West Virginia resources via the Rural Health Information Hub

Funding opportunity: Rural Hospital Provider Assistance Program

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 15:47:45 -0500

Direct financial assistance for rural hospitals facing structural payment disadvantages with the goal of maintenance of healthcare providers, which will in turn maintain essential health services and prevent avoidable hospital closures. -- Federal Office of Rural Health Policy, Health Resources and Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

News: Ohio University Researchers Expand Opioid Use Disorder Treatment with Nearly $4 Million NIH Grant to Improve Rural Primary Care Access

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 09:27:11 -0500

Announces funding for a study that will scale up a pilot project increasing access to opioid use disorder treatment in primary care across Ohio and West Virginia. Rural providers will have access to a mentor-based prescribing model. Also discusses how students have been involved with the research process.

Event: 2027 Appalachian Health Leadership Forum

Tue, 26 May 2026 00:00:00 -0500

Roanoke WV
April 8, 2027 -- West Virginia Center for Rural Health Development

Event: 2026 American Heart Association Eastern States Rural Health Summit

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 -0500

Charleston WV
October 9, 2026 -- American Heart Association

Event: 2026 34th Annual West Virginia Rural Health Conference

Tue, 31 Mar 2026 00:00:00 -0500

Morgantown WV
November 11, 2026 -- West Virginia Rural Health Association

Resource: Glioblastoma Survival in Rural America: A 10-Year Experience from a Quaternary Care Center

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 11:21:43 -0500

Examines factors influencing glioblastoma survival and overall prognosis among West Virginians, using medical record data of 380 adults treated at WVU Ruby Memorial Hospital between January 2015 and August 2025. Includes data on patient rurality, sex, treatment received, and more. Discusses the role of referrals in mitigating rural access barriers for cancer care and improving rural cancer outcomes.

Resource: West Virginia Rural Primary Care Workforce

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 09:48:32 -0600

Offers maps and tables of the primary care workforce distribution in West Virginia in 2025. Includes county-level data and rural and urban comparisons. -- WWAMI Rural Health Research Center

Resource: West Virginia Rural Obstetrical Workforce

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 09:47:03 -0600

Offers maps and tables of the obstetricians and advanced practice midwives workforce distribution in West Virginia in 2025. Includes county-level data and rural and urban comparisons. -- WWAMI Rural Health Research Center

Resource: West Virginia Rural Behavioral Health Workforce

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 09:41:16 -0600

Offers maps and tables of the supply and distribution of behavioral health clinicians in West Virginia in 2025. Includes county-level data and rural and urban comparisons. -- WWAMI Rural Health Research Center

Event: 2026 Appalachian Syndemic Summit

Wed, 18 Feb 2026 00:00:00 -0600

Huntington WV
September 9, 2026

Resource: Perceived Water Safety and Elevated Liver Enzymes in Rural West Virginia: Links between Drinking Water, Beverage Habits, and Liver Health

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 15:38:07 -0600

Analyzes associations between perceived home tap water quality, liver enzyme levels, and other clinical indicators among 272 adults in rural West Virginia. Discusses how perceived environmental health and access to affordable filtration may influence health outcomes in rural, Appalachian areas.

Resource: Impact of a Workshop on Rural Healthcare Delivery on Medical Student Attitudes

Thu, 29 Jan 2026 16:38:51 -0600

Results of a study evaluating the effect of an educational workshop on Appalachian West Virginia medical students' attitudes toward rural healthcare barriers. Explores whether targeted education can enhance students' interest in rural practice.

Resource: Leveraging Community Health Workers' Deep Community Knowledge to Address Food and Nutrition Security in Appalachia

Thu, 29 Jan 2026 16:24:48 -0600

Examines professional characteristics and knowledge of rural Appalachian community health workers in Kentucky and West Virginia, based on data from online surveys and phone interviews conducted from January to May 2019. Identifies culturally sensitive practices around food insecurity.

Resource: Developing a Research Agenda to Improve Rural Health Access and Quality in West Virginia

Wed, 17 Dec 2025 08:55:37 -0600

Presents a research agenda to identify health problems, infrastructure issues, and healthcare workforce gaps in rural West Virginia. Discusses interventions to improve access, create policy, and address knowledge and data gaps. Provides county-level maps showing health and social issues across the state. -- RAND Corporation

Resource: 2025 West Virginia Health Sciences and Rural Health Report

Tue, 16 Dec 2025 13:56:42 -0600

Review of medical school enrollment, licensing rates, student debt ratios, residency training, and retention rates in West Virginia, with special focus on the Rural Health Initiative Program. Includes dental and pharmacy program profiles, and describes the Medical Student Loan Program and the Health Sciences Service Program, providing financial awards to health professionals who agree to practice in underserved areas of West Virginia.

Resource: West Virginia Rural Health Transformation Program

Mon, 15 Dec 2025 13:30:58 -0600

Provides information on West Virginia's Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP). Includes links to West Virginia's application, upcoming events, recordings and materials from past events, and current state RHTP funding opportunities. -- West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources

Funding opportunity: American Connection Corps

Tue, 25 Nov 2025 15:06:59 -0600

A 1-year fellowship program that trains and mobilizes leaders to work in rural and emerging communities to coordinate broadband development and digital inclusion. -- AmeriCorps

Resource: A Twenty-Year Review: Revisiting the Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Funding Needs and Gaps in the Appalachian Region

Fri, 14 Nov 2025 11:25:28 -0600

Provides county, state, and metro versus nonmetro data on water and wastewater infrastructure in the Appalachian region. Discusses funding and collaborative possibilities to improve critical infrastructure in Appalachian communities. -- Appalachian Regional Commission

