Skip to main content
Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Integrated service delivery

Integrating Behavioral Health and Primary Care in Rural America
Recording of a May 2023 webinar discussing behavioral health and primary care integration in rural areas. Explores the importance of integration in rural areas, the barriers to integration, and opportunities for policies that can improve access to care. Features opening remarks from Tom Morris, Associate Administrator for Rural Health Policy at the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), and a panel of providers from Missouri, New Hampshire, and Texas. Transcript available in the video description.
Date: 05/2023
Type: Video/Multimedia
Sponsoring organization: Bipartisan Policy Center
view details
Patient-Centered Care Through Nurse Practitioner–Led Integrated Behavioral Health: A Case Study
Examines the implementation of a nurse practitioner-led interprofessional team-based behavioral healthcare delivery model in 5 rural or medically underserved clinics in Texas from July 1, 2020, through December 31, 2021. Analyzes the first year of implementation of the delivery model utilizing multiple data sources, with a focus on barriers to implementation, challenges to sustainability, and successes.
Author(s): Cindy Weston, Elizabeth Wells-Beede, Alice Salazar, et al.
Citation: Public Health Reports, 138(1)
Date: 05/2023
Type: Document
view details
Achieving Behavioral Health Care Integration in Rural America
Provides an overview of behavioral health and primary care integration and how integration may be different in rural areas than in urban and suburban areas. Examines the barriers to integration in rural areas and opportunities for policies that can improve access to care. Offers policy recommendations to better coordinate and integrate primary care and behavioral health services for high-risk groups and expand the ability of primary care providers to handle the lower-acuity behavioral health needs of patients through enhanced payments, training, and improved access to behavioral health providers for consultation and referral. Builds on the March 2021 report, Tackling America's Mental Health and Addiction Crisis Through Primary Care Integration.
Author(s): Kendall Strong, Michele Gilbert, Julia Harris, et al.
Date: 05/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Bipartisan Policy Center
view details
Descriptive Study: The Novel "Full Spectrum People-With-Opioid-Use-Disorder Care Model"
Examines the implementation of a comprehensive care delivery model that provides access to harm reduction services for people with opioid use disorder (PWOUD). Analyzes 565 encounters with people utilizing medical and/or behavioral healthcare services in a rural New Mexico county. Provides demographic breakdown of encounters and data on the counties with highest overdose rates, along with discussion on how to provide harm reduction services to hard-to-reach populations.
Author(s): Richard Gadomski, Snehal Bhatt, Jessica Gross, et al.
Citation: Harm Reduction Journal, 20, 47
Date: 04/2023
Type: Document
view details
Rates of Primary Care and Integrated Mental Health Telemedicine Visits Between Rural and Urban Veterans Affairs Beneficiaries Before and After the Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic
Shares the results of a study examining changes over time in rural-urban differences in telemedicine use for primary care and mental health integration services among Veterans Affairs (VA) beneficiaries. Uses data from 138 VA healthcare systems from March 2019 to December 2021. Features demographics and statistics with breakdowns by visit type and rural or urban area.
Author(s): Lucinda B. Leung, Caroline Yoo, Karen Chu, et al.
Citation: JAMA Network Open, 6(3)
Date: 03/2023
Type: Document
view details
NACRHHS Update: Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and Integration of Behavioral Health and Primary Care Services
Webinar recording discusses the 90th meeting of the National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services which focused on rural EMS and the integration of behavioral health into primary care services. Features presentations from representatives of the National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services, the Bureau of Primary Health Care, Tri-Area Community Health, the Maine Rural Health Research Center, and the Kansas Health Institute.
Additional links: Audio Recording, Webinar Slides, Webinar Transcript
Date: 01/2023
Type: Video/Multimedia
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
view details
Strengthening Mental Health Care in Southwest Virginia
Policy brief exploring mental health access in Southwest Virginia and the benefits of integrated primary care. Includes a section on rural care accessibility and provides insights on how to strengthen the mental health care system.
Author(s): Sety Abooali
Date: 01/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Virginia State Office of Rural Health
view details
Participation in Project ECHO to Advance Rural Primary Care Providers' Ability to Address Patient Mental Health Needs
Features a study on the role continuing education programs, such as Project ECHO, can play in aiding rural primary care providers (PCPs) to integrate behavioral healthcare into their practice. Focuses on the Advanced Primary Care (APC ECHO) Adult Psychiatry Module and evaluates its efficacy in facilitating behavioral health integration in to rural PCPs.
Author(s): Ariel Porto, Rosemary Motz, Maximillian Morris, et al.
Citation: Medical Education Online, 28(1), 2164470
Date: 01/2023
Type: Document
view details
Telehealth in Rural Integrated Care Webinar Series
A 3-part webinar series on telehealth in rural integrated care. Part 1 discusses general issues and opportunities for telehealth in decreasing health disparities. Part 2 focuses on the unique challenges for rural children and rural schools. Part 3 focuses on the unique challenges for rural migrant workers and farmworkers.
Additional links: Part 2, Part 3
Date: 2023
Type: Video/Multimedia
Sponsoring organization: National Council for Mental Wellbeing
view details
Exploring the Question of Financial Incentives for Training Amongst Non-adopters of MOUD in Rural Primary Care
Explores the role of stigma in West Virginia primary care providers' decision to undergo training to receive a medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) waiver and the effect financial incentives have on that decision. Discusses providers' perceptions of MOUD treatment and perceived barriers to attaining a waiver, among other issues.
Author(s): Treah Haggerty, Nicholas A. Turiano, Tyra Turner, Patricia Dekeseredy, Cara L. Sedney
Citation: Addiction Science and Clinical Practice, 17, 72
Date: 12/2022
Type: Document
view details