By Kevin Stansbury

As chief executive of Lincoln Health, my responsibility is simple: ensure the people of eastern Colorado have access to high-quality healthcare close to home when they need it most.

That mission has never been easy. Rural hospitals operate with thin margins while serving older, sicker populations across vast geographic areas. Every day we balance emergency care, primary care, specialty services, obstetrics, rehabilitation, behavioral health and long-term care — all with limited resources.

Today, that challenge has become even greater.

Recent federal policy changes affecting Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act are expected to reduce healthcare funding in communities across the country. Though the full effect will take time to unfold, rural hospitals are already evaluating difficult financial realities that could affect services, staffing and long-term sustainability.

These aren’t abstract budget discussions.

They determine whether a hospital can continue operating. Whether a clinic remains open in a small town. Whether a patient can receive chemotherapy, physical therapy or behavioral healthcare close to home — rather than driving hours into a metropolitan area across the state.

At Lincoln Health, we serve communities spread across thousands of square miles. When someone suffers a heart attack, stroke, serious injury or complicated pregnancy, minutes matter. The nearest hospital is often 80 to 90 miles away.

For our patients, losing local access isn’t an inconvenience. It can become a matter of life and death.

Programs like Colorado’s Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP) represent an extraordinary investment in the future of rural health care. We are deeply grateful for that opportunity and are excited about what it makes possible. The program is designed to prevent the use of funds to replace operating revenue lost from the Medicaid program and that allows hospitals to keep their doors open every day. Instead, it takes the approach of requiring funds be used for future programs and services with the intent of helping hospitals be prepared for the future.

Those are two different purposes.

One helps rural hospitals modernize, innovate and prepare for the future.

The other pays for today’s emergency room physician, tomorrow’s ambulance crew, this afternoon’s orthopedic surgery and the nurse caring for a hospitalized patient tonight.

We need both.

Asking transformation dollars to permanently offset operating losses is like expecting a one-time investment to replace an ongoing source of income. It simply isn’t what these programs were designed to do.

This conversation isn’t about politics.

It isn’t about Republicans or Democrats.

It isn’t about Washington or Denver.

It’s about whether rural Americans deserve the same timely access to healthcare as everyone else.

Every community deserves the security of knowing when tragedy strikes, someone will answer the call.

Every parent deserves confidence emergency care is available close to home.

Every senior deserves the opportunity to receive care in the community they helped build.

Rural hospitals are more than healthcare providers. We are often the largest employers in our communities. We recruit families, support local businesses, provide good-paying jobs and help make rural communities places where people can continue to live and work.

When a rural hospital weakens, the entire community feels the effect.

This moment calls for thoughtful leadership and practical solutions — not because rural hospitals are asking for special treatment, but because rural communities deserve the same opportunity to thrive as every other part of America.

Our patients are counting on us.

Now we’re asking policymakers to ensure rural healthcare remains strong enough to continue counting on.

Kevin Stansbury is chief executive officer of Lincoln Health.