Rural Projects Funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy

Updated/reviewed May 2020

Need: Improve healthcare access for school-aged children in a rural and underserved Indiana county.
Intervention: Working with several rural school districts and the state's rural health association, an Indiana county healthcare system used school-based telehealth to expand access for acute illness.
Results: As of May 2019, Greene County General Hospital in rural Linton, Indiana, has expanded primary care access by offering school-based telehealth in 2 elementary and 1 middle school in 3 of the county's 5 school districts.

Updated/reviewed March 2020

Need: Comprehensive cancer services for residents of an 8-county, 3-state area in Appalachia.
Intervention: Using a Cancer Patient Navigation Tool Kit, a Maryland acute care facility led a multidisciplinary collaboration that provided the area's patients with expanded cancer treatment services.
Results: In addition to several new cancer-related programs, expanded services are now available for cancer patients, families, and cancer survivors.

Updated/reviewed February 2020

Need: To help reduce diabetes, depression, and stroke risk in rural residents.
Intervention: A collaborative care model was implemented in the Idaho counties of Clearwater, Idaho, and Lewis.
Results: Increased number of patients with controlled blood sugar, controlled blood pressure, and higher depression screening rates.

Updated/reviewed December 2019

Need: Decrease hospital readmissions and emergency room visits for patients in rural Tidewater, Virginia.
Intervention: After inpatient admission or ER visit, identify at-risk patients to offer enrollment in remote monitoring and disease self-management education and coaching, with a special focus on behavioral health wellness.
Results: Decreased readmissions and ER visits paired with high patient satisfaction scores.

Updated/reviewed July 2019

Need: Meeting both advanced practice pharmacy student education needs and patient healthcare needs in a nearby rural/underserved area.
Intervention: With support from multiple organizations, students in the Ohio Northern University's College of Pharmacy program use a motor coach to deliver a wide range of healthcare services during scheduled outreach visits.
Results: In the program's first two years, point-of-care screening, immunizations, and chronic disease prevention and management education have been provided to 800+ Hardin County, Ohio, residents.

Added March 2019

Need: Pediatric behavioral health services in Delta County, Colorado.
Intervention: Multi-organizational and community-wide effort to increase healthcare access for underserved children and to integrate behavioral health care into the area's primary care clinics.
Results: Sustainable increases in access to pediatric behavioral health services.

Added October 2018

Need: Prevention of type 2 diabetes in adolescents living in rural parts of Louisiana.
Intervention: Through screenings, the Adolescent Pre-Diabetes Prevention Program detects the onset of prediabetes. Through nutrition and physical activity education, the program teaches high school students and staff how to adopt healthy lifestyles.
Results: The program has seen an increase in enrollment and continues to see decreases in body weight, body mass index, and A1C levels among participants.

Rural Health Models and Innovations Funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy