Breaking rural health care paradigms leads to collaboration. Interview by Donald E. Johnson.

Strategic planning in a rural community is a challenge. Trying to predict the impact of federal health care reforms while undertaking a 30 million dollar capital construction campaign to consolidate two deteriorating hospitals into one new medical center could have been a nightmare. Health Care Strategic Management publisher Donald E.L. Johnson and Eastern New Mexico Medical Center president and chief executive officer James K. Knoble discuss the challenges of federal health care reforms and rural health care administration, and explore potential opportunities for collaboration and integration.