National Rural Health Association

The National Rural Health Association (NRHA) is a national nonprofit membership organization with more than 21,000 members. Founded in Waterville, Maine, in 1978 as the National Rural Primary Care Association, in 1995 it added rural health clinics as its eighth constituency group.

NRHA’s mission is to provide leadership on rural health issues through advocacy, communications, education and research. According to NRHA, family physicians comprise only 15% of the U.S. outpatient physician workforce nationwide, but they provide 42 percent of the care in rural areas. For this and other reasons, NRHA places a special emphasis on health inequities.

NRHA membership consists of a diverse collection of individuals and organizations, all of whom share the common bond of an interest in rural health.