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Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Project Examples: Healthcare needs and services

Promising Examples

Updated/reviewed September 2023

  • Need: Improve screening rates for rural uninsured/underinsured patients in counties surrounding Bryan-College Station, Texas.
  • Intervention: An academic center's nursing and family medicine training programs partnered with its public health program to obtain state grant funds for execution of a coordinated cancer prevention and detection program.
  • Results: In 5 years of colorectal screening efforts, 18 cases of colorectal cancer were diagnosed in addition to detection of precancerous lesions in 25% of nearly 2000 screening colonoscopies. In 3 years of women's health screening, 18 cases of breast cancer and 141 precancerous cervical lesions were also detected. Due to the initial success of the project, the program continues.

Updated/reviewed April 2023

  • Need: To improve the health and well-being of young people in the rural area of Massachusetts's Franklin County and North Quabbin, and to reduce youth drug and alcohol use.
  • Intervention: A community-based prevention coalition was formed to improve youth health and well-being and reduce youth drug and alcohol use use. The coalition brings together stakeholders from across the community and uses the Communities That Care evidence-based community planning system.
  • Results: CTC has seen significant reductions in substance abuse among local youth in the 30 rural towns they serve.
funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy

Updated/reviewed December 2022

  • Need: High poverty rates and lack of access to healthcare make caring for unborn and newborn children difficult for young mothers in Arkansas's Polk and Garland Counties.
  • Intervention: An Arkansas-based program provides a national healthcare service to expectant and young mothers. Prenatal check-ups, education, transportation, well-baby checks and child immunizations are all provided by the Healthy Connections, Inc.
  • Results: The program's results demonstrate an increase in first trimester prenatal care rates and child immunization rates, as well as a dramatic decrease in confirmed cases of child abuse.

Updated/reviewed June 2022

  • Need: To reduce smoking rates of pregnant women and adolescents in Appalachian regions of eastern Kentucky and Ohio.
  • Intervention: A web-based smoking cessation program that offered monetary incentives to reducing smoking.
  • Results: Participants significantly reduced smoking rates or quit altogether.
funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy

Updated/reviewed July 2020

  • Need: To improve the oral health status of children ages 3 to 17 living in rural areas of Louisiana.
  • Intervention: School-based nurse practitioners perform oral health assessments, apply fluoride varnishes when indicated, and make dental referrals, with completion rates of the latter tracked by dental case managers.
  • Results: Significant numbers of school children are receiving oral health examinations, fluoride varnish applications, and receiving care coordination to improve numbers of completed dental appointments.
funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy

Updated/reviewed April 2020

  • Need: Allow rural cancer patients in a of 26-county region in Iowa, Minnesota, and South Dakota to have access to tertiary-level chemotherapy regimens in rural infusion centers.
  • Intervention: With telehealth-based oversight from a tertiary care oncology team, 3 rural infusion teams were trained to coordinate cancer treatment plans and administer complex chemotherapy regimens.
  • Results: Almost 130 patients were transitioned to receive chemotherapy in a rural infusion center, translating to over 1,000 infusion visits and saving patients/families nearly 65,000 trip miles, 1,800 travel hours, and $71,000.

Other Project Examples

Updated/reviewed June 2025

  • Need: To reduce youth suicide rates.
  • Intervention: First begun in Utah, Hope Squad is a nationwide program that trains youth to identify peers' signs of distress and connect them to help. Hope Squads educate the entire student body to increase connectedness and reduce stigma.
  • Results: Studies suggest that Hope Squad schools' students with suicidal thoughts are more likely than non-Hope Squad schools' students to solicit help. In addition, stigma surrounding mental illness is decreasing.

Updated/reviewed June 2025

  • Need: Teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and mental health challenges in adolescent girls were concerns for members of Union Parish, Louisiana.
  • Intervention: Union General Hospital, a Critical Access Hospital, created the program It's a Girl Thing: Making Proud Choices to teach prevention, self-confidence, personal responsibility, and mental well-being to teen girls.
  • Results: Teen pregnancy rates in Union Parish have dropped by more than 40% since the start of the program, significantly exceeding the program's initial goal of 5%. Graduation rates have also increased. The addition of Together We Can Be Bully Free as an integral part of It's a Girl Thing has further expanded mental health support for participants.

Updated/reviewed June 2025

  • Need: Transportation to medical appointments for children and expectant mothers living in rural Alabama.
  • Intervention: Kid One Transport provides rides to medical appointments for clients who otherwise have no other means of transportation.
  • Results: The program has transported 477,880 children and expectant mothers to and from medical appointments. Children have recovered from life-threatening illnesses and are experiencing a higher quality of life.
funded by the Health Resources Services Administration

Updated/reviewed June 2025

  • Need: To improve maternal and birth outcomes in rural and underserved areas by increasing the number of family medicine physicians in these areas who have high-quality, evidence-based obstetrical care skills.
  • Intervention: The STRETCH-OB program trains a select number of family medicine residents at the University of Illinois College of Medicine Rockford each year to provide high-quality maternity care, including surgical obstetrical care.
  • Results: Four STRETCH-OB residents have graduated as of June 2025 and all have cesarean section privileges in their practice.