Lutheran Services in America logo
GIVE
GIVE

Tag: rural

Improving Access to Care by Strengthening Rural Family Caregiving

October 12, 2026

BY: Regan McManus

Lutheran Services in America partnered with the National Alliance for Caregiving to produce a new video series that features stories from family caregivers in rural areas. Caregivers share key insights about what it takes to succeed in their roles and the changes that are needed to improve support to ensure quality access to care for people in rural communities.

With current workforce shortages, especially in rural areas, the role of family caregivers is essential to ensure access to quality care so that older adults can remain in their homes and communities while receiving the care they need. The videos featuring rural family caregivers, highlight the challenges caregivers navigate, the strength and resilience they bring to their roles, changes needed to improve support and access to care.

The series is designed to ensure that lived experience of caregivers doesn’t simply inform the conversation but rather helps to shape the solutions. These videos are intended to be a resource for Lutheran Services in America members, their partners, policymakers, advocates, and community leaders working to strengthen aging and caregiving supports.

Organizations are encouraged to use and share the videos as a tool to bring caregiver voice directly into conversations and decision-making to strengthen quality access to care. The videos can be used in the following ways:

  • Ensure staff, board, and leadership discussions are grounded in the lived realities of rural family caregivers and considered especially in the context of workforce shortages particularly acute in rural areas.
  • Inform program planning and service design by encouraging reflection on the challenges and opportunities that exist to better address gaps in caregiving supports.
  • Support training and professional development by helping staff better understand the strengths, challenges, and realities of rural caregiving in their communities.
  • Strengthen policy and advocacy conversations by connecting policy priorities and systems-level challenges to the experiences of real caregivers to key policy debates including through the Rural Health Transformation Program.
  • Engage partners and community stakeholders in discussions about where greater investment, collaboration, or systems change is needed to strengthen access to quality care in rural communities.

Watch and share the series to help shape stronger, more responsive systems of support that consider the role of rural caregivers to improve outcomes for older adults.

Regan McManus is Senior Director of Aging Initiatives at Lutheran Services in America.

Rural Family Caregivers Bring Their Voices to Capitol Hill

July 16, 2026

BY: Regan McManus

In June, Lutheran Services in America worked in partnership with the RRF Foundation for Aging and the National Alliance for Caregiving to elevate the voices and lived experiences of rural family caregivers in federal policy conversations. Our network convened rural family caregivers from Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota through its Rural Aging Action Network (RAAN) for a national caregiver convening and Capitol Hill advocacy day in Washington, D.C.

Caregivers participated in storytelling and advocacy training before meeting directly with members of Congress and their staff to share their experiences navigating caregiving in rural communities. Their stories highlighted both the strengths and challenges of rural caregiving and reinforced the importance of ensuring family caregivers have a voice in shaping policies that affect their daily lives.

This effort built on the research and policy recommendations outlined in Lutheran Services in America’s Rural Aging Action Network e-report “Rooted in Care: Transforming the Future for Rural Family Caregivers.” The convening reflected the priorities identified in the e-report, which explores opportunities to strengthen supports and services for rural family caregivers at the federal and state levels.

We are grateful to the family caregivers and Rural Aging Action Network members—including Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota, Lutheran Social Services of South Dakota, St. John’s United, Immanuel Living, and Missouri Slope—for their leadership and commitment to advancing solutions that support rural older adults and family caregivers.

Regan McManus is Senior Director of Aging Initiatives at Lutheran Services in America.

Strengthening Support for Rural Family Caregivers

June 15, 2026

BY: Regan McManus

Lutheran Services in America, in partnership with the RRF Foundation for Aging and the National Alliance for Caregiving, released a new e-report to elevate the voices, expertise, and experiences of rural family caregivers who are often overlooked in policy and program design. The growing workforce shortage has only made the role of family caregivers more important.

Recognizing and centering lived experience is a priority for our network, and our new report, “Rooted in Care: Transforming the Future for Rural Family Caregivers,” highlights both the strengths and challenges of caregiving in rural communities while identifying opportunities to strengthen supports and services.

With the Rural Health Transformation Fund opening new windows for partnerships and innovation, this report supports members in both advocating for concrete change and telling the story of rural family caregivers to their own boards, funders, and policymakers. Contact Regan McManus for more information.

