Rural Project Examples Addressing Service delivery models

Mobile Integrated Healthcare Network (MIHN)

Updated/reviewed October 2024

Need: To bring preventive care and other services to rural Missouri patients with chronic illnesses and difficulties accessing primary care.
Intervention: Community paramedics and community health workers make home visits and provide basic care, home assessments, and medication reconciliation and facilitate telehealth visits.
Results: Patients experienced improved access to care, health status, and compliance with medication regimens along with increased patient engagement, satisfaction, and access to community resources.

Updated/reviewed October 2024

Need: Critical Access Hospitals in Idaho were not able to afford a fixed MRI system.
Intervention: The hospitals partnered to purchase a mobile MRI unit to travel among facilities.
Results: The MRI unit went into service in 2012, providing hundreds of scans per month and traveling among six member hospitals in rural Idaho.

Updated/reviewed September 2024

Need: To increase access to healthcare throughout Alabama.
Intervention: The Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) has created telehealth communications at county health departments.
Results: ADPH telehealth services are currently available in 65 of 67 county health departments.

Updated/reviewed July 2024

Need: To provide healthcare for the genetically vulnerable children and adults of the rural, uninsured Amish and Mennonite communities in southern Pennsylvania.
Intervention: A clinic that serves as a comprehensive medical practice for children and adults (primarily from the Amish and Mennonite communities) with rare, inherited, or complex disorders.
Results: In 2023, about 1,700 active patients with more than 450 unique genetic mutations were treated at the Clinic for Special Children.

Added July 2024

Need: To increase access to preventive dental care among children living in rural Arizona.
Intervention: A nonprofit organization formed to offer free, school-based preventive dental services to children in two rural Arizona counties.
Results: Throughout the 2023-24 school year, Tooth B.U.D.D.S. provided preventive services to 1,710 students in rural Graham and Greenlee Counties. Program staff use a telehealth platform to connect children to local dentists for follow-up care.

Updated/reviewed June 2024

Need: Clinicians in rural and underserved areas are often unprepared to provide comprehensive medical-forensic examinations for patients who present for care following a sexual assault.
Intervention: The MDPH TeleSANE Center uses secure telehealth software to connect sexual assault nurse examiners to clinicians and patients in hospitals across Massachusetts — including four in rural counties — offering expert clinical guidance and support before, during, and after examinations.
Results: Clinicians report that the service gives them increased confidence throughout the examination process. To date, the MDPH TeleSANE Center has assisted in the care of over 960 patients.

Added May 2024

Need: To expand healthcare access in rural Alabama communities.
Intervention: The Auburn University Rural Health Initiative is working with communities across Alabama to develop a healthcare model that includes primary care, substance use disorder treatment and mental health treatment via state-of-the-art telehealth technologies, coupled with health and wellness programs and services provided by faculty and students.
Results: The first telehealth care station, located in LaFayette, Alabama, began offering services in April 2023. Within the first year after opening, clinicians in the telehealth station conducted 592 patient consultations and issued 720 prescriptions.

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: To implement coordinated, integrated, and holistic healthcare to improve patient health and engagement and to reduce the overall cost of medical services in Maine.
Intervention: The Northern Light Health ACO network launched with a focus on patient-centered care to improve overall wellness, reduce healthcare costs, and improve patient engagement and quality.
Results: Through care coordination, Northern Light Health is enhancing provider efficiency and supporting a team approach to delivering care, leading to improved patient engagement and healthcare quality, and lowering the overall cost of care.

Updated/reviewed April 2024

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.