Serving Where the Need Is Greatest: Reimagining Rural Healthcare with Ben Anderson
Ben Anderson, a longtime rural healthcare leader with decades of experience helping rural hospitals strengthen and sustain care, joins host Dr. Mike Chupp to discuss the growing challenges facing healthcare in America’s rural communities. As hospitals grapple with financial strain, workforce shortages, and increasing demands, Ben shares practical strategies for building resilient healthcare systems, recruiting mission-minded physicians, and expanding access to quality care. Together, they explore why rural medicine offers a unique opportunity for Christian healthcare professionals to live out their calling by serving communities where the need is often greatest.
If you’re a Christian healthcare executive, consider learning more about CMDA’s Christian Healthcare Executive Collaborative (CHEC) under our specialty sections at https://cmda.org/CHEC. This incredible community seeks to connect and engage Christian healthcare leaders with one another as a source of encouragement and counsel.
Join us September 25th and 26th for Mentoring with a Coach Approach. This two-day intensive course will equip you with practical coaching tools, resilience-building strategies, and a coaching mindset to strengthen mentoring relationships and foster both personal and professional growth. Led by experienced coach and emergency physician Dr. Darilyn Falck and physician life development coach Ken Jones, this CE-eligible course is designed for healthcare professionals who want to invest in the next generation with wisdom and lasting impact. To learn more or register, visit cmda.org/events.
If mentoring is something God has placed on your heart, be sure to also explore CMDA’s Mentoring and Discipleship Commission. The commission exists to equip Christian healthcare professionals to invest in the next generation through Christ-centered mentoring and discipleship. By providing practical resources, training mentors, fostering meaningful relationships between experienced clinicians and trainees, and advocating for spiritual formation in healthcare education, the commission is helping shape healthcare professionals who are grounded in both clinical excellence and biblical truth. Learn more at cmda.org/mentoring.
Video Podcast:
Meet Our Guest(s):
Benjamin Anderson is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Hutchinson Regional Healthcare System, where he is responsible for the management, direction, and coordination of all organizational operations and related activities in pursuit of the goals and objectives as set forth by the Board of Directors. During the four years prior to joining HRHS, Benjamin served as Vice President for Rural Health and Hospitals at the Colorado Hospital Association, where he provided leadership and direction in the development and execution of the Association’s rural strategies, advocated on behalf of rural hospitals and health systems and developed strategic partnerships with organizations that affected the health of rural Coloradans. Before his move to Colorado, Benjamin served as CEO of Kearny County Hospital a comprehensive rural health care delivery complex in Lakin, Kan. that serves patients of 30 nationalities within a 180-mile radius. During his six and a half years there, he led the organization through a period of rapid growth, expanding access to coordinated primary care and specialty services. Anderson is a recognized leader in transforming rural health care through a mission-driven approach to recruiting physicians to underserved areas, tying together domestic and international service. His work was recognized on CBS Sunday Morning, NPR, and in POLITICO and Sports Illustrated. Anderson was named to Becker’s Hospital Review’s Rising Star list of health care leaders under 40 and one of Modern Healthcare’s 2014 Up and Comers. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in English (2004) and a Master of Business Administration (2007) from Drury University in Springfield, Mo. and a Master of Health Care Delivery Science degree (2016) from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H. Beyond work, Anderson enjoys jeep rides and other outdoor activities with his wife, Kaila, and their four young children, David, Naomi, Jonathan and Maria, all within 22 months of age. The Andersons enjoy finding ways to serve the community as a family.
