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Dear colleague, It’s time to fight back against the federal attack on rural hospitals. The future of our facilities and the care of our patients are in grave jeopardy due to Congress’ potential unwillingness to continue critical funding for rural PPS hospitals. Join me and your colleagues in Washington, D.C., July 30-31 as we fight to protect our hospitals. If Congress does not act by Oct. 1, funding for Medicare Dependent Hospitals (MDHs) will expire. Expiration will mean more than 200 MDHs will lose millions of dollars, causing many facilities to reduce services, or worse, close our doors, resulting in a devastating impact on rural seniors across the nation. Hundreds more rural facilities are also threatened by the upcoming expiration of the rural “low-volume” adjustment, a Medicare payment for rural facilities which incur higher incremental costs due to a low-volume of Medicare patients. The loss of these funds will also hurt rural patients, forcing additional hospitals to limit critical services or close. Your voice is needed. The partisan battles on Capitol Hill have muffled the previously strong bipartisan support for rural hospitals. Your representatives need to hear from you before this funding expires. That is why I ask you to join me and the National Rural Health Association (NRHA) on July 30 and 31 in the March for Rural Hospitals, where we will meet with key congressional leadership asking them to protect rural hospitals. Keep rural hospitals open. Join NRHA in its march on Capitol Hill to tell Congress to preserve funding to protect our hospitals and communities they serve. Visit NRHA’s website at RuralHealthWeb.org to register today for this free event. Thank you for your commitment to serving the underserved, Jodi Schmidt Labette Health CEO and NRHA member since 1991