Artificial intelligence has the potential to help small, rural and independent healthcare organizations optimize operations and combat staff shortages — ultimately benefiting the patients that rely on their services.   But rural hospitals often lack the infrastructure and specialized expertise that have allowed larger health systems to integrate AI more readily. The American Hospital Association reports that 56% of rural hospitals are using some form of predictive AI, compared with 81% of urban hospitals.  However, experts say there are practical, achievable ways for rural…