Rural Project Examples Addressing Health workforce

Queen Anne's County Mobile Integrated Community Health (MICH) Program

Updated/reviewed May 2025

Need: To connect patients to resources in order to reduce use of emergency services, emergency department visits, and hospital readmissions.
Intervention: Patients receive support (by in-person visit, phone call, or telehealth visit) from a paramedic, community health nurse, peer recovery specialist, and pharmacist.
Results: Between July 2016 and March 2024, the program made 1,098 patient contacts and continued to see a reduction in emergency department and inpatient visits and costs.

Updated/reviewed April 2025

Need: To improve and increase prevention and care services for HIV, STDs, hepatitis C, and other infectious diseases.
Intervention: PAETC-NV provides clinical and didactic trainings, conferences, technical assistance, capacity building, webinars, and other services to providers and healthcare organizations statewide.
Results: In 2024, PAETC-NV trained more than 1,800 healthcare providers across Nevada to increase clinical capacity in the care, screening, and prevention of HIV, other sexually transmitted diseases, and hepatitis C.

Updated/reviewed April 2025

Need: Multiple organizations in rural east central Illinois needed a more efficient, centralized system for referring patients experiencing a behavioral health crisis to appropriate treatment services.
Intervention: The Regional Behavioral Health Network was established with a 24-hour toll-free crisis line, providing immediate access to trained crisis clinicians.
Results: Improved access to high quality behavioral healthcare for patients in rural east central Illinois.

Updated/reviewed April 2025

Need: To improve maternal health in northeastern New Mexico.
Intervention: The Rural OB Access & Maternal Service program provides obstetric and maternal fetal medicine telehealth, home telehealth kits, and free access to lactation consultants and family navigators.
Results: ROAMS has worked with 2,000 unique individuals since July 2021.

Updated/reviewed April 2025

Need: To expand access to psychiatric services throughout South Carolina, with a focus on underserved and rural communities.
Intervention: South Carolina Department of Mental Health (SCDMH) created the SCDMH Emergency Department and Community Telepsychiatry programs to expand telepsychiatry access for patients in emergency departments and in various settings across the state.
Results: The program has improved access, affordability, and provided quality care for patients with mental illness living in rural and underserved areas of South Carolina.

Updated/reviewed April 2025

Need: To provide increased educational opportunities for emergency care personnel in rural and frontier South Dakota.
Intervention: A technologically advanced training was created to enhance the delivery of emergency patient care.
Results: Hundreds of emergency medical services (EMS) staff and volunteers received training that in turn helped them in the field of emergency patient care.

Updated/reviewed April 2025

Need: There is a shortage of rural physicians in the Northwestern United States.
Intervention: University of Washington medical students are receiving training through the TRUST program in rural communities across a five-state radius.
Results: Long-lasting connections have been formed among regional communities, medical students, and rural health professionals, with the goal of producing more rural physicians.

Updated/reviewed April 2025

Need: To address shortages of nurse practitioners and mental health professionals in rural Minnesota.
Intervention: The University of Minnesota (UMN) School of Nursing implemented a 40-hour rural rotation for students in the psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner program.
Results: 29 students completed rural rotations in communities across the state; several students voiced a new openness to practicing in a rural area after participating in the program.

Updated/reviewed March 2025

Need: To connect people in need in Allegany County, Maryland, to health and human services and to items like hygiene products, food, and clothing.
Intervention: The Possibility Shop partners with health organizations, insurance navigators, food banks, and other agencies.
Results: In 2024, 15,246 service encounters occurred and 940 intakes to services were performed.

Updated/reviewed January 2025

Need: To promote mental health and prevent substance use disorders in rural Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Alaska.
Intervention: Coast to Forest strengthens local capacity through training, technical assistance, education, and community partnerships.
Results: In its five years of operation, the project has trained over 800 individuals across the Pacific Northwest in Mental Health First Aid, developed 100 county-level resource guides, organized a series of Community Conversations in five rural Oregon counties, and more.