Resource: State Strategies for Strengthening Rural Health: Insights from NASHP's 2025 Annual Conference

Tue, 23 Sep 2025 10:13:08 -0500

Summarizes a session from the National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP) 2025 Annual Conference regarding state strategies to improve access to care in rural communities. Highlights policies from North Dakota, Washington, and West Virginia related to workforce and capacity challenges, broadband and telehealth, behavioral health access points, and linking health and social care. -- National Academy for State Health Policy

Resource: Enhancing Primary Care Capacity for Cardiovascular Disease Management Through the ECHO+ Model: A Multistate Rural Collaboration Among West Virginia, Arkansas, and Oklahoma

Mon, 08 Sep 2025 10:50:33 -0500

Examines quality of care and clinician capacity impacts of the ECHO+ cardiovascular disease (CVD) tele-education course, which included asynchronous pre-recorded lectures and a quality improvement learning collaborative for 41 rural primary care providers in West Virginia, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. Provides data on ECHO+ impacts on CVD quality indicators, patient outcomes, and participant feedback.

Resource: The Appalachian Region: A Data Overview from the 2019-2023 American Community Survey Chartbook

Mon, 07 Jul 2025 11:13:41 -0500

State- and county-level information on population, age, household characteristics, housing occupancy, education, labor force, employment, transportation, income, health insurance coverage, disability, and veteran status, for the 13 Appalachian states. Features statistics with breakdowns by 5 levels of population density. Includes data explorer options for Appalachian categories such as population and age, education, income and poverty, computer and broadband access, rural Appalachia versus rural America, and employment and commuting. -- Appalachian Regional Commission, Population Reference Bureau

Organization: Northeast/Mid-Atlantic CMS QIN-QIO

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 15:46:58 -0500

A Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) led by IPRO that works with eligible hospitals, nursing homes and community outpatient providers to implement data-driven initiatives that achieve national health quality goals in the Northeast (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands) and Mid-Atlantic (Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia) regions.

Resource: An Evaluation of the Telehealth Broadband Pilot Program (2021–2024)

Fri, 04 Apr 2025 15:13:41 -0500

Provides an overview of the Telehealth Broadband Pilot (TBP) Program, which aimed to address gaps in broadband service that limited access to telehealth services in rural and underserved communities in Alaska, Michigan, Texas, and West Virginia. Details the development and implementation of devices that measured broadband data in the communities over time and the results of those devices. Summarizes discussions with TBP Program staff regarding the implementation and effectiveness of the program, as well as interviews with healthcare stakeholders, consumers, and technical assistance providers in TBP Program communities. Offers factors for consideration in the development of future programs to measure broadband implementation in rural communities and improve user experience. Includes summary reports by state. -- Rural Telehealth Evaluation Center, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Regional Campuses

Resource: Factors Associated With Surveillance Testing in Individuals With COVID-19 Symptoms During the Last Leg of the Pandemic: Multivariable Regression Analysis

Wed, 18 Sep 2024 10:07:28 -0500

Examines demographic, clinical, and behavioral factors associated with COVID-19 testing in a predominantly rural, underserved population in West Virginia between May and November 2022. Utilizes Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics for Underserved Populations program (RADx-UP2) survey data of 2103 individuals. Includes a geospatial analysis of associations between county-level community distress and likelihood of being symptomatic when presenting for testing.

Resource: Factors Associated With Myocardial Infarction in a Rural Population With Peripheral Arterial Diseases

Fri, 23 Aug 2024 11:47:10 -0500

Examines the association between sociodemographic and clinical risk factors and myocardial infarction (MI) in patients with peripheral arterial diseases (PAD) in Central Appalachia. Uses data from 5,574 patients in 230 counties across Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Features statistics on characteristics of patients with PAD based on presence or absence of MI.

Resource: Maternal Age and Inadequate Prenatal Care in West Virginia: A Project WATCH Study

Wed, 14 Aug 2024 14:20:41 -0500

Results of a study to determine the potential association between maternal age and inadequate prenatal care, based on data collected in rural Appalachian West Virginia between May 2018 and March 2022, through a state-mandated surveillance tool. Features demographics and statistics with breakdowns by maternal age group, education, substance use, payment type, and geographic region.

Resource: Rural Community Health Worker Programs: Proving Value and Finding Sustainability

Wed, 24 Jul 2024 14:51:31 -0500

Features four rural healthcare organizations describing the impact of their community health worker (CHW) programs and strategies for sustaining them. Discusses CHW roles, activities, reimbursement options, and more. -- Rural Health Information Hub

Resource: Creating Access to Care in Rural America

Fri, 31 May 2024 14:15:27 -0500

Recording of a May 2024 webinar describing how CAMC Greenbrier Valley Medical Center utilized telemedicine hubs to ensure access to care in rural West Virginia communities. Discusses lessons learned, development of the program, and future plans. Features a panel discussion with telehealth, geriatric care, and rural health experts on improving healthcare delivery in rural areas. Transcript available in the video description. -- Center of Excellence for Telehealth and Aging

Resource: Growing and Sustaining Community Partnerships: A Use Case

Wed, 15 May 2024 09:13:38 -0500

Offers 2 case studies from West Virginia on community partnerships to support community-engaged research. Case studies discuss emergency response efforts and a community ambassador program. Includes 2 toolkits on working with the community and partner compensation for successful community-based participatory research projects.

Resource: Health Wanted: Finding Care in Rural America

Fri, 03 May 2024 13:19:53 -0500

Series of videos highlighting challenges with access to quality healthcare for rural Americans. Discusses healthcare access in remote locations, food insecurity and farming practices, transportation, wellness initiatives, and chronic health conditions in 5 states. Transcript available in video description. -- American Heart Association