Category
rural-healthcare
280 entries tagged rural-healthcare.
Articles — 267
-
Disparities in Technology and Broadband Internet Access Across Rurality
Rural school districts in Washington State have significantly lower technology and broadband access than urban districts. Only 80% of rural students had adequate internet-enabled devices for online learning, compared to 90% in urban areas. Rural youth face greater barriers including geographic isolation, affordability, and reliance on smartphones. These disparities limit access to telehealth and remote education in rural communities.
-
Navigating the Digital Divide: Barriers to Telehealth in Rural Areas
Telehealth can expand healthcare access in rural areas, but structural barriers prevent widespread adoption where it's needed most. The paper identifies three critical obstacles: inadequate broadband infrastructure, lack of interstate medical licensing agreements, and absence of reimbursement parity laws. Rural populations, racial minorities, elderly people, and those with low education face the steepest disparities. The authors map broadband availability and state policy adoption across the country and recommend policy changes to accelerate rural telehealth implementation.
-
Extending the paramedic role in rural Australia: a story of flexibility and innovation
Rural paramedics in south-eastern Australia are evolving into primary healthcare providers, taking on expanded responsibilities beyond emergency response. The study identifies a Rural Expanded Scope of Practice model where paramedics engage communities, respond to emergencies, provide situated care, and deliver primary healthcare. This integrated approach connects paramedics with other health agencies to improve patient outcomes and community health in small rural areas.
-
Subdividing the Digital Divide: Differences in Internet Access and Use among Rural Residents with Medical Limitations
Rural residents and people with medical conditions use the Internet far less than urban residents and those without medical limitations. The study found that 32.6% of people with medical conditions used the Internet compared to 70.3% without conditions, and rural Internet use was 59.7% versus 69.4% urban. Racial disparities persisted even after controlling for demographics, with Hispanic and African American respondents showing significantly lower Internet use than white respondents. The rural-urban gap disappeared when accounting for socioeconomic factors.
-
Sustainable primary health care services in rural and remote areas: Innovation and evidence
Rural and remote Australia has developed innovative primary health care models that work when tailored to local conditions and supported by aligned governance, funding, and workforce systems. Success requires coordination across government levels, clear service benchmarks, and national information systems to monitor outcomes. These evidence-based approaches can guide global health system reform to deliver sustainable care in hard-to-reach communities.
-
Assessing or Predicting Adoption of Telehealth Using the Diffusion of Innovations Theory: A Practical Example from a Rural Program in New Mexico
A rural telemedicine program in New Mexico used diffusion of innovations theory to understand why healthcare providers adopt or reject telehealth. The researchers found that the type of innovation decision—whether adoption is made individually, collectively, or by authority—significantly influences whether telehealth gets adopted. They demonstrate that diffusion theory effectively evaluates telehealth programs and propose developing a predictive tool to assess adoption likelihood before new programs launch.
-
Diagnostics barriers and innovations in rural areas: insights from junior medical doctors on the frontlines of rural care in Peru
Rural doctors in Peru identify three major barriers to diagnosis: lack of point-of-care diagnostic tools for diseases like malaria, dengue, and tuberculosis; health system failures including limited funding and specialist shortages; and patient barriers to accessing referral care. Doctors propose point-of-care equipment and telemedicine as solutions, but note that technological fixes alone cannot address underlying social, organizational, and policy problems.
-
Sustainable Rural Telehealth Innovation: A Public Health Case Study
This case study of Georgia's largest public health district from 1988 to 2008 shows how telehealth became sustainable in rural areas. Strong collaboration within the district, with local communities, and external partners drove adoption. Local champions overcame barriers by seizing technological and financial opportunities. External funding supported initial implementation and expansion. The combination of internal collaboration, external partnerships, and opportunistic use of available resources enabled lasting telehealth innovation.
-
An mHealth Model to Increase Clinic Attendance for Breast Symptoms in Rural Bangladesh: Can Bridging the Digital Divide Help Close the Cancer Divide?
A randomized controlled trial in rural Bangladesh tested a smartphone application to help community health workers identify women with breast symptoms and encourage clinic attendance. Community health workers using the smartphone app identified more abnormal cases than paper-based controls. Adding patient navigation training to the smartphone app achieved the highest clinic attendance rates, demonstrating that digital tools combined with navigation support effectively increase healthcare-seeking behavior for breast cancer symptoms in rural areas.
-
Urban and rural differences in geographical accessibility to inpatient palliative and end-of-life (PEoLC) facilities and place of death: a national population-based study in England, UK
Rural patients in England live farther from hospices and palliative care facilities than urban patients, and this distance significantly affects where they die. Patients more than 10 minutes' drive from inpatient palliative care were substantially less likely to die in hospices or hospitals and more likely to die at home. The geographic barrier was stronger in rural areas than urban areas, indicating that distance to facilities shapes end-of-life outcomes and that policy must address rural-urban disparities in care access.
-
Organizational Path Constitution in Technological Innovation: Evidence from Rural Telehealth1
This paper develops a theory of how technological innovation paths form within organizations, using a rural telehealth case study. It combines path dependence (historical constraints) with path creation (deliberate actor choices) to explain how organizations transform innovation patterns, merge or separate paths, and sometimes become locked into dominant patterns they struggle to escape.
-
Telehealth, Rural America, and the Digital Divide
Rural America faces significant barriers to telehealth adoption due to the digital divide. Limited broadband access, inadequate infrastructure, and connectivity gaps prevent rural patients and providers from effectively using remote healthcare technologies. The paper examines how these digital inequities undermine telehealth's potential to address rural healthcare shortages and improve access to medical services in underserved communities.
-
'Going rural': driving change through a rural medical education innovation
A South African medical school established a rural clinical school in 2011 to train doctors for rural practice. Eight students completed a year-long clerkship in district and regional hospitals rather than tertiary facilities. Students reported stronger clinical confidence, better decision-making skills, and enhanced learning approaches. Community immersion and sustained relationships with supervisors and patients drove these gains. The model demonstrates how rural-based medical education can transform student attitudes and practice, supporting broader curricular reform.
-
An innovation in Australian dental education: rural, remote and Indigenous pre-graduation placements
Western Australia's dental school created a rural placement program for final-year students to address shortages of dental services in remote areas. Between 2002 and 2005, the program placed 78 students in supervised clinical practice in rural and Indigenous settings. Student evaluations enabled continuous program improvements. Early data suggests the placements may influence graduates to practice in rural locations, potentially helping build Australia's rural dental workforce.
-
What can rural agencies do to address the additional costs of rural services? A typology of rural service innovation
Rural health and social care agencies face higher costs delivering services across sparsely populated areas while meeting national quality standards. This paper identifies six categories of service innovations that rural agencies have developed to address these challenges. The typology reveals practical approaches at the health and social care interface, offering models for transferring successful practices between regions and directing future research.
-
Innovations on a shoestring: a study of a collaborative community-based Aboriginal mental health service model in rural Canada
A mental health team in northern Ontario developed an innovative collaborative model integrating clinical approaches with traditional Aboriginal healing. Despite severe resource constraints, the Knaw Chi Ge Win service improved care quality and cultural safety for Aboriginal clients. The model succeeded through shared information systems, protocols, and ongoing education. Challenges remain around chronic underfunding and limited understanding of traditional healing outcomes. This approach offers a replicable model for other rural Indigenous mental health systems.
-
Does the design and implementation of proven innovations for delivering basic primary health care services in rural communities fit the urban setting: the case of Ghana’s Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS)
Ghana's Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) system, proven effective in rural areas, was adapted for urban poor settlements. The pilot found that rural best practices could not be directly transplanted to cities due to different organizational structures and disease patterns. Urban modifications included adjusted visit schedules and expanded worker training. The authors conclude that primary health models designed for rural contexts require substantial redesign to work in urban settings.
-
Quality of life and rural place of residence in Polish women - population based study.
Rural Polish women aged 45-60 report worse physical health but better mental health than urban counterparts. Rural residence independently predicts poor physical health outcomes. Retirement, social pension receipt, prolonged illness, and specialist consultations increase physical health risks. Higher education and medical access protect mental health. The study identifies rural residence as strongly linked to environmental and psychosocial factors affecting women's wellbeing.
-
The digital divide in rural and regional communities: a survey on the use of digital health technology and implications for supporting technology use
Rural and regional Australians show moderate digital health literacy, with 80% expressing confidence in online health information. However, barriers persist: product complexity, unreliable connectivity, low awareness of available resources, trust concerns, and cost prevent wider adoption. The study identifies opportunities to support lower-literacy users and improve digital health technology access in rural communities.
-
Progress towards enhanced access and use of technology during the COVID-19 pandemic: A need to be mindful of the continued digital divide for many rural and northern communities
COVID-19 accelerated technology adoption in rural and northern areas, but widened the digital divide for many residents. Older adults increased their technology use, and organizations deployed new tools for healthcare, social engagement, and caregiver support. The paper examines strategies to bridge this divide and recommends that policymakers leverage pandemic lessons to ensure rural and northern communities gain lasting benefits from technology access and close persistent digital gaps.
-
Is a Broadly Based Surgical Residency Program More Likely to Place Graduates in Rural Practice?
Rural areas face a shortage of general surgeons because typical residency programs don't train residents in the broad range of procedures rural surgeons actually perform. This study surveyed graduates from a broadly based surgical residency program and found that residents who received training across multiple surgical specialties—including orthopedics, gynecology, and genitourinary procedures—were more likely to practice in rural settings. Surgeons raised in rural areas particularly returned to rural practice.
-
Rural and non-rural digital divide persists in older adults: Internet access, usage, and attitudes toward technology
Rural older adults have significantly lower internet access rates (54%) compared to urban (66%) and suburban residents (61%). Rural seniors use communication, financial, and media technologies less frequently and hold more negative attitudes toward technology, viewing it as complicated and hard to learn. Targeted interventions are needed to reduce the digital divide in rural communities.
-
Achieving universal electrification of rural healthcare facilities in sub-Saharan Africa with decentralized renewable energy technologies
Rural health centers across sub-Saharan Africa lack electricity, limiting medical equipment access. Decentralized photovoltaic systems can reliably electrify over 50,000 facilities for EUR 484 million, enabling 281 million people to reduce healthcare travel time by an average of 50 minutes. Solar power offers a clean, cost-effective solution to bridge this critical gap.
-
Off‐grid hybrid renewable energy system for rural healthcare centers: A case study in Nigeria
This study designs an optimal off-grid hybrid renewable energy system for rural healthcare centers across Nigeria's six regions. Researchers evaluated combinations of solar, wind, diesel, and battery systems using technical and economic analysis, including sensitivity testing for fuel subsidy removal. A solar-diesel-battery configuration proved most cost-effective across all locations, delivering 70-80% renewable energy with energy costs between $0.51-0.54 per kilowatt-hour.
-
Optimizing the performance of hybrid renewable energy systems to accelerate a sustainable energy transition in Nigeria: A case study of a rural healthcare centre in Kano
A hybrid renewable energy system combining solar panels and diesel generators was designed and tested for a rural healthcare facility in Kano, Nigeria. The solar-diesel configuration proved most cost-effective, generating $30,583 in annual savings with a 1.3-year payback period while reducing CO2 emissions by 75 tons annually. This approach addresses severe energy shortages in rural African healthcare facilities and offers a practical alternative to relying solely on diesel generators.
-
Process evaluation of the Intervention with Microfinance for AIDS and Gender Equity (IMAGE) in rural South Africa
The IMAGE program combines microfinance with gender and HIV training in rural South Africa. While the intervention reduced intimate partner violence among clients, it showed limited effects on sexual behavior in households and communities. Process evaluation found microfinance and training were feasible and acceptable, but community mobilization faced barriers to collective action. Neither delivery model proved sustainable long-term, suggesting partnerships between microfinance institutions and non-academic agencies warrant further investigation.
