and strengthen local care capacity. To meet our goals of improving health outcomes, we must keep rural hospitals open in the first place.

I urge the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and our congressional delegation to ensure RHTP funds reach the front lines of care. Rural hospitals are ready to innovate, but we cannot continue to transform healthcare and advance care delivery without more support.