From the Program Director: Introducing the Rural Health Information Hub

by Kristine Sande

On December 1^st, the Rural Assistance Center will become the Rural Health Information Hub. We will still be your guide to information, resources, and opportunities that can help you improve rural healthcare services and population health. The services you rely on today from the Rural Assistance Center, including the Rural Monitor, will still be available from the Rural Health Information Hub.

The new name better reflects the work we do and the services we offer. We believe that it will help those who could benefit from our services to more easily find us, by giving better clues about what we do to potential users and giving good signals to Google and other search engines.

While our name is changing – what won't change is our commitment to serving rural communities. Since 2002, the Rural Assistance Center has worked to ensure that information is readily available to improve rural healthcare and population health. Our staff is passionate about ensuring that rural Americans have access to quality healthcare and other key resources that they need to lead healthy lives. We look forward to continuing this mission under our new name.

Also on December 1st, our website's domain name will change to ruralhealthinfo.org. While all current raconline.org webpages will be forwarded to the new domain, we encourage you to update your links and bookmarks to the site.

Please help us inform your rural health colleagues of the name change. With your help, we can ensure that rural stakeholders continue to take advantage of these free resources, which are funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy. We have new outreach materials such as brochures and pens available to be shared at conferences and meetings – contact RHIhub at outreach@ruralhealthinfo.org to order.

If you have any questions or concerns about the name change, feel free to contact me at kristine@ruralhealthinfo.org or 701.777.6466.

Thank you for using the services of the Rural Assistance Center. We look forward to serving you for many more years as the Rural Health Information Hub!