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

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.

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.

Indiana Statewide Rural Health Network (InSRHN)
Updated/reviewed July 2021

• 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.

Generation Patient
Updated/reviewed June 2021

• Need: To help young adults with chronic or rare conditions access health and educational resources and build a community of peers and advocates.
• Intervention: Generation Patient summits bring together young adults with chronic medical disabilities, including chronic and rare conditions. The nonprofit organization also facilitates programming such as the Crohn's and Colitis Young Adults Network.
• Results: Generation Patient facilitates about six virtual meetings per month in addition to programming around higher education, civic engagement, and more. The organization also facilitates a Virtual International Summit for young adults with chronic and rare conditions.

Hands of Hope In-School Prevention Program
Updated/reviewed April 2021

• Need: To reduce and prevent abuse and violence in rural Grant County, Indiana.
• Intervention: A prevention program uses age-appropriate materials to teach children from Head Start through high school about topics like healthy relationships and nonviolent ways to deal with anger.
• Results: Surveys show that teachers appreciate the presentations and that students learn more about these topics, strategies they can use in violent situations, and available resources.

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%).