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

• 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

SD eResidential Facilities Healthcare Services Access Project
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

• 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

• 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.