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Rural Health Information Hub
Rural Health Information Hub

Indiana Models and Innovations

These stories feature model programs and successful rural projects that can serve as a source of ideas. Some of the projects or programs may no longer be active. Read about the criteria and evidence-base for programs included.

Effective Examples

HoMBReS
Updated/reviewed February 2022
  • Need: To reduce the risk of HIV/STDs among Latino men living in rural regions of the United States.
  • Intervention: Soccer team leaders are elected and trained as lay health advisors to promote sexual health education among team members.
  • Results: Program participants report an increase in HIV testing, an increase in condom use, and an increase in awareness of how to prevent the transmission of HIV.

Other Project Examples

Richmond Substance Use and Mental Health Mobile Integrated Health Program
Added November 2023
  • Need: To reduce the number of overdose deaths in Richmond, Indiana and connect people in need of mental health treatment to community resources.
  • Intervention: A mobile integrated healthcare (MIH) program that connects social workers with people who have just experienced a mental health crisis or overdose.
  • Results: More than 320 people have been referred to Richmond's MIH programs since June 2022.
Camp Mariposa
Updated/reviewed August 2023
  • Need: To help children whose family members are struggling with substance misuse.
  • Intervention: A year-round program provides mentoring as well as substance use prevention education.
  • Results: In 2022, Camp Mariposa served a total of 123 youth in its four rural locations in Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, and West Virginia. In a study, 93% of participants reported no use of any substance to get high.
Project Swaddle
Added August 2023
  • Need: To reduce poor maternal and infant health outcomes and improve access to prenatal and postpartum care for at-risk pregnant women and recent mothers in Crawfordsville, Indiana.
  • Intervention: A home visitation program that uses community paramedics to deliver wrap-around care to women experiencing high-risk pregnancies and/or social and environmental challenges.
  • Results: Since 2018, more than 200 women have been served by the program.
funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy Indiana Statewide Rural Health Network (InSRHN)
Updated/reviewed July 2023
  • Need: To improve sustainability and financial viability for rural healthcare providers throughout Indiana.
  • Intervention: A network of rural healthcare providers for Critical Access and other hospitals in Indiana that are dedicated to improving their ability to deliver efficient and high-quality healthcare for their rural residents.
  • Results: The network has been leveraged to increase access to resources, coordinate services, and improve and expand healthcare access.
funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy Indiana ASPIN Veteran's Services
Updated/reviewed October 2022
  • Need: To address the lack of mental healthcare options for rural veterans.
  • Intervention: A telebehavioral health hub network was created to connect community mental health centers to the VA Medical Center.
  • Results: More than 3,000 telehealth appointments have been made, saving hundreds of veterans time and money.
funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy funded by the Health Resources Services Administration ASPIN's Certified Recovery Specialist Program
Updated/reviewed September 2022
  • Need: Improved approach in addressing the behavioral health and primary care disparities of Indiana's underserved rural counties.
  • Intervention: A network was established that trained community health workers (CHWs) to be certified health insurance enrollment navigators and provide mental health services.
  • Results: This year, ASPIN trained 230 CHWs, cross-trained 70 behavioral health case managers as CHWs, and 35 individuals in the Indiana Navigator Pre-certification Education.
funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy My Virtual Clinic School-Based Telehealth Program
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.
Foundations Family Medicine's HIV, HCV, Opioid and Substance Use Disorder Services
Added November 2018
  • Need: Due to the opioid crisis, Austin, Indiana has seen the largest concentrated outbreak of HIV in rural America's recent history. Since 2015, over 200 residents have been diagnosed with the virus.
  • Intervention: Foundations Family Medicine began offering testing and treatment services for HIV, hepatitis C, and opioid/substance use disorder. Education, care coordination and behavioral health services were also offered as an integrated part of their primary care clinic.
  • Results: Although the virus continues to spread throughout Scott County, the rate has significantly decreased, outdoing national suppression rates by a large margin (76% compared to national average of 49%).

Last Updated: 11/8/2023