-
Economic evaluation of a combined microfinance and gender training intervention for the prevention of intimate partner violence in rural South Africa
A combined microfinance and gender training program in rural South Africa reduces intimate partner violence while generating economic benefits. The intervention cost $7,688 per disability-adjusted life year gained during trials and $2,307 during scale-up, making it cost-effective. The program delivers health and development gains beyond violence prevention alone.
-
Microfinance against malaria: impact of Freedom from Hunger's malaria education when delivered by rural banks in Ghana
A malaria education program delivered through rural microfinance banks in Ghana significantly improved clients' malaria knowledge and prevention behaviors compared to control groups. Participants who received malaria education were more likely to identify vulnerable populations, recognize insecticide-treated nets as protective, and actually own and use bed nets. The program achieved the largest increases in net ownership and use, demonstrating that microfinance institutions can effectively support national malaria control efforts.
-
Microfinance and HIV prevention – emerging lessons from rural South Africa
Microfinance programs in rural South Africa can reduce HIV vulnerability by building economic confidence and well-being among participants. The IMAGE intervention integrated microfinance with HIV prevention activities, combining loans with health education and gender equity work. The study documents operational challenges, practical lessons, and limitations from several years of field implementation, contributing evidence that economic empowerment supports HIV prevention outcomes.
-
Emancipatory Indigenous social innovation: Shifting power through culture and technology
This paper examines how Indigenous Māori social innovators address social disparities through entrepreneurship and cultural approaches. Using a case study of a healthcare entrepreneur in New Zealand's Far North, the authors argue that meaningful social change requires power shifts rather than simply wielding power. They demonstrate how Indigenous social enterprise can overcome market and policy failures to serve underserved populations and transform healthcare provision.
-
Improving Women and Family’s Health through Integrated Microfinance, Health Education and Promotion in Rural Areas
Integrated microfinance combined with health education and promotion activities significantly improves rural women and family health outcomes. The review of peer-reviewed research shows these combined programs reduce intimate-partner violence, lower HIV/AIDS risk, promote mental health, and improve overall family wellbeing. Economic empowerment through local business support paired with preventive health training creates greater impact than either intervention alone in rural areas.
-
Participatory science and innovation for improved sanitation and hygiene: process and outcome evaluation of project SHINE, a school-based intervention in Rural Tanzania
Project SHINE engaged pastoralist students and communities in rural Tanzania through participatory science education to develop sustainable sanitation and hygiene improvements. Students showed significant behavioral changes including reduced unhygienic practices, increased handwashing intention, and improved social communication about sanitation. Youth demonstrated strong leadership and communities participated enthusiastically. Locally-developed projects like soap-making from local materials proved viable for long-term health and livelihood gains.
-
Innovation to prevent sudden infant death: the wahakura as an Indigenous vision for a safe sleep environment
Māori communities in New Zealand developed the wahakura, a flax bassinet designed to prevent sudden infant death while respecting cultural practices like bedsharing. Research demonstrated its safety and acceptability. Distribution of wahakura and related safe sleep devices through health boards, combined with culturally appropriate education, contributed to a 29% drop in infant mortality between 2009-2015, with the largest gains among Māori infants, showing how indigenous knowledge and community engagement reduce health inequities.
-
The Indigenous primary health care and policy research network: Guiding innovation within primary health care with Indigenous peoples in Alberta
Alberta stakeholders convened in 2019 to address fragmented health initiatives following Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission calls for reform. They established the Indigenous Primary Health Care and Policy Research Network to coordinate efforts across the province. The network aims to transform primary health care delivery and achieve health equity for Indigenous peoples by aligning initiatives with reconciliation principles and implementing the Commission's health-related recommendations.
-
An Overview of Energy Access Solutions for Rural Healthcare Facilities
Rural healthcare facilities in Sub-Saharan Africa lack reliable electricity access, limiting medical equipment operation and increasing mortality rates. This review identifies hybrid renewable energy systems with solar panels and batteries as effective solutions for powering rural health centers. Combining these systems with demand-side management reduces installation costs and improves efficiency. Energy access modeling tools support rural electrification planning for healthcare facilities.
-
Using developmental evaluation to enhance continuous reflection, learning and adaptation of an innovation platform in Australian Indigenous primary healthcare
This paper describes how developmental evaluation enhanced an innovation platform designed to improve primary healthcare for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in Australia. The platform brought together diverse stakeholders to address complex health challenges through collaborative decision-making and quality improvement. Developmental evaluation provided real-time feedback that guided continuous adaptation of the platform's formation and functioning, proving well-suited to evaluating complex multi-stakeholder networks.
-
Feasibility Analysis and Simulation of Integrated Renewable Energy System for Power Generation: A Hypothetical Study of Rural Health Clinic
This paper analyzes the feasibility of a hybrid solar and wind renewable energy system for a rural health clinic in Nigeria. Using meteorological data and energy consumption records, researchers designed and simulated an optimal system combining 5 kW solar panels and a 7.5 kW wind turbine with battery storage. The system generates 16,628 kWh annually, meeting the clinic's full energy needs at a total cost of $137,139. The results demonstrate that stand-alone renewable systems can reliably power rural healthcare facilities.
-
Enhancing innovation between scientific and indigenous knowledge: pioneer NGOs in India
Local communities in Tamil Nadu, India combine traditional knowledge with scientific knowledge through supportive networks to innovate health practices and environmental conservation. These networks create "ethnomedicine capacity"—the ability of local stakeholders to actively generate and share knowledge. Integration of local and scientific knowledge proves crucial for sustainable adoption. Networks enhance social capital and enable development, though unequal power relations risk transforming traditions into commodities controlled by new elites.
-
The knowledge of danger signs of obstetric complications among women in rural India: evaluating an integrated microfinance and health literacy program
A program combining microfinance self-help groups with maternal health education in rural Uttar Pradesh increased women's knowledge of obstetric danger signs by 27 percent. The program also created spillover effects, spreading knowledge from participating women to non-members in the same villages. Results held across different socioeconomic groups, suggesting the health messages reached women uniformly regardless of their background or access to health services.
-
Electricity Access, Community Healthcare Service Delivery, and Rural Development Nexus: Analysis of 3 Solar Electrified CHPS in Off-Grid Communities in Ghana
Solar photovoltaic systems installed at three community health facilities in Ghana generate sufficient electricity for healthcare services and excess capacity for income-generating activities like phone charging and cold storage. Electrified health facilities improved service delivery and saved residents 15–43 hours monthly, with greater benefits for women and children. The study demonstrates that rural electricity access through solar systems strengthens healthcare delivery and creates time for productive work, driving rural development.
-
Two years’ experience of implementing a comprehensive telemedical stroke network comprising in mainly rural region: the Transregional Network for Stroke Intervention with Telemedicine (TRANSIT-Stroke)
A telemedicine stroke network in rural Bavaria, Germany, improved quality of care across hospitals of different specialization levels over two years. Level-I hospitals without specialized stroke units showed significant improvement in diagnostic processes and organization, while level-II and level-III hospitals maintained high quality standards throughout. By the end of the study period, ten of thirteen quality indicators met predefined targets, demonstrating that comprehensive telemedical networks enhance stroke care delivery in rural regions.
-
Innovation in Indigenous Health and Medical Education: The Leaders in Indigenous Medical Education (LIME) Network as a Community of Practice
The Leaders in Indigenous Medical Education Network operates across Australian and New Zealand medical schools to improve Indigenous health education and support Indigenous student recruitment and graduation. Using Wenger's communities of practice framework, the authors evaluate the Network's effectiveness and demonstrate how this theoretical lens helps measure its impact on curriculum implementation and student outcomes.
-
Making the right to health a reality for Brazil's indigenous peoples: innovation, decentralization and equity
Brazil's public health system has expanded coverage and improved health indicators since 1988, but indigenous peoples remain marginalized with unequal access to services. The paper examines governance innovations and decentralization efforts designed to address these persistent inequities and extend universal health coverage to indigenous populations across Brazil's vast territory.
-
Intervention with Microfinance for AIDS and Gender Equity (IMAGE): Women’s Engagement with the Scaled-up IMAGE Programme and Experience of Intimate Partner Violence in Rural South Africa
A scaled-up microfinance intervention in rural South Africa improved women's relationship quality and reduced intimate partner violence, particularly economic abuse. Women who received multiple types of support from group members experienced significantly lower past-year violence. The program was widely acceptable, though younger women require targeted engagement. Group support emerged as a critical intervention component.
-
Techno-economic feasibility of hybrid renewable energy system for rural health centre (RHC): The wayward for quality health delivery
Off-grid rural health clinics in areas without reliable electricity can be powered effectively using hybrid renewable energy systems. This study analyzed a health center in northern Nigeria and found that a combination of solar panels, diesel generators, and battery storage provides the most cost-effective and technically viable solution for delivering quality healthcare services to remote villages.
-
Off-Grid Renewable Hybrid Power Generation System for a Public Health Centre in Rural Village
A hybrid solar-wind power system with battery storage provides reliable electricity to rural health centers more cost-effectively than standalone solar or wind systems. The researchers modeled and simulated different configurations using HOMER software, analyzing power supply reliability, energy storage needs, and system performance. The hybrid system delivered the lowest cost per unit of energy while meeting the health center's demand, making it the most practical solution for off-grid rural electrification.
-
Evaluation and Selection of Hybrid Renewable Energy Systems for Healthcare Centres In Rural Areas: A Techno-economic Approach
This study develops a framework to select optimal hybrid renewable energy systems for rural healthcare centres by combining technical, economic, and environmental criteria. Using simulation software and multi-criteria analysis, researchers evaluated six communities in Nigeria to identify the most cost-effective renewable energy configurations. The analysis revealed that total net present cost was the most critical factor in system selection, enabling healthcare facilities to achieve reliable clean energy access while minimizing operational expenses.
-
Remote and rural: Do mentors enhance the value of distance learning continuing medical education?
A randomized controlled trial tested whether mentors improve distance learning continuing medical education for doctors in remote and rural areas with limited technology. Mentored doctors were three times more likely to complete their courses and showed higher quality reflection, though the difference wasn't statistically significant. Rural practice location and younger age predicted completion. Despite potential benefits, mentors and doctors struggled to maintain contact and felt the system wasn't optimally used.
-
Chronic disease stigma, skepticism of the health system, and socio-economic fragility: Qualitative assessment of factors impacting receptiveness to group medical visits and microfinance for non-communicable disease care in rural Kenya
Rural Kenyan communities face three major barriers to non-communicable disease care: chronic disease stigma, distrust of health systems, and economic fragility. This qualitative study of 367 participants—including patients, clinicians, and community health workers—identifies these obstacles but also reveals opportunities for group medical visits and microfinance programs to overcome them. The findings provide actionable insights for implementing NCD care innovations in low-resource settings.
-
Benefits, Barriers, and Intentions/Desires of Nurses Related to Distance Learning in Rural Island Communities
Nurses on Hawaii's Neighbor Islands identified distance learning as valuable for continuing education but faced significant barriers. Cost emerged as the dominant concern across benefits, barriers, and future intentions. The study reveals that hospitals need stronger organizational support and updated curriculum approaches to make distance learning effective for rural nursing staff.
-
A social innovation model for equitable access to quality health services for rural populations: a case from Sumapaz, a rural district of Bogota, Colombia
A social innovation model developed in rural Sumapaz, Colombia demonstrates how to achieve equitable healthcare access for vulnerable populations through community participation and holistic health approaches. The model addresses systemic gaps in care coordination and upstream health factors, enhancing service quality while generating broader community benefits in agriculture and development. The case shows that creative strategies can extend Universal Health Coverage to remote areas.
-
Social innovation in health: strengthening Community Systems for Universal Health Coverage in rural areas
Three case studies from the Philippines, Malawi, and Colombia demonstrate that social innovation in health strengthens rural community systems for universal health coverage. Community-led initiatives built local capacity through co-learning and leadership, with catalytic agents challenging power dynamics and enabling communities to become active agents rather than passive participants. These approaches improved health service access and quality for vulnerable populations while increasing community agency and empowerment.
-
Rationale and Methods of Evaluation for ACHO, A New Virtual Assistant to Improve Therapeutic Adherence in Rural Elderly Populations: A User-Driven Living Lab
ACHO is a voice assistant designed to help elderly patients remember medications and medical appointments. Researchers developed and tested this technology using a user-driven living lab approach, where elderly patients and multidisciplinary teams worked together to identify needs and improve the prototype across three phases. This method ensures the technology matches how elderly people actually use it, ultimately improving medication adherence and health outcomes.
-
A Canadian Rural Living Lab Hospital: Implementing solutions for improving rural emergency care
A rural hospital in Quebec established a living lab to develop and test solutions for improving emergency care in remote areas. The initiative brings together stakeholders to implement and evaluate innovations including simulation training, telemedicine, point-of-care ultrasound, and drone delivery. The authors expect these interventions to save lives, improve working conditions for rural healthcare staff, and serve as a model for other regions.
-
A study on knowledge and attitude towards digital health of rural population of india - Innovations in practice to improve healthcare in the rural population
This study surveyed 131 rural residents in India to assess their knowledge and attitudes toward digital health services. Researchers found that innovations like e-health, telemedicine, virtual consultations, and smart pills are currently concentrated in urban areas. The paper argues these digital health technologies can be adapted and implemented in rural areas to improve healthcare access and outcomes for India's rural population.
-
MICROBIOLOGICAL QUALITY OF WATER SOURCES FROM THE LARGEST DISTRICT IN GREATER-ACCRA REGION, GHANA: A CALL FOR INNOVATIONAL SCHEMES TOWARDS RURAL WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT
This study tested 122 water samples from various sources in Ghana's Dangme West district to assess microbiological contamination. Dams and rivers showed the highest bacterial counts, exceeding safe drinking water standards. Contamination levels differed significantly between rainy and dry seasons. The findings highlight urgent needs for improved rural water management systems and innovative approaches to protect public health in developing country water supplies.
-
Water, sanitation and social innovations in health: a qualitative exploration of gender and intersecting social stratifiers in a rural ram-pump project in the Philippines
A qualitative study in the Philippines examines how gender and social inequalities shape health outcomes in a hydraulic ram pump project that delivers water to remote communities. The research finds that gender norms intersect with socioeconomic status and geography to create disparities in water access and health. Community-driven approaches that address these intersecting inequalities prove effective at improving health outcomes and building resilience in underserved areas.
-
Determinants and problems of well-being of farming population in Poland and local social innovations in rural areases
This study identifies key factors affecting farmer well-being in Poland: access to health and social services, internet connectivity, farm succession, and community trust. Researchers interviewed farmers and local leaders in three counties to understand how these factors impact physical, mental, and social well-being. Social innovations—including activity diversification, community integration, and mobile healthcare services—successfully improved farmers' quality of life.
-
Incorporating Praxis into Community Engagement- Self Monitoring: A Case Study on Applied Social Innovation in Rural Philippines
A Philippine health initiative trained community monitors to track and evaluate local health innovations in rural areas. Monitors improved their ability to analyze community health needs and advocate for solutions through capacity-building and reflection sessions. The strategy proved feasible and sustainable when communities received adequate financial support and training, enabling residents to participate meaningfully in health decisions and strengthen local health systems.
-
Living lab approaches in rural healthcare: a scoping review
Living labs use user-centered co-design to solve real-world healthcare problems in rural areas. This scoping review examined 11 studies from 2016–2025 across Canada, the USA, Australia, Guatemala, Uganda, and France/Portugal. Studies applied various methodologies including theory-driven frameworks, participatory research, and human-centered design to address cardiovascular disease, diabetes, perinatal care, and other conditions. Most studies did not explicitly use the living lab term, revealing limited adoption of this approach in rural healthcare innovation.
-
Bridging gaps in preventive healthcare: Telehealth and digital innovations for rural communities
Telehealth and digital innovations significantly improve healthcare access in rural communities by bridging gaps between urban and rural care. A systematic review of 11 studies from 2021–2024 found that telehealth adoption, supported by AI and digital tools, enhances preventive healthcare education and awareness programs. Despite infrastructure and technology barriers, these innovations deliver positive outcomes and promote health equity for underserved rural populations.
-
A social innovation to empower community-led monitoring and mobilization for HIV prevention in rural Kenya: experimenting to reduce the HIV prevention policy-implementation gap
A social innovation program in rural Kenya combined microfinance, psychological training, and leadership development across 39 villages to reduce HIV stigma and increase prevention uptake. The intervention reached over 10,000 participants and successfully decreased blame and discrimination attitudes, with reduced stigma predicting higher HIV testing rates. Participants formed community committees dedicated to preventing HIV and reducing stigma in their villages, demonstrating how community-led efforts can bridge the gap between HIV prevention policy and actual implementation.
-
Codesigning Mobile Digital Storytelling Across a Distance: Showcasing Rural Health Service Innovation
Australian rural health services innovate despite challenges like staff turnover and poor internet. This paper demonstrates how mobile digital storytelling—using personal devices to capture everyday experiences—effectively documents and shares rural health innovations. The researchers co-created seven digital stories with rural health services through interviews, workshops, and community engagement. Mobile storytelling proved cost-effective and simple, boosting digital literacy among staff, fostering community dialogue, and highlighting local innovations.
