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RSS SOLUTIONS
Rural problems are connected. So are we.
Every person in the RSS Solutions network brings a different area of expertise. They share one thing: they understand rural.
We connect rural organizations with trusted people, ideas, and resources when the challenge is bigger than staffing alone.
Gary Lewis
RURAL STORIES MATTER
Outdoor Storytelling + Rural Voice
Gary Lewis has spent decades telling the stories of the Northwest through writing, television, podcasting, and the outdoors. His work celebrates the people, places, and experiences that make rural communities worth knowing.
As a longtime outdoor communicator and twice-past president of the Northwest Outdoor Writers Association, Gary also helps connect writers, photographers, filmmakers, podcasters, and storytellers with a community built around sharing the stories of rural communities and the Great Outdoors.
Interested in outdoor writing, photography, podcasting, film, or NOWA?
Gary can help point you in the right direction.
Have a question for Gary?
Email solutions@ruralstaffingservices.com
When Rural Needs More
Dr. Rodney Johnson, DHA, MSL Operations + Workforce Sustainability
Sue Tetzlaff, MHA, RN, RHIA, FACHE, Whitnee Cordes Leadership + Culture
Sue Tetzlaff, MHA, RN, RHIA, FACHE, Whitnee Cordes Leadership + Culture
Rodney brings hands-on rural healthcare leadership experience, including serving in operational leadership in rural Kansas and working inside the realities that Critical Access Hospitals and rural clinics face every day. Through The Practice Society, he works with CAHs, Rural Health Clinics, and rural hospitals on operations, compliance,
Rodney brings hands-on rural healthcare leadership experience, including serving in operational leadership in rural Kansas and working inside the realities that Critical Access Hospitals and rural clinics face every day. Through The Practice Society, he works with CAHs, Rural Health Clinics, and rural hospitals on operations, compliance, financial strategy, service-line development, and practical systems that help organizations remain strong and independent.
One of the most interesting solutions he has developed is WorkforceRX, designed around a problem rural healthcare leaders know well: payroll is due long before reimbursement arrives. WorkforceRX can combine payroll processing with payroll funding and extended payment terms, with additional options around employee benefits and employer-of-record support. The goal is to improve cash-flow flexibility while strengthening the workforce side of the organization.
Rodney holds a Doctorate in Healthcare Administration and a Master’s in Strategic Leadership, but what makes him especially valuable to RSS Solutions is that he approaches rural healthcare from the operator’s seat. He understands that the answer has to work in the real world, with limited resources, staffing pressure, compliance demands, and communities depending on the organization to stay strong.
Have a question for Rodney?
Email solutions@ruralstaffingservices.com
Sue Tetzlaff, MHA, RN, RHIA, FACHE, Whitnee Cordes Leadership + Culture
Sue Tetzlaff, MHA, RN, RHIA, FACHE, Whitnee Cordes Leadership + Culture
Sue Tetzlaff, MHA, RN, RHIA, FACHE, Whitnee Cordes Leadership + Culture
Sue brings more than 30 years of healthcare leadership, strategic planning, culture transformation, leadership development, and operational experience. Before co-founding Capstone Leadership Solutions, she served in executive roles including Vice President of Quality & Safety, Chief Nursing Officer, Interim CEO, and Chief Operating Office
Sue brings more than 30 years of healthcare leadership, strategic planning, culture transformation, leadership development, and operational experience. Before co-founding Capstone Leadership Solutions, she served in executive roles including Vice President of Quality & Safety, Chief Nursing Officer, Interim CEO, and Chief Operating Officer. Through Capstone, she has helped healthcare organizations navigate change, strengthen leaders, improve culture, and turn strategy into action.
Whitnee brings experience from both clinical support and administrative roles in healthcare and has a strong focus on helping organizations create cultures where leaders and employees can do their best work. At Capstone, she helps connect strategy to day-to-day operations, supports culture and execution work, and builds trusted relationships with healthcare organizations navigating complex change.
Together, Sue and Whitnee bring a people-centered approach to leadership, culture, employee engagement, and organizational improvement, with a clear understanding of the unique realities facing rural healthcare. Capstone itself was founded out of work in a rural community hospital, which makes their connection to rural healthcare especially authentic.
Have a question for Sue + Whitnee?
Email solutions@ruralstaffingservices.com
Renota Wade, MBA, CPCO Revenue Cycle + Financial Recovery
Sue Tetzlaff, MHA, RN, RHIA, FACHE, Whitnee Cordes Leadership + Culture
Renota Wade, MBA, CPCO Revenue Cycle + Financial Recovery
Renota brings more than 20 years of healthcare revenue-cycle experience, with deep expertise in denials, payer relations, compliance, workflow improvement, and revenue recovery. Her background includes nearly a decade at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where she worked on high-dollar payment denials and helped strengthen revenue-cycle op
Renota brings more than 20 years of healthcare revenue-cycle experience, with deep expertise in denials, payer relations, compliance, workflow improvement, and revenue recovery. Her background includes nearly a decade at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where she worked on high-dollar payment denials and helped strengthen revenue-cycle operations.
Through Elite Revenue Recovery, she helps healthcare organizations improve billing, coding, denial management, accounts receivable, compliance, and overall revenue-cycle performance.
Renota also understands the realities rural providers face, where limited resources, workforce constraints, and financial pressure can make every missed dollar matter even more.
She is a Certified Professional Compliance Officer through AAPC and has been recognized nationally for her work in healthcare revenue-cycle leadership.
Have a question for Renota?
Email solutions@ruralstaffingservices.com
Angela Walters
Dr. Gautam Nayak
Dr. Gautam Nayak
Employee Benefits + Workforce Support
Angela brings more than 25 years of healthcare experience and a rare perspective from both the payer and employer sides of the industry. Her background includes healthcare strategy, payer relationships, contracting, and working directly with hospitals, clinics, and provider organizations.
Today, through
Employee Benefits + Workforce Support
Angela brings more than 25 years of healthcare experience and a rare perspective from both the payer and employer sides of the industry. Her background includes healthcare strategy, payer relationships, contracting, and working directly with hospitals, clinics, and provider organizations.
Today, through Gallagher, Angela helps organizations think more strategically about employee benefits, pharmacy costs, health-plan design, and workforce support. She understands that in rural healthcare, benefits are not simply an expense. They can directly influence recruitment, retention, access to care, and whether an organization can remain a competitive employer.
Angela’s connection to rural healthcare runs deeper than benefits alone. She stays close to rural providers, healthcare associations, and communities across the Northwest, bringing practical ideas and resources to organizations that often have to do more with less.
Have a question for Angela?
Email solutions@ruralstaffingservices.com
Dr. Gautam Nayak
Dr. Gautam Nayak
Dr. Gautam Nayak
Rural Cardiology + Clinical Collaboration
Dr. Gautam Nayak is a cardiologist, rural healthcare innovator, and co-founder of Coltrain, a clinical collaboration platform built to help healthcare professionals communicate and coordinate care across organizations and systems.
Coltrain grew directly out of challenges he and fellow physician Dr.
Rural Cardiology + Clinical Collaboration
Dr. Gautam Nayak is a cardiologist, rural healthcare innovator, and co-founder of Coltrain, a clinical collaboration platform built to help healthcare professionals communicate and coordinate care across organizations and systems.
Coltrain grew directly out of challenges he and fellow physician Dr. Sanjay Khicha experienced working in fragmented, semi-rural healthcare systems.
After 16 years practicing cardiology in Central Washington, Dr. Nayak is now helping expand specialty access through Mission Medical NCW, an independent specialty group partnering with Lake Chelan Health. His work is bringing cardiology closer to rural patients while using Coltrain to connect local teams with advanced-care specialists when needed.
A former U.S. Navy cardiologist, University of Washington clinical faculty member, and past president of the Washington Chapter of the American College of Cardiology, Gautam brings together medicine, technology, and a genuine commitment to making world-class specialty care possible in rural communities.
Have a question for Dr. Nayak?
Email solutions@ruralstaffingservices.com
Micheal Edwards
Dr. Gautam Nayak
Micheal Edwards
Rural Technology + Workforce Intelligence
Technology Behind RSSJobs.org
Micheal Edwards is a U.S. Army veteran, rural registered nurse, and the technology builder behind RSSJobs.org. After years working inside rural healthcare, including night-shift nursing, Micheal saw firsthand how hard it can be for rural employers to reach the right peo
Rural Technology + Workforce Intelligence
Technology Behind RSSJobs.org
Micheal Edwards is a U.S. Army veteran, rural registered nurse, and the technology builder behind RSSJobs.org. After years working inside rural healthcare, including night-shift nursing, Micheal saw firsthand how hard it can be for rural employers to reach the right people and how little real-time workforce visibility exists across communities.
He helped build the technology behind RSSJobs.org to help change that. The platform brings rural healthcare opportunities together in one place while creating a clearer picture of workforce demand, hiring needs, and where rural organizations are struggling to fill critical roles.
What makes Micheal such a natural fit for RSS Solutions is that he did not build this from the outside looking in. He helped build it because he understands the problem from inside rural healthcare.
Have a question for Micheal?
