Rural Project Examples Addressing Healthcare needs and services

Added May 2026

Need: To provide chronic disease screening and follow-up services to people in rural North Central Florida.
Intervention: A mobile health program that hosts screenings at community events.
Results: The program has seen at least 225 people per quarter.

Added May 2026

Need: To make sure patients with chronic conditions are educated about, and able to manage, their medical prescriptions and care.
Intervention: A rural primary care-based program that uses a multidimensional team approach to connect rural patients with clinical pharmacists via telehealth.
Results: More than 250 patients have participated in the program.

Updated/reviewed May 2026

Need: To connect patients to resources in order to reduce use of emergency services, emergency department visits, and hospital readmissions.
Intervention: Patients receive support (by in-person visit, phone call, or telehealth visit) from a paramedic, community health nurse, peer recovery specialist, and pharmacist.
Results: Between July 2016 and March 2024, the program made 1,098 patient contacts and continued to see a reduction in emergency department and inpatient visits and costs.

Updated/reviewed May 2026

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.

Updated/reviewed April 2026

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 250,000 patients in Maine every year. In addition, it has implemented shared savings arrangements/contracts with different Medicare Advantage and other private health payers.

Updated/reviewed April 2026

Need: To provide increased educational opportunities for emergency care personnel in rural and frontier South Dakota.
Intervention: A technologically advanced training was created to enhance the delivery of emergency patient care.
Results: Hundreds of emergency medical services (EMS) staff and volunteers received training that in turn helped them in the field of emergency patient care.

Updated/reviewed March 2026

Need: Population health approach to decrease cardiovascular disease deaths in a rural Ohio healthcare delivery system's service area.
Intervention: A rural health system's investment in level II cardiac catheterization services and the required specialized cardiology workforce.
Results: In August 2018, Avita Health System started their cardiovascular service offerings in rural north central Ohio. Early results included decreased tertiary care hospital transfers. Building on the success of their increased ability to provide acute care, care coordination for patients with significant cardiovascular risks, preventive education with risk factor identification and modification, the health system continues to expand its local cardiovascular care.

Added March 2026

Need: To help Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and home visiting programs reduce smoking rates in rural Yuba County, California.
Intervention: A five-year initiative helped FQHCs with integrating tobacco user identification and cessation referral protocols and helped home visiting programs with tobacco screening and family wellness education.
Results: FQHCs and family-serving agencies achieved systems-level change through comprehensive tobacco-free policies, human resources procedures, and client screening protocols.

Updated/reviewed March 2026

Need: Because early identification can impact the health and well-being outcomes of those with memory conditions, Florida's rural populations would benefit from access to screening followed by specialty referral for Alzheimer's Disease and other dementia types.
Intervention: A state university used a state health department grant to develop a cognitive impairment screening program in rural Florida areas that was administered by Community Health Workers. An additional grant provided rural primary care clinicians with a free online continuing education module covering cognitive impairment and dementia.
Results: At project completion, Community Health Workers had engaged nearly 600 participants to participate in health screenings and cognitive assessments, making about 1,300 referrals to community social and medical services.

Updated/reviewed March 2026

Need: Increase behavioral health access after a rural community suicide loss of 5 older men occurring in a 24-month interval.
Intervention: A Critical Access Hospital in Yoakum, Texas, created an inpatient and outpatient community-based behavioral health care model for area residents in need.
Results: Based on the original model's financially sustainable outcomes creating both inpatient/outpatient access, the model has matured with outpatient access now offering comprehensive Licensed Clinical Social Worker counseling services for age groups starting with teens and ranging to older adults.

Rural Project Examples: Healthcare needs and services