01/16/2026
How do Tribal communities get care when distance, underfunding, and historical barriers stand in the way? Mobile clinics are helping to answer that question.
Here are three must-read reports and articles that explore the challenges, highlight solutions, and show why mobile care matters:
1️⃣ Rural Tribal Maternal Health Report – Senator Ben Ray Luján’s office
Why it’s a MUST-READ: This federal brief examines maternal health challenges in rural Tribal communities from limited prenatal care to isolation and systemic barriers. The report From Barriers to Bridges highlights mobile clinics as a practical way to reach pregnant and postpartum patients who might otherwise go without care. (Contributors include Kait Guild from our team.) Read it here: https://www.lujan.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/lujan-convenes-experts-to-create-roadmap-for-native-maternal-health-solutions/
2️⃣ The Rural Health Transformation Program — Tribal Health
Why it’s a MUST-READ: This article explains the $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program and how it addresses systemic gaps in rural and Tribal health including hospital closures, provider shortages, transportation barriers, and broadband limitations. Read it here: https://tribalhealth.com/the-rural-health-transformation-program/
3️⃣ Our 2025 Mobile Clinics Landscape Report (yes, shameless plug)
Why it’s a MUST-READ: Features a case study from the Fort Defiance Indian Hospital Board, Inc.'s*(Tséhootsooí Medical Center) mobile program on the Navajo Nation — showing how mobile clinics expand access, reduce ER visits, and deliver measurable impact where care is hardest to reach. Concrete evidence of mobile care overcoming long-standing barriers in Tribal health. Read it here: https://www.mobilehealthmap.org/2025-mobile-health-landscape-report/
Could mobile clinics be the bridge that connects Tribal communities to consistent, culturally grounded care? (We believe so!)
