Research shows that rural Americans are at 30% higher risk of stroke, are 40% more likely to develop heart disease and live an average of three years fewer than their urban counterparts.[1]
The American Heart Association, devoted to changing the future to a world of healthier lives for all, is committed to closing the gap between rural and urban health outcomes. To continue improving cardiovascular care in rural communities, the Association announced today the three-year funding extension of its Rural Health Care Outcomes Accelerator through June 2028.
Since its launch in 2022, the Accelerator has significantly expanded rural hospital participation in Get With The Guidelines®, the American Heart Association's proven, evidence-based, in-hospital approach to improving patient outcomes by promoting consistent adherence to the latest research-driven guidelines and measurement.
Extending the Accelerator initiative will provide a limited number of three-year no-cost enrollment opportunities for new rural organizations participating in the Get With The Guidelines programs for coronary artery disease, heart failure and stroke. Participating federally designated Critical Access Hospitals will receive no-cost access to all five Get With The Guidelines programs — including for atrial fibrillation and resuscitation. Further, all rural Get With The Guidelines program participants, whether enrolled in the Accelerator or not, will receive access to the peer-to-peer American Heart Association Rural Community Network, a dedicated American Heart Association Quality Program Consultant, quarterly learning collaboratives, quality improvement focus groups and educational resources tailored to rural hospital clinicians. In addition, the Association recognizes Get With The Guidelines Rural participants, with recognition awards focused on a set of performance metrics developed for rural hospitals.
To date, 430 rural hospitals have enrolled in the Accelerator at no cost, making a total of more than 1,000 rural hospitals engaged in over 1,500 Get With The Guidelines programs nationwide. In 2025 alone, more than 650 rural hospitals earned recognition awards through the program, a nearly 30% increase over the previous year.
"Rural hospitals are vital points of access to health care for over 60 million people living in rural communities across the country," said Eduardo Sanchez, M.D., M.P.H., FAHA, chief medical officer for prevention at the American Heart Association. "This extension underscores the American Heart Association's continued commitment to enhancing cardiovascular and stroke care for rural clinicians with collaboration opportunities, resources, education and data-driven strategies that improve outcomes and save lives."
Highlights of the program extension include:
- Dedicated quality program consultants to support data completeness and validation,
- Continued learning collaboratives and quality improvement workgroups tailored for rural clinicians,
- Enhancements to the Rural Get With The Guidelines registry and reporting to ensure alignment with current science and relevance for rural settings, and
- Launch of the Rural Accelerator Quality Improvement Challenge Scholarship, offering competitive awards to support hospitals sharing model practices at national conferences.
To learn more, visit heart.org/ruralaccelerator.
