2019 Rural Healthcare Symposium at University of Georgia School of Law

Stacey Abrams to Keynote Rural Healthcare Symposium Conference will Emphasize Enhancing Resilience in Rural Health (SPARTA, GA) October 1, 2019 – UGA Law and Boling & Company today announced open registration for the 4th annual Rural Health Symposium at University of Georgia, Athens, GA, sponsored by Azalea Health. The program will begin with an opening reception the evening of November 13, 2019 with the core content for the conference held on the November 14, 2019 from 9:00 AM to 4:30 PM. Stacey Abrams, Former Gubernatorial Nominee and former Georgia House Democratic Leader, will provide the event’s keynote address. As candidate for Georgia Governor, Ms. Abrams committed to a plan to increase health care access in rural Georgia. She announced plans to promote tele-health to connect rural Georgians with specialists outside their community, support health professionals via service cancelable loans and special scholarship programs, and increase apprenticeships throughout rural Georgia so health professionals can gain skills and serve their communities. “I’m honored to participate in this year’s Rural Health Symposium to discuss how to solve the healthcare crisis impacting Georgia’s rural communities,” said Abrams. “We must work to ensure that Georgia’s rural hospitals have the resources necessary to operate with resilience over the long term so Georgians can get access to the care they need.”

The Rural Healthcare Symposium is a focused policy discussion on the emerging rural healthcare crisis in the United States, emphasizing possible solutions. This year’s focus is Resilience in Rural Healthcare – how Georgia’s rural health organizations prepare for risk, disruption, continuity, sustained service and success. In addition to Ms. Abrams, 2019 Rural Health Symposium speakers include influential healthcare and policy leaders such as Dean Burke M.D., Senator, Georgia Senate and Priya Bathija, Vice President, The Value Initiative at American Hospital Association.

The Symposium’s co-founding organizations are Boling and Company and the University of Georgia School of Law. A premier academic institution in Georgia – a state at the very center of this crisis and debate – the University of Georgia School of Law aims to bring attention to the past, present and future of rural healthcare. Boling and Company is a law firm and consultancy with deep expertise serving the rural health market. Boling and Company founder and CEO Bill Boling said, “We are incredibly excited to welcome this year’s slate of speakers – most notably, Stacey Abrams - to the Rural Healthcare Symposium. During her tenure in the Georgia House of Representatives and her 2018 Georgia gubernatorial campaign, Ms. Abrams demonstrated a focused commitment to improving the delivery of healthcare for rural communities. I look forward to the wisdom and ideas she will share with our attendees.”

Azalea Health is the 2019 event's premier sponsor. Azalea Health is the leading cloud-based Health IT platform connecting rural healthcare providers and patients across the lifecycle of care delivery. "Azalea's core mission is to help underserved healthcare providers improve patient care and profitability," said Azalea CEO and co-founder Baha Zeidan, "Founded in rural Georgia, we recognize the unique challenges these providers face, which has led us to develop an affordable solution that modernizes their facilities and maximizes their productivity."

The symposium is free to students and staff across all disciplines, including but not limited to UGA’s schools of law, public health, medicine (UGA/AU Partnership), business and healthcare journalism. Non-student guests, from healthcare industry insiders to practicing attorneys to public policy experts, are also encouraged to attend. For more information about the 2019 Rural Heath Symposium or to register for the program, please visit https://www.law.uga.edu/rural-healthcare About Boling & Company Boling & Company provides legal and consulting services to hospitals, physician groups, academic medical centers, telemedicine entrepreneurs, and health IT startups who see opportunity in the chaos. The firm uses a collaborative model to provide affordable and effective legal and consulting services related to healthcare business matters including transactions, mergers and acquisitions as well as telemedicine and telehealth. For more information visit http://www.bolingandcompany.com ## Contact: Andrew Dietz | Creative Influence | andrew at creativeinfluence.io | 404 664 7484