Last fall, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services did something historically significant: it stood up a dedicated Office of Rural Health Transformation tasked with allocating $50 billion over the next 4 years to states with rural health transformation plans. The message from the federal government was unambiguous—rural healthcare can no longer wait.

The challenge that funding is meant to address is well-documented. The Covista Care Capacity Monitor finds that 85% of healthcare executives in rural and less urban communities say they can’t find enough local talent—nearly double the rate in large metro areas. More than half have already cut patient capacity: fewer appointments, closed beds, services that no longer exist. The problem isn’t simply money or equipment. It’s people.

In February 2026, Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC), launched the Alliance for Advancing Rural Healthcare (AARH)—an eight-organization coalition built to help states turn that federal investment into lasting change. Covista is a founding member, alongside Arcadia, Castlight Health, Mission Mobile Medical, Telemedicine.com, TruBridge and Walgreens. As America’s largest healthcare educator, we bring something to this alliance that most partners can’t: the ability to build the workforce rural communities actually need.

What Is Covista’s Role in the AARH?

The AARH is organized around five strategic goals for rural health transformation. Covista delivers on three of those priorities—Workforce Development, Sustainable Access and Technology Innovation.

Workforce Development

Travel nurses and locum physicians are pressure valves, not a solution. They’re expensive, often unavailable when you need them most and they leave. What rural communities need is something more durable: professionals who trained nearby, built relationships in the region and chose to stay. Covista’s flexible online and hybrid programs—through Chamberlain University, Walden University and our other accredited institutions—are designed with exactly that in mind. Students don’t have to leave their communities to earn their credentials. More than 40% of our physician residents are already serving in underserved areas. That’s not a coincidence—it’s the model working. It also creates something beyond better healthcare: real career pathways for people in rural communities who want to serve where they live, generating local economic opportunity alongside local health capacity.

Sustainable Access

Every unfilled position is a patient who waits longer, travels farther or goes without care. Our health system partnerships are built around closing that gap—connecting rural providers with graduates who are ready to step in and stay. A consistent local pipeline also reduces costly reliance on travel staff. For rural hospitals—where labor represents 50–60% of operating costs and patient populations skew toward Medicare and Medicaid—that cost relief matters. A more stable workforce means more stable finances, and more stable finances mean providers can keep their doors open for the long term. More access means better outcomes: fewer patients driving hours for care and a real chance at reducing the preventable deaths that disproportionately affect rural communities.

Technology Innovation

Covista graduates enter the workforce trained and ready to operate within modern clinical and health IT environments—reducing onboarding time and helping organizations get full value from their technology investments from day one. 

Impact on Rural Communities

The healthcare staffing crisis in rural America is, at its core, a pipeline problem. When the only path to a clinical credential requires moving to a city, rural communities lose twice: once when the student leaves to train and again when they don’t come back. Our model is designed to interrupt that cycle.

Through our active health system partnerships, Covista works directly with rural providers to identify workforce gaps and align graduate placement to local needs. This isn’t a placement service—it’s a long-term strategy for community health stability. When graduates train in or near the communities they’ll serve, they’re more likely to stay, lead and recruit others.

The Data Behind the Crisis

Through our five accredited institutions, Covista graduates more than 24,000 healthcare professionals each year—including 10% of US nursing degrees in 2024. The scale of that pipeline matters, but so does knowing where to direct it. Through the Covista Care Capacity Monitor, we are actively identifying where staffing shortages are most acute, giving AARH and our health system partners the data they need to act with precision.
 

Looking Ahead: Collaboration and Commitment

Federal investment creates possibility. But turning that possibility into action—for the communities that have waited longest—takes more than funding. It takes sustained commitment from educators, healthcare providers and state partners working together. AARH is already moving from launch to execution, with alliance members actively engaging state governments on Rural Health Transformation planning.

That's the work Covista is committed to—as a founding member of the AARH and as a long-term partner to the rural and underserved communities we serve.

For health systems, state governments and community organizations ready to build lasting healthcare partnerships, we invite you to connect with us.