-
Therapy Farms as Social Innovations Shaping Social Transformations in Rural Areas: Case Study Analysis
Therapy farms in rural Lithuania provide real benefits for mental health and social inclusion, helping young people reconnect with education and employment. However, these farms operate within structural constraints that limit their broader impact. The study finds therapy farms create localized positive change but struggle to transform wider systems due to project-based funding and fragmented policies. Sustainable impact requires long-term funding and cross-sector collaboration.
-
New Model of Home Hospice Care—Social Innovation in Rural Areas: Facing Depopulation and a Services Crisis in Poland
Researchers studied a social innovation in rural Eastern Poland that improves end-of-life care in depopulating areas. The model combines home hospice teams, local support networks, and a new Dependent Care Coordinator role. The initiative expanded service access, strengthened coordination between health and social care, and reduced staff burden. However, workforce shortages, fragmented institutions, and resistance to palliative care limit its ability to scale and sustain long-term.
-
Sustained precariousness in the grey space: self-organized care homes for older adults as frugal aging-in-place innovations in rural China
Self-organized care homes in rural China operate informally in farmhouses to provide affordable elder care where government services are absent. These grassroots facilities succeed through creative use of space, kinship trust, and resourcefulness, enabling older adults to age in place with dignity and autonomy. However, their legal ambiguity creates ongoing vulnerability. The study argues policymakers should regulate these innovations carefully to protect residents while preserving the flexibility that makes them work.
-
Developing a Living Lab for Cross-Sectoral Collaboration in Sport, Physical Activity, and Health in the Rural Region Zeeland
This project establishes a Living Lab in rural Zeeland to strengthen collaboration between sport, education, and health sectors in promoting physical activity. Researchers, professionals, policymakers, and citizens work together to identify local challenges like low sports participation and declining youth motor skills. Using participatory action research, the initiative develops real-world solutions through co-creation, continuously evaluates outcomes, and scales successful approaches across regions.
-
A systematic review of the scope and impact of rural primary healthcare innovations using digital health technology
Digital health technologies in rural primary healthcare—particularly telemedicine and remote monitoring—improve accessibility and health outcomes while reducing costs. A systematic review of 66 studies found these interventions work best for chronic conditions like diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Success depends on practitioner endorsement, process standardization, and patient satisfaction. Key barriers include staff workload and patient non-compliance. The review recommends government funding and flexible policies to support digital healthcare expansion in rural areas.
-
Rural digital social innovation for health and social care: A systematic review
This systematic review of 25 studies examines how digital technology enables social innovation in rural health and social care. Healthcare innovations typically address geographical distance between providers and patients through collaborative processes, while community initiatives tackle local challenges through grassroots efforts. Most innovations showed positive outcomes on health service use and community health. Digital tools expanded innovation scope and reach, but success required substantial human investment and genuine rural community engagement alongside technology.
-
Challenges of smart solutions for rural ageing: Critical reflections illustrated by social innovation directed to older rural women in southeastern Poland
Social innovation projects addressing rural ageing in southeastern Poland face significant barriers to sustainability and scaling. A study of an NGO-led initiative for older rural women found limited visibility, weak collaboration between organizations, and funding challenges caused the project to end despite participant appreciation. The research reveals that NGOs and local action groups view social innovation as risky and business-focused, making them reluctant leaders. The authors recommend blended financing, micro-grants, and training to strengthen rural innovation capacity.
-
Broad Band Access in Rural Areas: Bridging the Digital Divide Through Technological Innovations
Rural areas lack internet connectivity, restricting access to education, healthcare, and economic opportunities. This paper proposes a hybrid broadband network combining cable TV infrastructure with Wi-Fi 6 mesh technology and satellite backhaul to deliver affordable, scalable internet access. The system uses solar-powered nodes and edge caching to maximize efficiency, enabling rural communities to access telemedicine, online education, and digital marketplaces.
-
Bridging the Divide: Digital Innovation as a Catalyst for Healthcare Equity between Urban and Rural Populations
Digital health innovations including telehealth, electronic prescribing, and AI clinical decision support reduce healthcare disparities between rural and urban populations by improving appointment completion, medication access, and specialist care availability. However, technology alone fails—successful implementation requires supportive policies, infrastructure investment, and community engagement to create sustainable systems that maintain quality standards across geographic boundaries.
-
Digital Health Innovation: Integrating Blockchain, Point-of-Care Diagnostics and AI for Rural Telemedicine Delivery
This paper proposes a telehealth system for rural populations combining blockchain, point-of-care diagnostics, and AI. The framework uses blockchain for secure data management and patient consent, integrates with national health ID systems, and pairs remote consultations with local diagnostic testing and AI support. The approach addresses interoperability and privacy concerns while expanding healthcare access in underserved regions.
-
Digital Health Innovation by Design: A Logic Model Scaffold for Rural, Regional, and Remote Settings
Digital health innovations often fail in rural and remote settings despite their potential. This paper presents a logic model scaffold—a four-step iterative process for planning, implementing, and evaluating digital health interventions in these contexts. The approach emphasizes understanding local needs, aligning with system enablers, and embedding reflexivity to adapt to workforce realities and geographic constraints. A Northern Australian case example demonstrates how this method improves rigor and responsiveness.
-
WhatsApp innovation that improved reporting rates: A low-cost digital approach to strengthen health reporting in rural Uganda
A WhatsApp-based reporting system in rural Uganda increased health surveillance reporting rates from 33% to 89% within three months. Health workers submitted weekly epidemiological reports through a WhatsApp group when network failures disrupted the national mTrac system, with a district coordinator consolidating submissions once connectivity returned. The innovation improved data timeliness, completeness, and worker accountability while requiring minimal cost, demonstrating how simple digital tools can strengthen health information systems in resource-limited rural settings.
