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Rural Health Information Hub
Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Project Examples: Pharmacy and prescription drugs

Effective Examples

Updated/reviewed May 2024

  • Need: To reduce overdose-related deaths among prescription opioid users in rural Wilkes County, North Carolina.
  • Intervention: Education and tools are provided for prescribers, patients and community members to lessen drug supply and demand, and to reduce harm in prescription opioid use.
  • Results: Opioid overdose death rates have decreased in Wilkes County.

Promising Examples

funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy

Updated/reviewed November 2025

  • Need: Allow rural cancer patients in a region inclusive of 26 counties in Iowa, Minnesota, and South Dakota to have access to tertiary-level chemotherapy regimens administered 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: The original grant-supported effort — with its results of saving 130 patients 65,000 trip miles and 1,800 travel hours – proved sustainable.

Other Project Examples

funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy

Updated/reviewed March 2026

  • Need: The results of a 2013 county need assessment revealed that increased healthcare access would benefit the low resource areas of rural Hardin County, Ohio.
  • Intervention: With grant awards that included a 2015-2018 federal grant and in collaboration with local healthcare delivery systems, a rurally-located university pharmacy program's faculty and doctoral learners brought regularly scheduled pharmacist-led mobile clinic health services — ONU HealthWise Mobile Clinic — to the low resource areas of Hardin County, Ohio.
  • Results: In the decade since the original grant award, pharmacist-led mobile healthcare services' continued success has led to an expanded operation with a dual focus of providing both rural healthcare services and a setting to train rural practice-ready pharmacists. Additionally, interprofessional experiences for other healthcare profession learners have been added. In 2025, state-granted financial support allowed growth to include the purchase of a second vehicle expanding community pharmacy and telehealth services in surrounding rural counties.

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.
funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy

Updated/reviewed December 2023

  • Need: To ensure the quality and sustainability of rural West Central Missouri's health services through the use of technology.
  • Intervention: The Health Care Coalition of Lafayette County convened a Health Information Technology (HIT) workgroup to establish electronic medical and prescription records, telemedicine capabilities, and training for Lafayette County and surrounding areas.
  • Results: The workgroup fully equipped a local emergency department with HIT, launched electronic prescriptions for nearly a dozen Lafayette County providers, and identified acute needs hindering the adoption of electronic health records.

For examples from other sources, see: