The University of Georgia Law School has announced it will host the third annual Rural Healthcare Symposium starting at 9 a.m. on April 5 in the Larry Walker Room of Dean Rusk Hall.

“This is a very timely topic,” Heidi Murphy, UGA Law communications director, said Wednesday by email. Rural hospitals around the state have had to close their doors, leaving residents without access to nearby emergency and other types of care, while urban medical centers have grown.

Health care policymakers, executives, entrepreneurs and scholars will explore a range of issues addressing local and national rural health care disparities, Murphy said. Panels will highlight: rural health care administration and management by those “in the trenches,” transformative ideas in rural health, mental and behavioral health care shortages, and the intersection of rural health and rural economic development.

The keynote speaker is the National Rural Health Association's Maggie Elehwany, who serves as the group's vice president of government affairs and policy.

The goal of the symposium is to serve as an annual focused policy discussion on the rural health care crisis in the U.S., emphasizing possible solutions, associate professor Fazal Khan said in the announcement. “As an academic institution, the University of Georgia School of Law aims to bring attention to the past, present and future of rural healthcare in our state.”

Dean Peter B. “Bo” Rutledge said in the announcement that the conference demonstrates the law school's commitment to “preparing students for real-world practice by connecting them to policymakers, practitioners and legal leaders seeking to improve our state and society.”

Boling & Co. joins the law school in presenting the event, which receives funding from the Healthcare Georgia Foundation, according to the announcement.

The symposium is free and open to the public. Continuing legal education credit, for attorneys licensed in Georgia, is available for a fee. Registration and other information is available at law.uga.edu/events/49608.