Delaware Models and Innovations
These stories feature model programs and successful rural projects that can serve as a source of ideas. Some of the projects or programs may no longer be active. Read about the criteria and evidence-base for programs included.
Evidence-Based Examples
Thomas Jefferson University's Physician Shortage Area Program
Added March 2023
- Need: More rural doctors were needed in Pennsylvania, where nearly half of the state's physicians practice in just three large metropolitan counties.
- Intervention: Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University established the Physician Shortage Area Program (PSAP) in 1974 to recruit and support students who are from rural backgrounds and who wish to practice in rural communities.
- Results: Approximately 80% of PSAP alumni have remained in rural family medicine for at least 20 to 25 years after graduation.
Promising Examples
Atlantic General Hospital Patient Centered Medical Home
Updated/reviewed August 2022
- Need: Ways to reduce hospital admission rates, emergency department visits, and total cost of care while better accommodating patients of the Atlantic General Hospital Corporation.
- Intervention: The hospital system applied a patient centered medical home care model to their 7 rural outpatient clinics located throughout the Eastern Shore of Maryland and southern Delaware.
- Results: From the program's care coordination, care transitions, and intervention efforts, AGH saw improvements in quality-of-care processes, service use, and spending.
Other Project Examples
CAPABLE (Community Aging in Place—Advancing Better Living for Elders)
Updated/reviewed July 2024
- Need: To help older adults age in place.
- Intervention: For five months, CAPABLE participants receive home visits from a registered nurse, occupational therapist, and home repair services.
- Results: There are currently 42 CAPABLE sites across the country, 14 of which are located in rural communities.
Clinic for Special Children
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.
Last Updated: 7/30/2024