Rural Project Examples Addressing Healthcare needs and services

Updated/reviewed June 2026

Need: To reduce youth suicide rates.
Intervention: First begun in Utah, Hope Squad is a nationwide program that trains youth to identify peers' signs of distress and connect them to help. Hope Squads educate the entire student body to increase connectedness and reduce stigma.
Results: Studies suggest that Hope Squad schools' students with suicidal thoughts are more likely than non-Hope Squad schools' students to solicit help. In addition, stigma surrounding mental illness is decreasing.

Updated/reviewed June 2026

Need: To provide affirming, destigmatized healthcare and support to thousands of Tennesseans living with HIV/AIDS, mental illness, substance use disorder, and homelessness – and prevention services for individuals at risk of contracting HIV.
Intervention: Positively Living & Choice Health Network provides services including a medical clinic, pharmacy, therapy, case management, client services like housing aid and transportation, HIV prevention, and a harm reduction program.
Results: The program currently serves over 6,000 individuals and families through its offices in Knoxville, Chattanooga, Memphis, and Cookeville and its mobile medical unit for rural communities in Cocke and Claiborne counties.

Updated/reviewed June 2026

Need: To improve students' access to behavioral health services in rural North Carolina.
Intervention: North Carolina Project ACTIVATE provides three tiers of behavioral health supports in the school setting.
Results: The six pilot sites (Cohorts 1 and 2) have created or revised 91 mental health policies, and 53,170 school-based and related employees have received training in different topics and protocols.

Added June 2026

Need: To provide rural first responders with training in Mental Health First Aid.
Intervention: A statewide training program created by the Rhode Island State Office of Rural Health and the state Emergency Medical Services (EMS) office.
Results: Every rural fire department in Rhode Island received training.

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.

Rural Project Examples: Healthcare needs and services