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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Networking and collaboration

Promoting Health through Transdisciplinary Local Food System Partnerships: Insights from the North Carolina Local Food Council
Discusses the impact of the North Carolina Local Food Council (NCLFC) Community Health Working Group and their efforts to strengthen statewide and local food systems. Focuses on the North Carolina Medicaid 1115 Waiver Healthy Opportunities Pilots (HOPs) case study that aimed to integrate local food into health systems and healthcare initiatives. Includes information about partnerships, collaborations, pilot structure, and network leads in specific North Carolina regions.
Author(s): Amanda S. Hege, Morgan Cooper, K. Alexander Soltany, et al.
Citation: Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, 14(3), 415-431
Date: 06/2025
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Partnering with Schools, Feeding Communities: ETHRA's Non-Congregate Success
Profiles the East Tennessee Human Resource Agency (ETHRA) and their partnership with schools to provide non-congregate meals to children in rural and hard-to-reach areas. Provides information on the program model and and how it functions.
Date: 06/2025
Sponsoring organization: No Kid Hungry
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Ohio Rural Hospitals Form Clinically Integrated Network
Discusses the Ohio High-Value Network (OHVN), a clinically integrated network that supports rural health and serves 26 hospitals in Ohio and West Virginia. Focuses on collaboration related to clinical initiatives, operational best practices, and reducing costs and administrative burdens.
Date: 05/2025
Sponsoring organization: American Hospital Association
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Designing Participant-Centered Non-Congregate Summer Meal Programs
A recorded webinar that discusses non-congregate meal programs that serve rural populations in the summer. Focuses on the Second Harvest program in rural Florida and how they incorporated participant feedback and collaborated with community members. Transcript available below description.
Additional links: Slide Deck
Date: 05/2025
Sponsoring organization: No Kid Hungry
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Rural Dissemination: Bridging Research and Practice for Aging and Disability Services
A recorded webcast that discusses strategies to ensure aging and disability research reaches hard-to-reach and rural areas. Provides examples of rural research, dissemination methods, and collaborative efforts.
Additional links: Presentation Slides, Transcript, Webcast
Date: 05/2025
Sponsoring organization: Center on Knowledge Translation for Disability and Rehabilitation Research
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Characteristics and Trends of Critical Access Hospitals That Own or Operate Ambulance Services
Explores trends in the number of Critical Access Hospital (CAH)-based ambulance services between 2017 and 2022. Analyzes Medicare Cost Report data to compare the characteristics of of CAHs that own and operate ambulance services to CAHs that do not. Presents findings from interviews with eight CAH-based ambulance services regarding the challenges of operating these services, including workforce recruitment and retention issues, the role of partnerships and community involvement, and lessons learned.
Author(s): John Gale, Karen Pearson, Rebecca Stearns, Zachariah Croll
Date: 05/2025
Sponsoring organization: Flex Monitoring Team
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The Evolution and Promise of Age-Friendly Ecosystems in Rural Communities
Notes the challenges of aging in rural communities and highlights the National Rural Age-Friendly Initiative (NRAFI) by the National Rural Health Association and The John A. Hartford Foundation. NRAFI works to promote cross-sector collaboration to address those common challenges. Describes the NRAFI's work to date in creating and disseminating information, training community health workers, and building a networking infrastructure to facilitate collaboration.
Author(s): Rebecca Yeboah, Laura B. Hudson, K. Piper Martin
Date: 04/2025
Sponsoring organization: American Society on Aging
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Using Partnerships and Multiple Data Sources to Surveil Agricultural Injuries: Considerations and Recommendations
Describes a partnership between a rural health system and university to monitor agricultural injuries in the upper Midwest. Discusses data gathering and using geographic information systems among partners. Offers recommendations to others considering a similar partnership.
Author(s): Elizabeth A Gilblom, Angela B. Johnson, Sheryl Sahr, Hilla I. Sang
Citation: Journal of Agromedicine, 29(2), 197-205
Date: 04/2025
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Syndromic Surveillance in Tribal Health: Perspectives from Three Tribal Epidemiology Centers on Access and Utilization
Discusses the use of syndromic surveillance by Tribal Epidemiology Centers (TECs) to monitor and communicate health needs and support effective public health response in American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities. Highlights implementation and policy barriers to successful syndromic surveillance and suggests strategies for more effective state and tribal collaboration and data use.
Author(s): Cheng Wang, Lowrie Ward, Nicole Holdaway Smith
Citation: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 22(5), 664
Date: 04/2025
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Profile in Innovation: Rural Hospital Participation in Missouri HealthNet's Transformation of Rural Community Health (ToRCH) Program
Provides an overview of ToRCH, a Missouri Medicaid program designed to improve health outcomes and overall well-being in rural Missouri communities by addressing both medical and health-related social needs through a comprehensive, integrated care model. Discusses how hospitals, primary care teams, and community-based organizations implemented the model and funding strategy for the program.
Date: 04/2025
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Value
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