Rural Health Webinar Series
This webinar is Part 1 of our 2026 Rural Health Webinar Series. Attend at least four of our five sessions, complete a brief knowledge check and earn an AHCJ Certification in Covering Rural Health for your resume. Learn more »
Join us for a conversation with a panel of experts who will walk you through the Trump administration’s five-year $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program. States won millions in first-year funding — from $147 million in New Jersey to $281 million in Texas — and must have the money committed to projects by October 30, 2026.
You’ll walk away with an understanding of how this money dovetails with looming Medicaid cuts and learn the key rollout dates to follow. Panelists will offer concrete story angles, data sources, and sharp accountability questions so you can track where the money is going in your state — and report on what it really means for rural hospitals, clinics, and patients.
Sarah Jane Tribble
Chief rural correspondent, KFF Health News
Sarah Jane Tribble is the lead reporter on the rural health desk of KFF Health News. She created the organization’s first narrative podcast, “Where It Hurts,” about the closure of a rural Kansas hospital. An Emmy winner, she has received honors for her work from the National Press Club, the National Institute for Health Care Management, and the Association of Health Care Journalists. Before joining KFF Health News, she covered the health care industry in Cleveland for NPR and PBS, and spent more than a decade as a reporter for major newspapers from the Carolinas to California.
Kevin Bennett, Ph.D.
Professor of family & preventive medicine, University of South Carolina School of Medicine
Director, South Carolina Center for Rural and Primary Healthcare.
Dr. Bennett is a Professor of Family & Preventive Medicine at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine in Columbia, SC. He serves as the Director of the South Carolina Center for Rural and Primary Healthcare. He served as the president of the National Rural Health Association in 2024.
His work focuses on improving healthcare delivery for marginalized and underserved communities, particularly in rural areas, while examining the influence of national, state, or local policies and legislation on these populations. He has worked extensively with community groups, rural health networks, healthcare systems, and state agencies to pioneer and assess innovative care delivery programs. He also has an extensive publication history examining the disparities in healthcare access, quality, and outcomes experienced by rural populations.
Katie Klingsporn
Reporter, WyoFile
Katie Klingsporn reports on health, education, outdoor recreation and general news for WyoFile. She’s been a journalist and editor covering the American West for more than 20 years. She lives in Lander, Wyoming with her family.
Maya Sandalow
Associate director, Bipartisan Policy Center Health Program.
Maya Sandalow is an associate director for BPC’s Health Program, where she leads work on health innovation policy. Her portfolio includes digital health, artificial intelligence, rural health, behavioral health, and nutrition. Before joining BPC, Sandalow served as a social science research analyst at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service. She has also held roles at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, and Georgetown University’s Health Justice Alliance. Sandalow began her career as an AmeriCorps fellow at a San Francisco Department of Public Health primary care clinic.
Sandalow holds a Master of Public Health from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a bachelor’s from Claremont McKenna College.
Adam Searing
Associate professor, Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy’s Center for Children and Families.
Adam Searing is an Associate Professor of the Practice at the Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy’s Center for Children and Families where he focuses on Medicaid and other health coverage programs.
Before joining CCF, Mr. Searing served seventeen years as Director of the Health Access Coalition for the North Carolina Justice Center. The Health Access Coalition is North Carolina’s leading voice for health reforms that address the needs of the uninsured and underinsured. During his tenure, Searing fought to keep health plans and hospitals nonprofit and community-focused, won and helped implement expansions of the state Medicaid program, helped pass a model state’s Children’s Health Insurance Program and worked on passage and implementation of the federal Affordable Care Act. In addition, Mr. Searing taught public policy courses as adjunct faculty at both the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health and the Duke University Sanford School of Public Policy.
Searing is a licensed attorney with degrees in both law and public health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
