Rural Project Examples: Service delivery models
Other Project Examples
Family Wellness Warriors Initiative
Updated/reviewed November 2020
Updated/reviewed November 2020
- Need: Decrease rates of domestic violence, child sexual abuse, and child neglect for Alaska Native people in remote villages.
- Intervention: An evidence-based model inclusive of traditional culture trains local communities on methods of prevention and treatment for domestic and interpersonal violence.
- Results: Self-sustaining local system with improved family and spiritual well-being and decreased healthcare access needs.

Updated/reviewed September 2020
- Need: Dental care access for children in low-income families living in a 7-county region of southwest Missouri.
- Intervention: A mobile dental unit was created to expand dental care access.
- Results: The Miles for Smiles mobile dental clinic provides comprehensive dental care to children throughout the 7-county region.

Updated/reviewed September 2020
- Need: Coordinated approach to healthcare delivery in central and southern West Virginia.
- Intervention: Creation of a nonprofit organization that focused on quality and collaboration.
- Results: With an ability to provide services that meet the evolving needs of patients, providers, and communities, the organization provides unique services, such as a credentialing service and web-based data sharing care management tool.

Updated/reviewed August 2020
- Need: To access specialty medical services, residents of Santa Catalina Island have to travel 20 miles by boat to southern California. A telemedicine service was needed to connect island residents to the mainland's specialty services.
- Intervention: The Catalina Island Medical Center created a telemedicine center to give residents quick access to specialty medical care, including diabetic consultations and pain management.
- Results: An analysis of the telemedicine program found that patients had measurable improvements, and that 90% of patients were pleased with the program and will continue to use it.

Updated/reviewed May 2020
- Need: Improve healthcare access for school-aged children in a rural and underserved Indiana county.
- Intervention: Working with several rural school districts and the state's rural health association, an Indiana county healthcare system used school-based telehealth to expand access for acute illness.
- Results: As of May 2019, Greene County General Hospital in rural Linton, Indiana, has expanded primary care access by offering school-based telehealth in 2 elementary and 1 middle school in 3 of the county's 5 school districts.

Updated/reviewed February 2020
- Need: To help reduce diabetes, depression, and stroke risk in rural residents.
- Intervention: A collaborative care model was implemented in the Idaho counties of Clearwater, Idaho, and Lewis.
- Results: Increased number of patients with controlled blood sugar, controlled blood pressure, and higher depression screening rates.

Updated/reviewed January 2020
- Need: Rural areas in Mississippi often lack adequate access to specialty healthcare services such as emergency medicine, stroke neurology, pediatric specialists and psychiatrists.
- Intervention: The University of Mississippi Medical Center created the Center for Telehealth to deliver quality specialty services through telehealth video conferencing and remote monitoring tools to the underserved areas of Mississippi.
- Results: The program has been successfully implemented throughout many of the state's rural hospitals and has reduced transfers and geographic barriers for patients.

Updated/reviewed December 2019
- Need: Decrease hospital readmissions and emergency room visits for patients in rural Tidewater, Virginia.
- Intervention: After inpatient admission or ER visit, identify at-risk patients to offer enrollment in remote monitoring and disease self-management education and coaching, with a special focus on behavioral health wellness.
- Results: Decreased readmissions and ER visits paired with high patient satisfaction scores.
COPD Readmission Prevention Program
Updated/reviewed December 2019
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.
Optimal Health Behavioral Health Home Models
Updated/reviewed December 2019
Updated/reviewed December 2019
- Need: A healthcare delivery model to improve health and well-being of Pennsylvania patients with serious mental illness in Pennsylvania, especially those in rural settings.
- Intervention: County human service administrators, patients, families, a behavioral health provider network, and a nonprofit behavioral health managed care organization implemented 2 versions of a behavioral home health model focusing on a complete culture of wellness.
- Results: These unique models significantly increased patient activation, engagement in both primary and specialty care, and improved client perception of their mental health status.
For examples from other sources, see: