Skip to main content
Rural Health Information Hub
Rural Health Information Hub

Ohio 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.

Evidence-Based Examples

Updated/reviewed April 2025

  • Need: A drug and alcohol prevention program for middle school students that is specific to rural culture.
  • Intervention: An adaptation of the evidence-based keepin' it REAL curriculum was customized for rural middle school students.
  • Results: Students showed a reduction in all substance use and less personal acceptability of substance use.

Effective Examples

Updated/reviewed August 2024

  • Need: Improve healthcare access and decrease chronic disease disparities in rural Appalachia.
  • Intervention: A unique community health worker-based chronic care management program, created with philanthropy support.
  • Results: After a decade of use in attending to population health needs, health outcomes, healthcare costs, in 2024, the medical condition-agnostic model has a 4-year track record of financial sustainability with recent scaling to include 31 rural counties in a 3-state area of Appalachia and recent implementation in urban areas.
funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy

Updated/reviewed November 2018

  • Need: To reduce obesity among adults in rural east central Ohio.
  • Intervention: Fit for Life Replication Project for Expansion was developed to make it possible to lose weight through practicing healthier lifestyle behaviors.
  • Results: Out of the 443 adults who have completed the program, 81% experienced weight loss, a tangible result of the program's overarching goal to enhance levels of health and fitness.

Promising Examples

Updated/reviewed March 2026

  • Need: To reduce smoking rates of pregnant adult and adolescent women in Appalachian regions of eastern Kentucky and Ohio.
  • Intervention: In 2009, a web-based smoking cessation program offered monetary incentives to reduce smoking.
  • Results: Participants significantly reduced smoking rates or quit altogether.

Other Project Examples

Updated/reviewed March 2026

  • Need: Population health approach to decrease cardiovascular disease deaths in a rural Ohio healthcare delivery system's service area.
  • Intervention: A rural health system's investment in level II cardiac catheterization services and the required specialized cardiology workforce.
  • Results: In August 2018, Avita Health System started their cardiovascular service offerings in rural north central Ohio. Early results included decreased tertiary care hospital transfers. Building on the success of their increased ability to provide acute care, care coordination for patients with significant cardiovascular risks, preventive education with risk factor identification and modification, the health system continues to expand its local cardiovascular care.
funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy

Updated/reviewed March 2026

  • Need: The results of a 2013 county need assessment revealed that increased healthcare access would benefit the low resource areas of rural Hardin County, Ohio.
  • Intervention: With grant awards that included a 2015-2018 federal grant and in collaboration with local healthcare delivery systems, a rurally-located university pharmacy program's faculty and doctoral learners brought regularly scheduled pharmacist-led mobile clinic health services — ONU HealthWise Mobile Clinic — to the low resource areas of Hardin County, Ohio.
  • Results: In the decade since the original grant award, pharmacist-led mobile healthcare services' continued success has led to an expanded operation with a dual focus of providing both rural healthcare services and a setting to train rural practice-ready pharmacists. Additionally, interprofessional experiences for other healthcare profession learners have been added. In 2025, state-granted financial support allowed growth to include the purchase of a second vehicle expanding community pharmacy and telehealth services in surrounding rural counties.

Updated/reviewed September 2025

  • Need: To improve health outcomes in rural Appalachian Ohio.
  • Intervention: Schools as a Hub for Health promoted holistic wellness for the whole community by creating or bringing in programs that support physical, mental, and social health.
  • Results: The project gained administrator buy-in and facilitated the development of a variety of health-focused school-based programs.

Updated/reviewed August 2025

  • Need: Organized focus on COPD patients' medical needs to decrease hospital readmissions in a rural Ohio healthcare system.
  • Intervention: Creation of an integrated system model with nurse navigators central to evidence-based chronic disease care management approaches to COPD care.
  • Results: Since its creation in 2014, the model continues to mature its comprehensive approach to provide optimized acute and chronic care for the area's COPD patients.

Updated/reviewed April 2024

  • Need: To prevent hospital readmissions and improve the recovery process for older adults in rural southern Ohio.
  • Intervention: Hospital2Home identifies individuals who have an elevated risk of hospital readmission and provides vouchers for services like personal care and home-delivered meals.
  • Results: In each of the seven years the program has been in operation, over 85% of participants have avoided readmission in the first two months after hospital discharge.
Last Reviewed: 10/31/2025