Rural Project Examples Addressing Medical homes

Updated/reviewed November 2020

Need: Provision of medical care access and follow-up for rural North Carolina HIV patients with mental health, substance abuse, and unstable housing/homelessness challenges.
Intervention: Medical home staff model expanded to a care coordination program with a core Network Navigator and Continuum of Care Coordinator assisting with medical, behavioral health, and basic life needs.
Results: To date, the program has advanced three aspects of medical home patient care for this target population: provided further understanding of the spectrum of homelessness, including "hidden" homelessness; implemented outreach with creation of new community partnerships and a community housing coalition; and integrated medical care and behavioral health care for HIV.

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.

Updated/reviewed July 2023

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 2022, about 1,400 active patients with more than 400 unique genetic mutations were treated at the Clinic for Special Children.

Updated/reviewed February 2020

Need: To help reduce diabetes, depression, and stroke risk in rural residents.
Intervention: A collaborative care model was implemented in the Idaho counties of Clearwater, Idaho, and Lewis.
Results: Increased number of patients with controlled blood sugar, controlled blood pressure, and higher depression screening rates.

Updated/reviewed December 2019

Need: A healthcare delivery model to improve health and well-being of Pennsylvania patients with serious mental illness in Pennsylvania, especially those in rural settings.
Intervention: County human service administrators, patients, families, a behavioral health provider network, and a nonprofit behavioral health managed care organization implemented 2 versions of a behavioral home health model focusing on a complete culture of wellness.
Results: These unique models significantly increased patient activation, engagement in both primary and specialty care, and improved client perception of their mental health status.

Updated/reviewed February 2018

Need: The traditional model where providers work independently from one another in treating patients proved to lack care continuity at SAMA Healthcare Services in rural Arkansas.
Intervention: The family practice clinic shifted to a team-based model of care where the medical staff works together in pods in order to create a patient-centered medical home.
Results: SAMA doubled the amount of patients seen in 1 day and at least 90% of patients receive medical treatment from a provider within their pod.

Rural Project Examples: Medical homes