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Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Project Examples: Access

Other Project Examples

Volunteers of America Southeast Louisiana's Stepping Stones Program

funded by the Health Resources Services Administration

Added February 2023

  • Need: Black women living with HIV in rural southeastern Louisiana face challenges in accessing care and other needed resources, often while dealing with other life stressors such as poverty, physical and mental health comorbidities, and a history of trauma.
  • Intervention: Implementing three evidence-informed interventions simultaneously ensures success in linking, treating, and retaining Black women in HIV care to improve health outcomes.
  • Results: As of February 2023, Stepping Stones has recruited 38 participants.

Maine Critical Access Integrated Paramedics

funded by the Health Resources Services Administration

Added August 2022

  • Need: With the nearest hospital more than an hour away, the local community health center in rural Jackman, Maine struggled to maintain its ability to offer 24/7 care to due to staffing and budgetary challenges.
  • Intervention: Critical Access Integrated Paramedics provide urgent care to patients after hours and on weekends.
  • Results: The Jackman Community Health Center has been able to offer round-the-clock care to clinic patients, while also increasing the level of EMS service available to the community.

Boone County Health Center Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program

Updated/reviewed June 2022

  • Need: Evidenced-based intervention to improve function and quality of life for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other chronic lower respiratory conditions.
  • Intervention: Pulmonary rehabilitation program implementation in 1989.
  • Results: Compared to a national average of only about 3% of referred Medicare beneficiaries actually enrolling in pulmonary rehabilitation, 60% of the program's referred patients enroll. Averaging around 15 patients/year completing the program, a large combined cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation maintenance population averages 8,000 visits/year.

New Horizons Geriatric Counseling Program

Updated/reviewed June 2022

  • Need: Improved behavioral health care offerings for a community after losing 5 senior-aged men to suicide.
  • Intervention: A Critical Access Hospital in Yoakum, Texas, created a community-based program focusing on inpatient and outpatient behavioral health care for area residents age 50 and older.
  • Results: A financially-sustainable behavioral health care delivery model demonstrating positive impacts on physical health conditions, healthcare service utilization, and high patient satisfaction rates.

My Virtual Clinic School-Based Telehealth Program

funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy

Updated/reviewed May 2020

  • Need: Improve healthcare access for school-aged children in a rural and underserved Indiana county.
  • Intervention: Working with several rural school districts and the state's rural health association, an Indiana county healthcare system used school-based telehealth to expand access for acute illness.
  • Results: As of May 2019, Greene County General Hospital in rural Linton, Indiana, has expanded primary care access by offering school-based telehealth in 2 elementary and 1 middle school in 3 of the county's 5 school districts.

Garrett County Regional Cancer Patient Navigator Program

funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy

Updated/reviewed March 2020

  • Need: Comprehensive cancer services for residents of an 8-county, 3-state area in Appalachia.
  • Intervention: Using a Cancer Patient Navigation Tool Kit, a Maryland acute care facility led a multidisciplinary collaboration that provided the area's patients with expanded cancer treatment services.
  • Results: In addition to several new cancer-related programs, expanded services are now available for cancer patients, families, and cancer survivors.

Ohio Northern University's HealthWise Mobile Outreach Program

funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy

Updated/reviewed July 2019

  • Need: Meeting both advanced practice pharmacy student education needs and patient healthcare needs in a nearby rural/underserved area.
  • Intervention: With support from multiple organizations, students in the Ohio Northern University's College of Pharmacy program use a motor coach to deliver a wide range of healthcare services during scheduled outreach visits.
  • Results: In the program's first two years, point-of-care screening, immunizations, and chronic disease prevention and management education have been provided to 800+ Hardin County, Ohio, residents.

Families Plus Comprehensive Health and Mentoring for Underserved Youth

funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy

Added March 2019

  • Need: Pediatric behavioral health services in Delta County, Colorado.
  • Intervention: Multi-organizational and community-wide effort to increase healthcare access for underserved children and to integrate behavioral health care into the area's primary care clinics.
  • Results: Sustainable increases in access to pediatric behavioral health services.

For examples from other sources, see: