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The Rural Monitor
Articles by Topic: Service delivery models

Building a Rural Cancer Care Network: Federal Funding Supports Collaboration of Urban, Regional, and Local Organizations

November 27, 2024
Leveraging a federal care coordination grant, an urban nonprofit organization, a regional healthcare system with rural locations, and a local rural physician's office are creating a new cancer care network in rural Georgia. Several elements of this network's holistic approach include grant-supported work focusing on rural patient navigation and clinical cancer trial enrollment.

Rural Community Health Worker Programs: Proving Value and Finding Sustainability

July 24, 2024
For decades, community health workers (CHWs) provided their services outside usual healthcare reimbursement models. In recent years, with research supporting CHWs as professionals effectively assisting patients with navigating health-related social determinants, federal and private payers are exploring reimbursement mechanisms. Four rural healthcare organizations share both the impact and the continued sustainability challenges — and successes — of their CHW programs.

Loud and Clear: Improving Access to Hearing Care in Rural America

March 13, 2024
Studies find that rural people have higher rates of hearing loss than urban people but face significant barriers to care. Experts from a hearing clinic in South Dakota, a telehealth program in Alaska, and a nationally available agriculture safety program discuss these barriers, ways to improve access to hearing care, and the importance of hearing conservation.

CommHIT Shoots for the Moon

February 21, 2024
CommHIT, a nonprofit based at the Kennedy Space Center, has worked at the intersection of rural health and technology for over a decade. Now, as an awardee of the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) Rural Public Health Workforce Training Network (RPHWTN) grant program, the organization is assisting Florida partners with workforce development initiatives and technology-related training programs.

Recovering from a Cybersecurity Attack and Protecting the Future in Small, Rural Health Organizations

October 4, 2023
Rural hospitals are becoming increasingly vulnerable to attempts to penetrate information systems to create havoc, steal data, or hold information "hostage" for a monetary ransom. Two Critical Access Hospital leaders discuss attacks at their organizations and how they are working to prevent future attacks. An information technology compliance expert also highlights actions organizations can take to better protect themselves from cyber-attacks.

RPHWTN Grantees Help Rural Healthcare Facilities Keep Local Talent

August 23, 2023
The FORHP Rural Public Health Workforce Training Network works to expand public health capacity in rural and tribal areas through job development, training, and placement. Three grantees — a career ladder program in Missouri, a respiratory therapy program in Texas, and a health IT program in Virginia — share stories of changing individuals' lives as well as keeping local talent in their healthcare facilities and communities.