On Demand: Brock Slabach on Rural Health Challenges and Opportunities

What are the opportunities for positive rural healthcare transformation within a rapidly changing policy environment? 

On Aug. 27, KHI hosted the Health on the Plains Coffee Hour with a conversation featuring Brock Slabach, Chief Operations Officer at the National Rural Health Association. The session focused on the challenges and opportunities shaping rural health, drawing on Brock’s decades of experience in rural hospital leadership, national policy work and rural health system development. Brock shared insights on the transformational potential – and potential roadblocks – for the newly created federal Rural Health Transformation Program, emphasizing the importance of collaboration and creativity in driving meaningful rural health improvements.

Event recording is posted below. 

Featured Speaker

Brock Slabach, M.P.H., F.A.C.H.E., Chief Operations Officer, National Rural Health Association  

Brock joined NRHA in 2008. He is NRHAs Chief Operating Officer.   

He was a rural hospital administrator for more than 21 years and has served on the board of the National Rural Health Association and the regional policy board of the American Hospital Association.  

Brock specializes in rural health system development that encompasses population health and the varied payment programs moving rural providers into value-based purchasing models. He serves on the Board of Commissioners of Accreditation Commission for Health Care and Board of Directors for the Pennsylvania Rural Health Redesign Center Organization.   

Brock is the 2015 recipient of the Calico Quality Leadership Award of the National Rural Health Resource Center. He received the American Society of Healthcare Pharmacists (ASHP) Board of Directors’ Award of Honor for 2018 and the NRHA’s President’s Award in 2023.  

Brock earned a master of public health degree in health administration from the University of Oklahoma and is a fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives.