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Rural Health Information Hub
Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Project Examples: Healthcare quality

Evidence-Based Examples

Updated/reviewed February 2024

  • Need: Increase medical management knowledge for New Mexico primary care providers in order to provide care for the thousands of rural patients with hepatitis C, a chronic, complex condition that has high personal and public health costs when left untreated.
  • Intervention: Project leveraging an audiovisual platform to accomplish "moving knowledge, not patients" that used a "knowledge network learning loop" of disease-specific consultants and rural healthcare teams learning from each other and learning by providing direct patient care.
  • Results: In 18 months, the urban specialist appointment wait list decreased from 8 months to 2 weeks due to Hepatitis C patients receiving care from the project's participating primary care providers. Improved disease outcomes were demonstrated along with cost savings, including those associated with travel. The project model, now known as Project ECHO® – Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes — has evolved into a telementoring model used world-wide.

Promising Examples

funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy

Added July 2024

  • Need: Solutions for Medicare beneficiaries' post-acute care recovery gaps in Arkansas's southeast Delta Region.
  • Intervention: Supported by federal funding and their membership organization, seven hospitals implemented an evidence-supported Critical Access Hospital transitional care model.
  • Results: Participating hospitals found a significant increase in swing bed services revenue, an all-cause low readmission rate, high percentage of patients discharged to home or to an assisted living environment, and positive patient satisfaction surveys.

Other Project Examples

funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy

Updated/reviewed December 2024

  • Need: To help ensure the viability of and improve quality at 9 rural, independent hospitals serving 11 Utah counties.
  • Intervention: A network organization was created to allow member hospitals to communicate, network, and undertake projects together.
  • Results: Members take advantage of cost savings, education, and networking opportunities through group projects and programs.

Added June 2024

  • Need: To expand access to medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) across the state of Pennsylvania.
  • Intervention: An initiative formed to provide technical assistance aimed at improving MOUD treatment capacity and quality at healthcare sites across urban and rural Pennsylvania.
  • Results: In 2023, 108 providers engaged with the program, treating a total of 5,185 individuals with MOUD. Currently, the program engages partners in 20 Pennsylvania counties – serving rural populations in Crawford, Schuylkill, Susquehanna, Butler, and Cambria counties.

For examples from other sources, see: