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Rural Health Information Hub
Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Maternal Health – 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.

Evidence-Based Examples

Updated/reviewed April 2025

  • Need: To reduce violence against pregnant women and women with infants in rural Missouri.
  • Intervention: A tool for existing home visiting programs, DOVE was a brochure-based and safety planning intervention for women experiencing interpersonal violence.
  • Results: Women receiving the DOVE intervention saw a larger average decrease in number of violent incidents than women in the control group.

Updated/reviewed March 2025

  • Need: Arkansas had high rates of low birthweight babies, and pregnant patients in rural areas had difficulty accessing specialty obstetric care.
  • Intervention: The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) created the Institute for Digital Health & Innovation (IDHI) High-Risk Pregnancy Program to increase access to care for pregnant patients in an effort to improve outcomes for high-risk pregnancies.
  • Results: The program has increased access to care and improved neonatal outcomes for rural Arkansas individuals through a variety of programs and has been recognized by various organizations as a model program.

Effective Examples

funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy

Updated/reviewed February 2023

  • Need: In 12 rural southeast Georgia counties, high-risk pregnant individuals potentially face adverse birth outcomes, including maternal or infant mortality, low birthweight, very low birthweight, or other medical or developmental problems.
  • Intervention: An in-home nursing case management program for high-risk pregnant individuals in order to maximize pregnancy outcomes for mothers and their newborns.
  • Results: Mothers carry their babies longer and the babies are larger when born, leading to improved health outcomes.

Promising Examples

funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy

Updated/reviewed December 2022

  • Need: High poverty rates and lack of access to healthcare make caring for unborn and newborn children difficult for young mothers in Arkansas's Polk and Garland Counties.
  • Intervention: An Arkansas-based program provides a national healthcare service to expectant and young mothers. Prenatal check-ups, education, transportation, well-baby checks and child immunizations are all provided by the Healthy Connections, Inc.
  • Results: The program's results demonstrate an increase in first trimester prenatal care rates and child immunization rates, as well as a dramatic decrease in confirmed cases of child abuse.

Updated/reviewed June 2022

  • Need: To reduce smoking rates of pregnant women and adolescents in Appalachian regions of eastern Kentucky and Ohio.
  • Intervention: A web-based smoking cessation program that offered monetary incentives to reducing smoking.
  • Results: Participants significantly reduced smoking rates or quit altogether.

Other Project Examples

Updated/reviewed June 2025

  • Need: Transportation to medical appointments for children and expectant mothers living in rural Alabama.
  • Intervention: Kid One Transport provides rides to medical appointments for clients who otherwise have no other means of transportation.
  • Results: The program has transported 477,880 children and expectant mothers to and from medical appointments. Children have recovered from life-threatening illnesses and are experiencing a higher quality of life.
funded by the Health Resources Services Administration

Updated/reviewed June 2025

  • Need: To improve maternal and birth outcomes in rural and underserved areas by increasing the number of family medicine physicians in these areas who have high-quality, evidence-based obstetrical care skills.
  • Intervention: The STRETCH-OB program trains a select number of family medicine residents at the University of Illinois College of Medicine Rockford each year to provide high-quality maternity care, including surgical obstetrical care.
  • Results: Four STRETCH-OB residents have graduated as of June 2025 and all have cesarean section privileges in their practice.

Updated/reviewed April 2025

  • Need: Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs) across the state of South Carolina were purchasing breast milk from out-of-state milk banks for preterm infants.
  • Intervention: The Mother's Milk Bank of South Carolina (MMBSC) opened 25 sites in South Carolina for breast milk to be donated, safely pasteurized, and delivered to NICUs across the state.
  • Results: Over 24,320,167 ounces of milk have been donated to MMBSC depot sites and over 14,932,920 ounces of milk have been delivered to South Carolina NICUs.
funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy

Updated/reviewed April 2025

  • Need: To improve maternal health in northeastern New Mexico.
  • Intervention: The Rural OB Access & Maternal Service program provides obstetric and maternal fetal medicine telehealth, home telehealth kits, and free access to lactation consultants and family navigators.
  • Results: ROAMS has worked with 2,000 unique individuals since July 2021.

Added December 2024

  • Need: To provide basic pregnancy-related and preventive health services to women in the Texas Rio Grande Valley.
  • Intervention: A mobile clinic travels to different communities and provides basic preventive care, contraception, and pregnancy testing and ultrasounds.
  • Results: Since the program began, clinical staff have provided services to nearly 6,000 women.
Last Reviewed: 2/7/2024