Rural Project Examples: Healthcare needs and services
Other Project Examples
Garrett County Regional Cancer Patient Navigator Program
![funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy](/assets/4668-20779/forhp-badge-125.png)
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.
Medical Home Plus
![funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy](/assets/4668-20779/forhp-badge-125.png)
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.
Bridges to Care Transitions-Remote Home Monitoring and Chronic Disease Self-Management
![funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy](/assets/4668-20779/forhp-badge-125.png)
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.
COPD Inpatient Navigator Program
Updated/reviewed December 2019
- Need: Improve readmission rates for rural patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).
- Intervention: COPD Inpatient Navigator program implementation in a rural hospital in Oregon.
- Results: With navigator assistance, COPD-associated readmission rate has decreased by almost 50%, with a continued improvement trend.
Optimal Health Behavioral Health Home Models
Updated/reviewed December 2019
- Need: A healthcare delivery model to improve health and well-being of Pennsylvania patients with serious mental illness in Pennsylvania, especially those in rural settings.
- Intervention: County human service administrators, patients, families, a behavioral health provider network, and a nonprofit behavioral health managed care organization implemented 2 versions of a behavioral home health model focusing on a complete culture of wellness.
- Results: These unique models significantly increased patient activation, engagement in both primary and specialty care, and improved client perception of their mental health status.
Ohio Northern University's HealthWise Mobile Outreach Program
![funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy](/assets/4668-20779/forhp-badge-125.png)
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.
Families Plus Comprehensive Health and Mentoring for Underserved Youth
![funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy](/assets/4668-20779/forhp-badge-125.png)
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.
The Adolescent Pre-Diabetes Prevention Program
![funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy](/assets/4668-20779/forhp-badge-125.png)
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.
For examples from other sources, see: