The single-lane, winding roads of rural Wisconsin can be tough to navigate. Sometimes, people living in rural communities who need specialty health care have to drive long distances to access it at larger, more urban hospitals, braving Wisconsin’s famously fickle weather. When these visits call for follow-ups, patients can clock hours upon hours of travel time. I grew up in a small town in northern rural Wisconsin, these are challenges I know well.

Dr. Brian Kroll sees this rural health care access gap firsthand. At the Richland Hospital and Clinics , he treats patients from “cradle to grave,” and regularly encounters rheumatologic diseases affecting all ages. He can clearly recall patients in his area who lacked the health care access they needed. “I had a geriatric patient diagnos

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