-
Digital Health Innovation by Design: A Logic Model Scaffold for Rural, Regional, and Remote Settings
Digital health innovations often fail in rural and remote settings because they ignore local needs, workforce challenges, and geographic complexity. This paper presents a four-step logic model scaffold that guides planning, implementation, and evaluation of digital health projects in these contexts. The approach emphasizes understanding local context, aligning interventions with system enablers, and building in ongoing adaptation rather than following rigid linear plans.
-
Disruptive Innovation In Health Care Delivery: A Framework For Business-Model Innovation
Disruptive innovation has transformed other industries by making products affordable and accessible, but healthcare remains expensive and inaccessible because it lacks matching business-model innovation. This paper presents a framework for categorizing and developing innovative business models in healthcare and explains why disruptive innovation has progressed slowly in the sector.
-
Expanding Access to Hepatitis C Virus Treatment—Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (ECHO) Project: Disruptive Innovation in Specialty Care†
The ECHO Model uses telehealth technology and case-based learning to train primary care providers in rural and underserved areas to deliver specialty care for hepatitis C virus. Participating clinicians gained significant knowledge, self-efficacy, and professional satisfaction. The program successfully expanded access to complex medical care in communities lacking specialty services and built sustainable local capacity.
-
Open mHealth Architecture: An Engine for Health Care Innovation
Standardized interfaces and shared components in mobile health technology are essential for advancing healthcare delivery and research. The paper argues that an open architecture approach enables innovation by allowing different systems and devices to work together effectively, unlocking the full potential of mobile-enabled healthcare.
-
Using diffusion of innovation theory to understand the factors impacting patient acceptance and use of consumer e-health innovations: a case study in a primary care clinic
A primary care clinic in Australia implemented an e-appointment scheduling service and tracked patient adoption over 29 months. Only 4% of patients adopted the service by the end of the study period. Low adoption resulted from poor communication, lack of perceived value, incompatibility with patient preferences for phone-based appointments, and barriers including low internet literacy and limited home computer access—factors linked to the population's low socioeconomic status.
-
A generative co-design framework for healthcare innovation: development and application of an end-user engagement framework
This paper presents a three-phase co-design framework for healthcare innovation that actively involves healthcare workers and patients in designing health systems and services. The authors developed and tested the framework on a virtual healthcare project for children with chronic conditions, demonstrating that end-users can contribute practical knowledge and creative insights to shape improvements. The framework guides innovators through pre-design, co-design, and post-design phases to ensure new healthcare solutions meet real user needs.
-
Will disruptive innovations cure health care?
Disruptive innovations are transforming healthcare by enabling simpler, cheaper alternatives delivered in decentralized settings by nurse practitioners and general practitioners instead of expensive specialists. Examples include low-cost eyeglasses and angioplasty replacing open-heart surgery. Established institutions resist these changes through cost-cutting and consolidation, but history shows incumbent institutions get replaced by those with business models suited to new technologies. Regulators and providers should enable rather than block disruptive innovations to achieve higher quality, lower-cost, more convenient care.
-
Introduction of shared electronic records: multi-site case study using diffusion of innovation theory
This study examined how four English healthcare sites implemented a shared electronic patient record system. The implementation succeeded or failed based on eight interconnected factors: the technology's technical maturity and perceived benefits, staff concerns about workload and privacy, influence from opinion leaders, organizational experience with IT projects, readiness for change, implementation quality, system integration, and political context. The research shows that electronic health records require acceptance from both patients and staff and must fit into existing organizational workflows.
-
Artificial intelligence in health care: laying the Foundation for Responsible, sustainable, and inclusive innovation in low- and middle-income countries
AI technology offers potential to reduce health inequalities in low- and middle-income countries, but most applications are developed in wealthy nations without local evaluation. The authors propose five building blocks to guide responsible, sustainable, and inclusive AI healthcare development and implementation in resource-limited settings, addressing both benefits and risks.
-
Diffusion of innovation theory for clinical change
Rogers' diffusion of innovation theory explains how evidence-based clinical practices spread among healthcare providers. The theory identifies key factors affecting adoption: the innovation's characteristics, promotion by influential peers, complexity, compatibility with existing values, and the ability to test changes before full implementation. Understanding these factors helps explain why some practices change while others persist, and guides efforts to implement best-evidence medicine.
-
Health Innovation Networks to Help Developing Countries Address Neglected Diseases
Developing countries increasingly possess the capacity to undertake health innovation and address neglected diseases affecting their populations. While wealthy nations have created funding mechanisms and organizational structures to develop and distribute health products, these efforts alone cannot achieve sustainability or adequately address disease burden. The paper argues that enabling health innovation networks within developing countries themselves offers a complementary and essential strategy to improve health equity and tackle neglected tropical diseases.
-
Digital transformation of healthcare sector. What is impeding adoption and continued usage of technology-driven innovations by end-users?
Healthcare providers in the United Kingdom resist adopting and using digital health innovations due to multiple barriers. The study identifies task-related, patient-care, and system barriers from providers; threat perception and infrastructure issues from organizations; usability and resource problems from patients; and self-efficacy, tradition, and image concerns from end-users generally. The authors propose a framework grounded in innovation resistance theory to explain this resistance and offer practical recommendations to accelerate digital health adoption.
-
Understanding innovators' experiences of barriers and facilitators in implementation and diffusion of healthcare service innovations: a qualitative study
Healthcare innovators in the UK identified four key factors affecting whether service innovations succeed and spread: evidence of effectiveness, partnerships between organizations, people-based resources like champions, and contextual conditions. Innovators emphasized that successful implementation requires combining strong evidence, interpersonal networks, organizational support, and favorable external conditions. Champions and innovators themselves drive diffusion across different healthcare settings.
-
Business analytics-enabled decision-making effectiveness through knowledge absorptive capacity in health care
This study examines how business analytics capabilities in hospitals improve decision-making effectiveness by enhancing knowledge absorptive capacity. Using survey data from 152 Taiwanese hospitals, the researchers found that effective use of data analysis and interpretation tools indirectly strengthens decision-making through better knowledge absorption. The findings show that absorptive capacity mediates the relationship between analytics capabilities and decision outcomes, offering insights into how healthcare organizations can leverage data tools more effectively.
