Adopt a Rural Health Plan Recommendation
Who?
Anyone, individual or organization/agency...
If you are already working on some aspect of one or more of these recommendations, or are considering doing so in any capacity, we need you to sign up!
Why?
The Virginia Rural Health Plan is a 3–5 year strategic plan. One of the recommendations of the plan is to establish a formalized operational framework that will assist in bolstering partnerships, leveraging resources and providing an avenue for advisory expertise.
One way we are doing this is by tracking progress toward the implementation of these recommendations. We want to make sure that your efforts are included. We also want to be able to highlight local, regional and statewide success stories!
What Am I Committing to Do?
By signing up to adopt a recommendation, you are committing to:
- Let us and others know what you are doing.
- Provide us with periodic updates about your efforts and give us permission to share them.
That’s all! Simple, right?
Please Sign Up to Adopt One or More of These Recommendations!
Download the form to let us know which recommendation(s) you have selected.
General
- Promote and market a broader definition of primary care that includes dental/oral health, mental/behavioral health, emergency medical services (EMS), women’s health services, and telehealth.
Policy
- Assess the current status of mid-level practitioners in Virginia.
- Identify issues related to Medicare reimbursements and the health care market structure in rural areas.
Data/Rural Definitions
- Utilize the United States Department of Agriculture, Isserman Model four-level delineation of rurality.
- Hold roundtable discussions to discuss the feasibility of collaboration/coordination of electronic health records.
Quality
- Establish a plan to improve transitions in care (e.g., from hospital to home).
- Create a database that supports rural-relevant and meaningful indicators and increased transparency of quality data.
- Increase the number of health promotion/disease prevention programs through grants to rural communities.
- Develop common quality measures for program assessment and outcomes.
Health Workforce
- Provide retention incentives to providers to remain in rural communities.
- More aggressively engage the Virginia Community College System (VCCS).
- Explore health care workforce training models and alternatives for rural areas.
- Increase communication between the various health professions training programs.
- Engage academic health and medical institutions in dialogue about alternative solutions and strategies to improving the healthcare workforce in rural areas (such as required rural rotations and rural-related curriculum).
- Research the concept of dual certificate programs and their feasibility as a more effective approach to the sustainability of the health care workforce in rural communities.
- Develop and support educational opportunities for integrating primary care with behavioral health.
Access
- Research existing models of care that integrate primary care with mental/behavioral health within Virginia and in other states.
- Assess the presence or absence of referral networks.
- Update Virginia’s 2004 Rural Obstetrical Care report.
- Identify models of care and best practices from other rural areas around the nation and internationally, including telehealth models.
- EMS leadership and management and EMS integration into the rural health care infrastructure.
- Update Virginia’s statewide dental/oral health plan.
- Explore the development of rural health care student associations and/or interest groups.
- Explore ways to strengthen existing and develop new community engagement initiatives.
- Research school-based health care models in rural areas.
- Provide expert consultation and training to CAHs on the use of distinct part units (DPUs).
- Promote a statewide telehealth system for health care (especially mental/behavioral health) and health education.
- Improve the health information technology infrastructure for rural health providers and patients.
