Rural Project Examples Addressing Healthcare facilities

Montana Interfacility Blood Network (MT IBN)

Added July 2024

Need: To provide blood transfusions in the ambulance on the way to a hospital.
Intervention: The Montana Interfacility Blood Network includes 48 healthcare facilities that stock blood and allow ambulances to pick up units of blood while transporting a patient.
Results: Since its launch, the network has helped at least three patients.

Updated/reviewed April 2024

Need: To increase access and quality of care for patients in rural Maine.
Intervention: Community hospitals and Federally Qualified Health Centers in Maine formed the Community Care Partnership of Maine Accountable Care Organization (CCPM ACO).
Results: CCPM serves about 120,000 patients in Maine. In addition, it has implemented shared savings arrangements/contracts with different Medicare Advantage and other private health payers.

Updated/reviewed April 2024

Need: Multiple organizations in rural east central Illinois needed a more efficient, centralized system for referring patients experiencing a behavioral health crisis to appropriate treatment services.
Intervention: The Regional Behavioral Health Network was established with a 24-hour toll-free crisis line, providing immediate access to trained crisis clinicians.
Results: Improved access to high quality behavioral healthcare for patients in rural east central Illinois.

Updated/reviewed April 2024

Need: Strategies to recruit and retain providers to practice in rural settings.
Intervention: A traveling one-day workshop was designed to share ideas and firsthand accounts on successful strategies on how to create "Safe Sites" for new recruits.
Results: So far, workshops have trained over 250 hospital administrators, board members, and rural hospital recruiters.

Added February 2024

Need: To provide a convenient and affordable lodging option for patients who have traveled from a distance to receive medical treatment in Bozeman, Montana.
Intervention: An RV parking program that lets anyone who is actively seeking care at Bozeman Health Deaconess Regional Medical Center stay in the hospital parking lot.
Results: Throughout the summer of 2023, at least one patient was using an RV parking space at all times.

Updated/reviewed November 2023

Need: To improve people's health in a rural 16-county region in Illinois.
Intervention: A coalition of local health departments and healthcare facilities coordinates regional efforts, which are implemented locally by health community coalitions.
Results: HSIDN has created toolkits, developed resource guides, and provided wellness trainings, among other initiatives.

Updated/reviewed October 2023

Need: Across Georgia, especially in rural areas, poor health outcomes and high poverty rates require strategic investments to reduce disparities and improve health across the state.
Intervention: Georgia Health Initiative invests in Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) working in Georgia to build a strong ecosystem of mission-driven community lenders focused on rural and low-income communities. The capital and capacity building provided by CDFIs support systemic change to reduce inequality and improve health across the state.
Results: Since 2017, grants and Program Related Investments (PRIs) in CDFIs working in low-income, medically underserved rural communities have generated impact through stronger and growing Community Health Centers, expanded affordable housing, green energy loans and jobs, and growing small businesses owned by women and people of color.

Updated/reviewed September 2023

Need: Improved health outcomes for Monadnock Region, a rural area of New Hampshire.
Intervention: A wide-scale effort across multiple sectors is aiming to improve health outcomes throughout the region.
Results: Community health trends have been tracked over time, and progress on goals such as increasing the number of residents with healthcare coverage, opportunities for physical activity, access to healthy foods, and smoking cessation has been made.

Added July 2023

Need: To increase food security among low-income patients living with cancer and diabetes in rural Jefferson County, Washington.
Intervention: A local healthcare system partnered with a small organic farm to offer weekly produce boxes to eligible low-income patients.
Results: 10 patients participated in the Jefferson Healthcare prescription CSA program in 2022. In 2023, the program grew to serve 15 patients.

Updated/reviewed May 2023

Need: Out of 79 Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) surveyed in Minnesota in 2015, behavioral health was the most frequently cited service requested.
Intervention: In response, Rural Health Innovations launched the Minnesota Integrative Behavioral Health Program. This initiative engaged representatives across all sectors in health integration between hospital, primary care, and community services.
Results: Strategy sessions resulted in the creation of resource directories to improve care coordination, evaluation measurements to document results, and an overall better understanding of integrative care challenges.