3RNET 2025 Year in Review: Part One
Celebrating Milestones, Innovating Technology
This year was a full one for our organization - so much so that we can’t wrap it up into one single blog post! Celebrating 30 years of 3RNET meant much reminiscing, bringing exciting new projects to life, and examining our impact to help renew our organizational goals going forward.
Remembering where we started
Throughout the year, we had the opportunity to sit down with many important players in 3RNET’s inception and growth. 30 years is no small feat, and we were able to celebrate with many past directors and important champions for our work, as well as show them how we are impacting rural health today. Check out these features with:
Boosting user experience
As we met with Fred and Tim, we were especially proud to show them the newest updates to our website. A significant batch of updates was introduced to 3RNET.org early in the year to enhance our user experience. Some of these updates include:
- Health professionals can now list up to three professions/specialties in their profiles.
- Expanded job search filters are always visible, and a new “Locations” page provides easier access to all locations.
- The “Contact Employer” feature replaces “Inquire,” enabling direct candidate-to-employer communication while notifying Network Coordinators.
- Additional drip campaign emails support new registrants with welcome messages, job alerts, resources, and CV reminders.
- Registration forms can now pre-fill discovery sources for events.
Board and staff changes
This fall, Jackie Fannell semi-retired, and is staying on part-time to provide operational support. While we are very excited for her (and sad for us!), we are pleased to have hired Natalie Uy as the PRISM Data Analyst. She started this role in July with PRISM background knowledge, having previously served as Alaska’s PRISM user.
With the departure of Brandon Carman (West Virginia), the 3RNET Board Nominating Committee chose Kimberly Thompson (New York) to fill this term. Two board members were just approved to three-year terms: Sara Leahy (Colorado), and Marie Grady (Ohio).
Additional 3RNET Board Members for 2025-2026 include: Jessica Seel, president (South Carolina), Ann Cranford, president-elect (Tennessee), Trixie Lacas, secretary (Oregon), Nicole Breton, treasurer (Maine), Judy Newton (Mississippi), and Brent Wright (Kentucky). Stacy Kusler (North Dakota) will continue on as past-president in a supporting, non-voting role.
PRISM
Since its inception in 2013, nearly 89,000 surveys have been completed in PRISM. All participating states are surveying NHSC programs, with most states also surveying state loan repayment programs (31) (SLRP) and solely state-funded programs (35).
J-1 Survey
The fourth year of surveying Conrad 30 J-1 Visa Waiver physicians had 31 states participating and was conducted over a six-week period in May/June. Response data has been added to the online reports and made available to the participating states.
Publications
“Job Assessments and the anticipated retention of behavioral health clinicians working in HPSAs” published April 24, 2025 in BMC Health Services Research. “How retention for physicians in urban and rural HPSAs varies with their assessments of aspects of their work and jobs” submitted for review on June 24, 2025, to the Journal of Rural Health. A second paper on the relationships with communities that affect job turnover in rural and urban HPSAs is currently underway.
For more information on this powerful tool, check out our recent blog post featuring PRISM, here.
3RNET + PracticeLink Rural & Underserved Career Fair
A huge thank you to our partners at PracticeLink for helping us host the first-ever 3RNET + PracticeLink Rural and Underserved Career Fair on November 13th! We had 18 states participate, bringing in a total of 278 attendees. If the conversations we had with participants were any indicator, there are many incredible mission-minded health professionals vying for unique opportunities in rural communities where they can truly make a difference. We could not have made this happen without the support and aid of our 3RNET Network Coordinators. Everyone showed up ready to talk with health professionals about job opportunities in their states, J-1 Visa waivers, and loan repayment programs. We first dreamed of having our own rural and underserved-focused career fair over ten years ago and we are so proud to have built trust and relationships that led to such a successful event. We hope to host more in the future!
We are grateful to have so much to reflect on and celebrate as the year comes to a close - stay tuned for part two next week!