WASHINGTON, D.C. — This week, Representatives Jill Tokuda (HI-02) and Diana Harshbarger (TN-01), co-chairs of the Bipartisan Rural Health Caucus, led Members of Congress in celebrating National Rural Health Day and highlighting the urgent need for bipartisan efforts to expand access, improve services, and strengthen rural healthcare systems.
“National Rural Health Day is a chance to honor the communities that keep this country moving: the farmers, teachers, kūpuna, health workers, first responders, small business owners, and families who fuel our local economies and preserve our way of life. It’s also a moment for Congress to recognize that rural communities face challenges that are different not because they are less—but because they are too often asked to survive systems that were not built for them.
Rural America needs a chance to be known as more than just resilient—it deserves a chance to thrive,” said Rep. Tokuda.
Reps. Tokuda and Harshbarger convened a Special Order Hour on the House Floor with Caucus members to illustrate the critical challenges confronting rural healthcare and promote legislative solutions that improve telehealth and behavioral health access, strengthen EMS capacity, and support the rural workforce pipeline. The Members’ remarks can be viewed here.
The Co-Chairs also convened a roundtable discussion focused on Medicare site neutral payment reforms and the potential impact on rural hospitals and clinics, provider stability, and patient access. Photos from the convening can be viewed here.
Capping off the week, Tokuda and Harshbarger introduced H.Res. 891, a resolution recognizing Thursday, November 20, 2025, as “National Rural Health Day” and expressing the House’s commitment to advancing policies to improve health care accessibility and affordability in rural areas. The resolution text and list of cosponsors can be found online here.
Rep. Tokuda’s call for action during “National Rural Health Month” follows months of on-the-ground visits across Molokaʻi, Maui, Hawaiʻi Island, and Kauaʻi, where she visited hospitals, community health centers, independent physicians and specialists, and medical residents and faculty to hear directly from those delivering care in Hawaiʻi’s most rural and remote communities.
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