Advocate Health investing $3B across rural footprint: 8 things to know
Charlotte, N.C.-based Advocate Health is investing more than $3 billion across its rural operations to preserve care access, expand services and build a sustainable pipeline of providers for the future.
The investment comes at a time when nearly half of rural hospitals are operating at a loss and 800 are at risk of closure, according to an analysis by the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform.
Twenty-one of Advocate Health’s nearly 70 hospitals are located in rural counties across six states, along with more than 320 rural clinics and a network of mobile and virtual programs. The system, formed by the December 2022 merger of Advocate Aurora Health and Atrium Health, details its ongoing and future efforts in a 2025 report titled “Commitment to Community: Advocate Health’s Role as an Innovative National Rural Health Leader.”
“At Advocate Health, we believe access to nation-leading care shouldn’t depend on your ZIP code or the size of your town,” Advocate Health CEO Eugene Woods said. “That’s why we’re investing more than $3 billion across our rural footprint – to expand access, improve outcomes and create jobs.”
Eight things to know:
1. Investment backs rural hospitals, clinics and workforce. Advocate Health is investing more than $3 billion in capital and operating expenses to support rural infrastructure, staffing and technology. The investment also includes $600 million in uncompensated care annually, according to the report. “We’re combining the strength of a national health system with the heart of local care — delivered by people who live in and understand the communities they serve,” Mr. Woods said. “From virtual visits that bring specialists to small towns to new facilities, expanded mental health services and training the next generation of rural health professionals, we’re committed to transforming rural health and strengthening the communities we call home.”
2. Virtual critical care, hospital-at-home and telepharmacy initiatives are scaling rapidly. Advocate Health’s hospital-at-home program now serves more than 110 patients a day and is expanding into rural areas. Every rural hospital in the system is supported by a virtual critical care team of intensivists, nurses and pharmacists who offer 24/7 oversight and rapid intervention via telehealth.
3. Advocate Health’s latest hospital acquisition. In July, Hugh Chatham Health in Elkin, N.C., became part of Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist, an Advocate Health member. The deal included a $100 million commitment to enhance services, upgrade technology and support workforce development in the Yadkin Valley.
4. Rural clinical trials and cancer care are expanding. Advocate Health is extending clinical trials and cancer research into rural areas, including rural North Carolina and Wisconsin. At Wilkes Medical Center, trial participation more than doubled between 2021 and 2023.
5. New programs are growing the rural workforce. Advocate Health supports several pipeline programs, including the Wisconsin Academy for Rural Medicine, a family medicine residency in Elkhorn, Wis., and a new rural residency program launching in Stanly County, N.C., with support from The Duke Endowment.
6. Mobile, modular and emergency infrastructure innovations. The system built Georgia’s first modular standalone emergency department in Chattooga County, which now sees about 50 patients daily. In times of crisis, it deploys mobile hospitals — as it did during Hurricane Helene in 2024 — to maintain care continuity. “Every rural area, every rural county, has its own individual needs,” Kurt Stuenkel, president and CEO of Atrium Health Floyd, said. “You need to bring some creativity to these problems. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution. This was an innovative idea we thought would work in Chattooga County. It’s clear now from the numbers the need was there.
7. Advocate Health has a blueprint for policy reform. The white paper includes a federal policy wish list: making telehealth flexibilities permanent, modernizing rural hospital payment models, and launching a national Medicare provider licensure program to ease cross-state care delivery.
8. Community-based care extends beyond the clinic. Advocate Health supports school-based therapy, literacy outreach in elementary schools and food education programs like “Passport to Health” to teach healthy habits early. These efforts aim to reduce downstream disease burden in areas with high rates of chronic illness.
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