Regan McManus is Director of Aging Initiatives at Lutheran Services in America.

Leveraging the Rural Health Transformation Fund to Improve Access to Care

May 14, 2026

BY: Shao-Chee Sim and Sue Polis

Rural communities have been navigating serious health challenges for a long time—hospital closures, workforce shortages, long drives to see a specialist, and higher rates of chronic disease, to name just a few. These issues are deeply connected, and for many communities, they’ve reached a breaking point.

Congress aimed to address these challenges by creating the Rural Health Transformation (RHT) Fund, part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (HR1) passed last July. The RHT Fund represents an important federal investment—designed not just to keep rural health systems afloat, but to help them evolve into models that are more stable, preventive, and community‑centered over the long term.  And at the same time, while the RHT Fund is key in strengthening rural health access, with the level of Medicaid funding cuts overall including in HR1, resources will continue to be a challenge more broadly. And because the funding for the RHT Fund is for five years, sustainability also needs to be further considered as this work moves forward.

Now that states are moving from planning into implementation, the RHT Fund is starting to shape how rural health care is financed, organized, and delivered. While states receive the funding directly, nonprofits and community‑based organizations are essential partners in turning system‑level investments into real improvements in people’s lives.

If your organization works in or alongside rural communities, understanding how the RHT Fund works—and how your state is approaching it—is becoming increasingly important. To further inform how the Lutheran Services in America network can leverage the RHT Fund, read: The Rural Health Transformation Fund: What It Is, How States are Using It, and Where Nonprofits Fit In.

Shao-Chee Sim is Executive Vice President for Health Policy, Research, and Strategic Partnerships at Episcopal Health Foundation and Sue Polis is Vice President of Public Relations and Government Affairs at Lutheran Services in America.

Rural Voices Shaping Transformation (and Better Policy) for Older Adults

April 16, 2026

BY: Regan McManus

Rural older adults navigating both Medicare and Medicaid face some of the most complex challenges in our healthcare system, and Lutheran Services in America went directly to the source to understand why.

In July 2025, Lutheran Services in America launched Rural Voices 2025: Elevating the Resilience of Rural Older Adults Navigating Medicare-Medicaid, in partnership with The SCAN Foundation. This human-centered initiative reflects Lutheran Services in America’s longstanding leadership in rural aging, and its belief that the people closest to a problem hold the most important insights for solving it. Drawing on our network’s Rural Aging Action Network and in partnership with Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota and Lutheran Social Services of South Dakota, Lutheran Services in America engaged dual-eligible older adults across rural Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota — communities that are too often invisible in national policy conversations yet disproportionately burdened by access barriers and system complexity.

Working with Public Policy Lab and The People Say, Lutheran Services in America conducted in-depth, human-centered interviews with 16 rural older adults whose stories now contribute to a growing national archive of firsthand insights. These are not data points. They are detailed, lived accounts of what it actually takes to age in place in rural America: navigating fragmented care, confusing benefits, workforce shortages, and policies that weren’t designed with them in mind.

The findings are now available, and urgently relevant. Lutheran Services in America’s newly released e-report, “Rural Voices Shaping Transformation,” translates these experiences into a clear roadmap for change: simplifying eligibility and enrollment, reducing administrative burden, improving benefit communication, and modernizing policies that inadvertently penalize rural older adults with farm-based assets. At a moment when federal policy affecting older adults is shifting rapidly, this report offers policymakers, providers, and advocates concrete, community-grounded direction.

To extend the reach of these findings, Lutheran Services in America hosted the webinar “From the Ground Up: Using Rural Voices to Build Better Policy for Aging Americans,” the recording of which is available. Together, the report and webinar equip anyone working in aging, rural health, or policy with the evidence and tools to act.

Lutheran Services in America is actively sharing these findings with policymakers, faith and aging partners, and advocates nationwide. The goal is clear: systems that honor the dignity and complexity of aging in place, wherever someone calls home.

Read the report. Watch the webinar. Join the effort. To learn more or explore partnership opportunities, contact Regan McManus.

Regan McManus, Director of Aging Initiatives at Lutheran Services in America.

Lawmakers Face Government Shutdown as CMS Launches Workforce and Rural Health Initiatives

September 25, 2025

BY: Sarah Dobson

As of today, with just days left before fiscal year 2025 funding expires, Congress is racing to avoid a government shutdown. Late last week, the House passed a continuing resolution, mostly along party lines, to fund the government through November 21. However, the Senate has not yet acted on it and seems unlikely to do so, making a government shutdown more likely when current funding expires on October 1.

While Republicans indicate general support for a short-term funding patch without any additional provisions to allow more time for broader negotiations, this is at odds as Democrats advocate that any temporary funding bill must include a permanent extension of expiring health insurance premium tax credits. The President canceled a planned meeting (that was set to take place today, Sept. 25) with Democratic leaders and signaled he would use a shutdown to shrink federal agencies by designating fewer workers as “essential.” His administration also directed agencies to consider firing employees working on unfunded programs that don’t align with his priorities to support additional downsizing once funding resumes.

Meanwhile, lawmakers have yet to reach consensus on a second budget reconciliation package, which could bring damaging cuts to Medicaid and other critical human services. Lutheran Services in America urges advocates to contact their lawmakers now to protect these essential programs.

Amid these debates, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has announced two major initiatives. First, a $75 million investment in workforce training for skilled nursing facilities, aimed at addressing shortages of nurses and certified nursing assistants. The program will support tuition reimbursement, stipends, and training programs in collaboration with states. Second, CMS has launched the $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Fund, giving states the opportunity to address pressing rural health challenges over the next five years.

Congress is also taking steps to address workforce shortages through new legislation. The bipartisan Healthcare Workforce Resilience Act and the Dignity Act of 2025 seek to expand the pool of authorized healthcare workers through immigration reforms. In addition, new research highlights the role of telehealth and artificial intelligence in expanding healthcare capacity—though neither alone can solve the workforce crisis.

Stay engaged with these fast-moving developments: Join our next Capitol Conversations webinar on Thursday, October 16 at 1 p.m. ET.

Sarah Dobson is Senior Director of Advocacy and Public Policy at Lutheran Services in America.

Rural Voices 2025: Accelerating Equitable Policy Change for Older Americans in Rural Communities

August 19, 2025

BY: Regan McManus

Lutheran Services in America has launched Rural Voices 2025 from a generous investment from The SCAN Foundation. The project expands on Lutheran Services in America’s longstanding commitment to rural aging and its national Rural Aging Action Network.

Rural Voices 2025 kicked off at the end of July in rural South Dakota and Minnesota — two states where older adults are underrepresented in policy and disproportionately impacted by provider shortages, limited infrastructure, and fragmented healthcare systems. In partnership with Public Policy Lab, Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota, and Lutheran Social Services of South Dakota, human-centered interviews were conducted with older adults who are dual-eligible (receiving Medicare and Medicaid) to learn what rural older adults need to age in place, the barriers they face in navigating healthcare systems, and how faith-based nonprofit services contribute to their wellbeing.

This initiative uplifts the lived experiences of low-income, rural older adults by gathering firsthand insights to inform national policy and improve systems of care. Findings will be shared with policymakers, advocates, faith and aging partners to advance solutions that honor the dignity of aging in place regardless of where someone calls home.

For more information contact Regan McManus.

Regan McManus is Director of Aging Initiatives at Lutheran Services in America.

Forging Connections at Grantmakers in Health 2024 Conference

June 25, 2024

BY: LSA Staff

As part of our work to strengthen relationships with community-based and national health funders, Susan Newton, senior director of strategic initiatives at Lutheran Services in America, attended the Grantmakers in Health 2024 Conference in Portland, Oregon. She joined timely and relevant discussions aimed at improving public health and equitable healthcare outcomes across the nation.

It was an opportunity to highlight innovative efforts happening across our member network ranging from successful initiatives in fostering whole-person care to robust community engagement approaches and leadership in developing and advancing housing solutions. As an example, as part of a rural health discussion, the work of our Rural Aging Action Network was highlighted, focusing on how members are leveraging social determinants of health assessments to uncover previously undetected needs.

Ensuring the work of our members is included in key conversations as the future of funding is considered a top priority for our organization. We hope to continue to take advantage of these opportunities on an on-going basis. For more information, contact Susan Newton at Snewton@lutheranservices.org.

Supporting
Our Neighbors,

TOGETHER.

Our shared Lutheran tradition of service to our neighbor is more vital than ever.

Join us as we work to ensure our network continues delivering essential services to all in need.

DONATE NOW