The Center for Rural Health is a council within the Georgia Hospital Association that embodies the interests of Georgia's small rural hospitals, which we define as an acute care or critical access hospital that meets one of the following criteria:
- an average daily (inpatient) census of 75 or fewer and located in a county with a population of 75,000 people or fewer
- or, designated critical access hospitals (CAH)
There are 71 hospital members of the Center for Rural Health.
The Center for Rural Health is governed by a board of trustees comprised of 11 small rural hospital CEOs, the president of GHA (ex-officio), and the executive director of The Center for Rural Health. The executive director has dual reporting responsibilities to GHA executive leadership as well as the governing board of the Center.
The mission of the Center for Rural Health is to represent the needs of Georgia’s small and rural hospitals in a manner that promotes accessibility to high quality and cost-efficient health care and to act as a central agency for the study, discussion, resolution, and dissemination of ideas and information that addresses problems faced by small and rural hospitals.