Rural Long-Term Care Facilities – Models and Innovations
These stories feature model programs and successful rural projects that can serve as a source of ideas and provide lessons others have learned. Some of the projects or programs may no longer be active. Read about the criteria and evidence-base for programs included.
Effective Examples
University of Vermont Medical Center's Nursing Home Telepsychiatry Service
Updated/reviewed July 2018
Updated/reviewed July 2018
- Need: To improve the health status and access for rural nursing home patients in need of mental health services.
- Intervention: The University of Vermont Medical Center provides telepsychiatry care and education to nursing homes in communities that face shortages of mental health professionals.
- Results: These telepsychiatry consultations have eased the burden on nursing home residents by saving travel time, distance, and money it takes to travel to the nearest tertiary facility.
Promising Examples

Updated/reviewed August 2020
- Need: To increase local health services to rural elderly populations in long-term care facilities located in four Midwest states near a tertiary care organization.
- Intervention: A non-profit healthcare organization implemented telehealth services to provide acute care evaluations for long-term residents in their home facilities.
- Results: The program increased local care as evidenced by improved year-over-year provider-determined available transfer data: 33%, 50%, 63% program years 1 through 3, respectively. From the success of the initial pilot implementation, the program has further matured into a long-term care offering that now reaches many other rural facilities located in 10 states across the nation.
Reducing Hospitalizations in Medicare Beneficiaries
Updated/reviewed June 2020
Updated/reviewed June 2020
- Need: To reduce hospital readmissions for Medicare patients in rural Kentucky and Tennessee.
- Intervention: Two quality improvement tools called IMPACT and INTERACT helped older patients transition from Vanderbilt University Medical Center to a skilled nursing facility.
- Results: Practitioner follow-up visits increased, while emergency department visits decreased.
Other Project Examples
Nursing Home Hosts Childcare Learning Center
Updated/reviewed May 2018
Updated/reviewed May 2018
- Need: More childcare and preschool options in a rural Minnesota community.
- Intervention: A local nursing home built a child learning center whose structure offers an educational setting for childcare as well as regular intergenerational activities between children and elderly residents.
- Results: The partnership has resulted in benefits for all parties involved, instilling a sense of youth in the elderly and selfless care in the children.
Last Updated: 8/7/2020