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Rural Health Information Hub
Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Project Examples: Health conditions

Promising Examples

funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy

Updated/reviewed April 2020

  • Need: Allow rural cancer patients in a of 26-county region in Iowa, Minnesota, and South Dakota to have access to tertiary-level chemotherapy regimens in rural infusion centers.
  • Intervention: With telehealth-based oversight from a tertiary care oncology team, 3 rural infusion teams were trained to coordinate cancer treatment plans and administer complex chemotherapy regimens.
  • Results: Almost 130 patients were transitioned to receive chemotherapy in a rural infusion center, translating to over 1,000 infusion visits and saving patients/families nearly 65,000 trip miles, 1,800 travel hours and $71,000.
funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy

Updated/reviewed December 2019

  • Need: To educate youth about obesity and healthy lifestyle choices.
  • Intervention: An educational program about healthy living was implemented in Lincoln and Claiborne Parishes in Louisiana for youth ages 9-18.
  • Results: Youth4Health program produced greater awareness and participation in healthier lifestyles by target youth and their families, as well as church congregations.

Other Project Examples

Updated/reviewed March 2025

  • Need: To connect people in need in Allegany County, Maryland, to health and human services and to items like hygiene products, food, and clothing.
  • Intervention: The Possibility Shop partners with health organizations, insurance navigators, food banks, and other agencies.
  • Results: In 2024, 15,246 service encounters occurred and 940 intakes to services were performed.
funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy

Updated/reviewed March 2025

  • Need: To educate people in rural Virginia who either have diabetes or are considered at high risk for developing it.
  • Intervention: Teleconferencing technology is used to offer diabetes education programs to people with diabetes or those at high risk for developing it. Health professionals are also indirectly trained in diabetes care and management.
  • Results: Participants reported better prevention practices and/or self-management of diabetes after being thoroughly educated about this condition.

Added January 2025

  • Need: Rural cancer survivors report lower levels of physical activity and higher rates of psychosocial distress compared to their urban counterparts.
  • Intervention: Researchers collaborated with a rural-serving organization in northeast Texas to test a 3-month intervention which enhanced an existing exercise program with behavioral health education, yoga, and home-based exercise components.
  • Results: Program participants were twice as likely to report meeting physical activity recommendations at post-intervention than participants in a control group and reported significant reductions in psychosocial distress.

Updated/reviewed December 2024

  • Need: To reduce stigma around mental illness and substance use in North Carolina.
  • Intervention: The Beaufort County Behavioral Health Task Force created the Riverfront Talks: Substance Matters podcast to interview people with lived experience.
  • Results: As of December 2024, the podcast has 11 episodes.

Updated/reviewed November 2024

  • Need: To reduce rural Oklahoma patients' risks for heart disease and stroke.
  • Intervention: Heartland OK was a care coordination model in 20 counties.
  • Results: Using a team-based care model increased patients' ability to reduce their blood pressure or achieve blood pressure control.
funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy funded by the Health Resources Services Administration

Updated/reviewed November 2024

  • Need: To support pregnant and parenting women with a history of substance use, mental health, or co-occurring disorders in rural areas of Montana.
  • Intervention: One Health, a consortium of Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), developed a team of "recovery doulas" – individuals who are dual-certified as doulas and peer-support specialists. The One Health recovery doula program offers group and individual services to women and their partners from pregnancy through the first years of parenthood.
  • Results: A team of nine recovery doulas (or doulas-in-training) employed by One Health offer services in 13 rural Montana counties. Recovery doulas have provided essential support to women with substance use disorder, survivors of sexual abuse, unhoused individuals, and individuals facing other complex challenges.

Updated/reviewed October 2024

  • Need: To reduce drug overdose deaths and the spread of infectious diseases in rural Colorado.
  • Intervention: This program provides harm reduction and peer support to people who use drugs and to their loved ones.
  • Results: This program provided Narcan training to 377 individuals and distributed 2,448 doses of naloxone and 3,539 fentanyl test strips in 2023.

Updated/reviewed October 2024

  • Need: To increase access to specialty care for rural veterans living with HIV.
  • Intervention: The HIV Telehealth Collaborative Care (TCC) study connects these patients with HIV specialists via clinical video telehealth or VA video connect and works to create shared care relationships with primary care teams in rural areas.
  • Results: The HIV TCC program provides HIV specialty care access to rural veterans in a sustainable manner with infrastructure, mentorship, and capacity building.

For examples from other sources, see: