In the delivery of emergency and acute care, one area of healthcare often gets lost in the shuffle. Rural health meets these needs for those in less densely populated areas in the form of Critical Access Hospitals. Juno EHR is built to support these rural healthcare facilities every step of the way with tools and solutions to enhance efficiency and care delivery.
Explore the unique nature of rural health and its challenges. Plus, get a close-up look at why Juno EHR was recognized as the top choice for rural hospitals.
What is Rural Health?
Rural health focuses on providing healthcare and promoting the well-being of those in rural areas. Because in the most basic terms, where you live affects your access to healthcare!
Rural Regions and What They Mean for Health
The United States Census Bureau and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) are responsible for defining geographic areas. They classify “urban” (Census) and “metropolitan” (OMB) regions. Anything outside those parameters is considered “rural.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one in five people in the U.S. live in rural areas, and the struggles patients and providers in these regions face couldn’t be more different than their urban counterparts. Rural residents can’t just drive down the street to see a doctor. In fact, they don't have many options at all. Instead, these residents often must travel only to receive lower-quality, higher-cost care.
Why do rural residents face greater health risks?
Where you live does matter. According to the CDC, people in rural areas have higher rates of behaviors and ailments that put their health and safety in jeopardy, including:
- Cigarette smoking
- High blood pressure
- Obesity
- Poverty
- Drug overdoses
- Suicide
Challenges for Rural Health
Rural populations share several challenges in securing healthcare. On top of the limited provider access that requires residents to travel for care, these populations are also less likely to have health insurance. The result? They're more likely to avoid pursuing treatment altogether.
And as economic factors continue to shift, additional health disparities threaten to impact rural residents. Recent legislative developments top the list—especially H.R.1 - 119th Congress, also known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA).
According to the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, healthcare changes from OBBBA could increase the stress on safety-net and rural providers and lead to facility closures. Not only this, but OBBBA also introduces stricter eligibility and work requirements for Medicaid and Medicare recipients that will further strain rural residents.
The EHR Opportunity
Better electronic health record (EHR) technology could make an impact in improving these conditions across rural health. In fact, research described the impact of such digital health tools for these regions as “transformative” because they help increase access to healthcare providers, improve treatment outcomes, and reduce hospital readmissions.
How Does Juno EHR Support Rural Health?
Juno EHR fills in the gaps that are most common in rural healthcare, such as financial support amid rising costs and care coordination across locations and specialties. The cloud-native software is made BY clinicians FOR clinicians and runs entirely online, so it suits your workflow needs without bulky infrastructure.
Benefits of Juno EHR for Rural Health
Juno EHR supports rural health by making it easy for organizations to get the most out of everyday operations and for patient care. The EHR stands out from the pack by being much more than cookie-cutter software, especially in a few key areas:
- Affordability: Black Book Market Research recently named Juno EHR the top option for rural health, ranking it No. 1 in total cost of ownership. The software’s transparent, subscription-based pricing model beat out all legacy vendors in this independent survey.
- Interoperability: Need to coordinate with a specialist? Juno EHR uses HL7 FHIR-based APIs to easily sync between systems, making patient health information accessible across the continuum of care while streamlining compliance and care delivery.
- Personalization: This is one EHR that's simple to personalize, with a low-code/no-code design that is easy to navigate and is configurable without vendor support.
- Navigation: Get in and get moving across the software in a snap. Juno EHR’s navigation eliminates complex menus in favor of fewer clicks to execute key tasks.
OVERCOME the Challenges of Rural Health with Juno EHR.
Rural healthcare is vital. But residents in dispersed geographic regions face numerous obstacles—such as access and affordability—to get what they need. Juno EHR closes the gaps by providing an advanced software platform that’s accessible to even the smallest care facilities and connects seamlessly to providers “in the big city,” so it’s easier to coordinate throughout the care journey.
Get the No. 1 EHR for rural healthcare. Download our free report to see why Juno EHR ranks above the rest and begin your journey.
