Rural Project Examples: Frontier and remote areas

Promising Examples

The Health-able Communities Program

Updated/reviewed April 2021

• Need: Expand healthcare access for the more remote residents of 3 frontier counties in north central Idaho.
• Intervention: Consortium of healthcare providers and community agencies used a hybrid Community Health Worker model to augment traditional healthcare delivery services in order to offer a diverse set of healthcare offerings to frontier area residents.
• Results: Increased healthcare access, especially for cancer and chronic disease screening, along with providing education on a diverse array of health topics.

Other Project Examples

Rural Experiences for Health Professions Students (REHPS)

Updated/reviewed July 2023

• Need: An ongoing shortage of healthcare providers in rural areas of South Dakota
• Intervention: A 4-week summer program placing health professions students in rural communities.
• Results: Of graduating participants, 71% practice in South Dakota with 30% of those graduates practicing in rural communities with populations fewer than 10,000, or veteran facilities.

Medical Home Plus

Updated/reviewed February 2020

• Need: To help reduce diabetes, depression, and stroke risk in rural residents.
• Intervention: A collaborative care model was implemented in the Idaho counties of Clearwater, Idaho, and Lewis.
• Results: Increased number of patients with controlled blood sugar, controlled blood pressure, and higher depression screening rates.