Email solutions@ruralstaffingservices.com
Rural Leaders Helping Shape the Work
Rural Public Health + Community Leadership
Rural Public Health + Community Leadership
Rural Public Health + Community Leadership
David brings an unusually broad perspective to rural health, shaped by 25 years in private business, 27 years of service in the Washington Army National Guard, including two tours in Iraq, and a long career in public health leadership. He began in Environmental Health in Okanogan before earning his master’s degree in health science and mo
David brings an unusually broad perspective to rural health, shaped by 25 years in private business, 27 years of service in the Washington Army National Guard, including two tours in Iraq, and a long career in public health leadership. He began in Environmental Health in Okanogan before earning his master’s degree in health science and moving into senior public health administration.
Today, as President of the Washington Rural Health Association and Director of Mason County Public Health and Human Services, David works across hospitals, clinics, FQHCs, EMS, aging services, local government, and community partners to strengthen rural health systems and improve access across Washington.
His perspective is especially valuable to RSS Solutions because he understands rural healthcare from the community level up. David brings practical insight into how workforce, public health, policy, local resources, and community needs intersect, and his voice helps keep the work grounded in what rural organizations are actually facing.
Rural Hospital Resources + Connections
Rural Public Health + Community Leadership
Rural Public Health + Community Leadership
Tammara has spent years helping hospitals connect with the people, resources, and practical solutions they need to stay strong. Today, as Senior Director of Business Solutions for Washington Hospital Services, she works across the state to connect healthcare organizations with trusted expertise and carefully vetted partners.
Her connection
Tammara has spent years helping hospitals connect with the people, resources, and practical solutions they need to stay strong. Today, as Senior Director of Business Solutions for Washington Hospital Services, she works across the state to connect healthcare organizations with trusted expertise and carefully vetted partners.
Her connection to rural healthcare runs deep. Earlier in her career, Tammara led a Virginia Mason consulting group created specifically to support rural and community hospitals, giving her firsthand experience with the operational, financial, workforce, and resource challenges smaller organizations face.
More recently, she has spent time on the road visiting rural hospitals across Eastern Washington, listening directly to administrators and reinforcing something that fits RSS perfectly: no two rural hospitals are the same, and the best solutions start with understanding the community, workforce, and resources in front of you.
Rural Health + Storytelling + Connection
Rural Public Health + Community Leadership
Rural Health + Storytelling + Connection
Andy Lowe is Executive Director of the New England Rural Health Association, serving rural communities across all six New England states. His work spans rural health strategy, community health, workforce development, and leadership, but what makes Andy especially unique is the way he connects rural health to the people, places, and storie
Andy Lowe is Executive Director of the New England Rural Health Association, serving rural communities across all six New England states. His work spans rural health strategy, community health, workforce development, and leadership, but what makes Andy especially unique is the way he connects rural health to the people, places, and stories that give rural communities their identity.
A lifelong rural New Englander, outdoorsman, writer, and advocate, Andy believes rural should be more than a geographic label. His work reflects a deep connection to the land, local culture, and the people who call rural communities home.
That perspective also comes to life through Rural Roots, NERHA’s magazine celebrating rural health, rural life, resilience, local voices, and the stories that make New England unique.
Andy brings an incredible rural perspective to RSS Solutions. He is also a gifted storyteller of rural Vermont and New England, reminding us that strengthening rural healthcare starts with understanding the communities, landscapes, and people at the heart of it.
Workforce Solutions That Go Further
Physician Staffing + Locum Tenens
Sarah brings more than 20 years of healthcare recruitment and physician staffing experience. Through InceptionYou, she helps rural hospitals connect with vetted physicians for locum tenens and flexible coverage when permanent recruitment is not the immediate answer.
The Right Workforce Solution for the Moment
Sometimes rural needs a physician who understands "rural" that can step in and keep care moving while the longer-term solution is being built.
Have a question for Sarah?
solutions@ruralstaffingservices.com
Supporting Rural Hospitals in Small Ways Too
A Little Kindness Along the Way
Through the RSS Solutions network, participating partners help support a small project with a big purpose through the Kindness Is So Gangster Collective.
Together, we provide coloring and activity books for rural hospitals, clinics, and the communities they serve, giving kids something fun, encouraging, and kind to take with them during a healthcare visit. From kindness and honesty to exploring the outdoors, each book is created to make a small moment feel a little brighter.
In rural communities, healthcare is personal. Sometimes supporting a hospital means helping solve a major workforce or operational challenge. And sometimes it means putting something colorful in a child’s hands while they wait.
Because kindness belongs everywhere, especially in rural communities.
Interested in bulk orders for your hospital, clinic, event, or community?
Matthew Avey helps coordinate bulk orders and project questions at matthew@kindnessissogangster.com