Rural Project Examples Addressing Chronic respiratory conditions

Chronic Disease Self-Management Program
Updated/reviewed December 2019

Need: To help people with chronic conditions learn how to manage their health.
Intervention: A small-group 6-week workshop for individuals with chronic conditions to learn skills and strategies to manage their health.
Results: Participants have better health and quality of life, including reduction in pain, fatigue, and depression.

New Mexico Mobile Screening Program for Miners
Updated/reviewed December 2022

Need: To increase access to medical screening for miners in New Mexico.
Intervention: A mobile screening clinic with telemedicine capability screens miners for respiratory and other conditions.
Results: In a survey, 92% of miners reported their care as very good, while the other 8% reported it as good. The program has expanded to three other states.

Community-Based Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program
Updated/reviewed February 2021

Need: More evidenced-based chronic lower respiratory disease management options for rural Appalachia patients, where lung disease rates are among the highest in the country.
Intervention: Implementation of outpatient pulmonary rehabilitation programs in 2 Federally Qualified Health Centers and a Critical Access Hospital in West Virginia.
Results: Improved health outcomes for patients with chronic lower respiratory disease, including those with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Community Health Worker-based Chronic Care Management Program
Added May 2020

Need: Improve healthcare access and decrease chronic disease disparities in rural Appalachia.
Intervention: A community health worker-based Chronic Care Management program demonstrated such a level of success in a single West Virginia county that it was further scaled for implementation in a multi-center, 3-state area of Appalachia.
Results: When analysis of the disseminated program's results also demonstrated improved health outcomes and decreased healthcare costs, sustainability became possible due to innovative financial reimbursement models.

Kansas Asthma Initiative
Updated/reviewed September 2022

Need: Many of Kansas's rural residents have low incomes and are medically underserved, putting them at a potential increased risk for uncontrolled asthma.
Intervention: The Kansas Asthma Initiative was a partnership that provided education and professional development opportunities via telehealth for healthcare providers and caregivers of asthma patients.
Results: The partnership developed a better methodology for working with physicians. Telehealth technology helped facilitate a positive collaboration among providers in Kansas in order to decrease the burden of asthma.

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.

COPD Inpatient Navigator Program
Updated/reviewed December 2019

Need: Improve readmission rates for rural patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).
Intervention: COPD Inpatient Navigator program implementation in a rural hospital in Oregon.
Results: With navigator assistance, COPD-associated readmission rate has decreased by almost 50%, with a continued improvement trend.

COPD Readmission Prevention Program
Updated/reviewed December 2019

Need: Organized effort targeting COPD patients' medical needs in order to prevent hospital readmission in Zanesville, Ohio.
Intervention: Creation of an integrated system model using nurse navigators that incorporates evidence-based chronic disease care management approaches to COPD care.
Results: Improved readmission rates and overall improved acute and chronic care for the area's COPD patients.

Rural Project Examples: Chronic respiratory conditions