About WRHA
The Washington Rural Health Association was formed in 1988, an outgrowth of the developing vision of many individuals and organizations who recognized the value of uniting to support rural health care throughout the state of Washington. WRHA is a strong advocate for enhanced access, quality and stability for rural health services.
WRHA provides a neutral forum to discuss the implications of proposed rural health policy and legislation upon the multiple players in the rural health arena. WRHA is taking a leadership role in developing legislation and in providing guidance, expertise and testimony for both legislators and regulators.
The Washington Rural Health Association's mission is to collaboratively strengthen and improve the health of rural communities.
WRHA encourages membership statewide from a variety of individuals and organizations involved in rural health care including health care providers and administrators in both public and private settings, researchers, educators, consumer groups, health consultants, resource and referral centers, insurance and financing organizations, suppliers of services to rural providers, and others sharing an interest in rural health care. Current organizational members include hospitals, community centers, home health agencies, legal and financial firms, and university programs. Individual members include administrators, physicians, nurses, dentists, optometrists, mid-level providers, business leaders, insurance organizations, researchers, educators and policy-makers, and others showing an interest in rural health care.
The special challenges of delivering health care in rural areas of Washington were the driving force in the development of WRHA. The Association provides a forum for exchanging information, developing common strategies for problem solving, and representing rural health care needs in a coherent fashion.
The goals of the Washington Rural Health Association:
- Serve as an advocate for rural health while securing access to high quality health care services for rural citizens and individuals vacationing or traveling through rural areas.
- Assist in providing enhanced opportunities for education and training for rural health care providers.
- Increase communication among interested individuals and organizations with common goals to help promote partnerships, coalitions and other cooperative arrangements to benefit rural health care delivery.
- Promote enhanced understanding of rural health issues while working toward the improvement of regulatory, financing, and insurance industry policies affecting the delivery of rural health services.
- Support the work of existing constituency groups in their efforts to pursue improvements in rural health care.
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