-
When Does Search Openness Really Matter? A Contingency Study of Health‐Care Innovation Projects
Open innovation strategies for healthcare product development show an inverted U-shaped relationship with success—too little or too much external knowledge sourcing hurts outcomes. The effectiveness of open search depends on project type, leader experience, and organizational support. Exploratory projects benefit most from openness, while experienced leaders and creative work environments maximize returns from external knowledge.
-
Digital Health Innovation Ecosystems: From Systematic Literature Review to Conceptual Framework
This systematic literature review identifies key components of digital health innovation ecosystems by synthesizing research on digital health, innovation, and digital ecosystems. The authors develop a conceptual framework and comprehensive definition for digital health innovation ecosystems, drawing from academic databases and practitioner case reports. The framework aims to establish common understanding among healthcare professionals, practitioners, and academics working in digital health innovation.
-
Knowledge transfer in open innovation
This paper develops a framework for understanding how knowledge flows among diverse actors in healthcare ecosystems to support open innovation. The framework identifies four key components: player categories, knowledge flows across exploration and exploitation stages, player motivations, and positions in the innovation process. The research highlights that patients, doctors, and nurses—not just R&D professionals—play critical roles in knowledge transfer and innovation development within healthcare networks.
-
Diffusion of Innovations and Network Segmentation: The Part Played by People in Promoting Health
This paper demonstrates how diffusion of innovations theory integrates mass media, interpersonal communication, and social network analysis to improve health promotion. The authors review studies on STD/HIV prevention and find that interventions using interpersonal communication successfully increase safer sex behaviors. They conclude that social network analysis enables more effective and tailored health promotion program design.
-
The Googlization of Health Research: From Disruptive Innovation to Disruptive Ethics
Large technology companies like Google and Apple are entering health research through consumer mobile devices that collect health data. While portrayed as beneficial disruption, this shift creates serious ethical problems: research quality concerns, privacy violations, and power imbalances where tech companies control data and infrastructure. The author argues that these power asymmetries deserve urgent critical attention because they shape which health research gets conducted.
-
Patient Perceptions of a Personal Health Record: A Test of the Diffusion of Innovation Model
This study applies diffusion of innovation theory to understand how patients perceive personal health records (PHRs). Surveying 760 patients, researchers found that PHR users valued ease of use and relative advantage more than non-users. Computer literacy and personal innovativeness in technology distinguished users from non-adopters. The diffusion of innovation model successfully predicted which factors drive PHR adoption and perceived value for doctor communication.
-
Diffusion of Innovations and HIV/AIDS
This paper applies Diffusion of Innovations theory to HIV/AIDS prevention, analyzing why behavior change interventions succeed or fail across Western and developing countries. The author examines how communication channels, opinion leaders, and innovation attributes—relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, and observability—shape adoption of preventive measures. The paper identifies barriers limiting DOI's use in developing-world HIV prevention programs and argues the framework offers valuable insights for improving intervention design.
-
How Do Low-Income Urban African Americans and Latinos Feel about Telemedicine? A Diffusion of Innovation Analysis
Low-income African American and Latino urban residents view telemedicine as improving access to specialists and reducing wait times. However, African Americans express greater concerns about privacy and the lack of in-person contact, likely due to historical medical mistrust, while Latino immigrants show more openness. Successful telemedicine adoption requires tailored strategies that address these distinct community perspectives.
-
The Interactive Effect of Uncertainty Avoidance Cultural Values and Leadership Styles on Open Service Innovation: A Look at Malaysian Healthcare Sector
This study examined how leadership styles and cultural attitudes toward uncertainty affect open service innovation in Malaysian hospitals. Researchers surveyed 422 medical professionals and found that paternalistic, authentic, and democratic leadership all positively encourage open service innovation. Malaysia's low uncertainty avoidance culture supports greater adoption of open service innovation. The study also validated a four-dimensional model of open service innovation specific to Eastern contexts.
-
Factors influencing pharmacists’ adoption of prescribing: qualitative application of the diffusion of innovations theory
When Alberta granted pharmacists prescribing privileges in 2007, adoption varied widely among practitioners. Pharmacists adopted prescribing based on four factors: the innovation's characteristics, individual adopter traits, system readiness, and physician relationships. Those in patient-focused settings and with higher self-efficacy adopted prescribing more readily. Physician relationships significantly influenced whether pharmacists pursued independent prescribing privileges.
-
Diffusion of complex health innovations--implementation of primary health care reforms in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina successfully scaled family-medicine-centered primary health care reforms to cover over 25% of the country despite post-war devastation and resource constraints. The reforms succeeded because they aligned with stakeholder expectations, created perceived benefits for physicians, nurses, and policymakers, and involved multifaceted interventions across the health system. The post-conflict context enabled transformational change, and consensus-building among diverse adopters reduced resistance to implementation.
-
Disruptive Innovation in Dentistry: What It Is and What Could Be Next
Artificial intelligence drives disruptive innovation in dentistry by enabling personalized treatment through analysis of patient eHealth data, genomic information, and clinical records. AI integration with teledentistry, virtual reality, and intraoral scanning transforms clinical workflows and service delivery. The paper emphasizes that while these technologies promise improved outcomes and cost-effectiveness, their adoption requires rigorous scientific validation, careful ethical consideration of diagnostic accuracy, and responsible handling of sensitive patient data.
-
Sharing leadership for diffusion of innovation in professionalized settings
Healthcare organizations struggle to spread innovations beyond isolated pockets. This study reveals how shared leadership drives innovation diffusion in hospitals. Managers initially champion and fund innovations, but doctors later take the lead in persuading peers, while nurses adapt innovations to local settings. Financial performance, whether nurses adopt hybrid roles, and organizational hierarchy all shape whether shared leadership succeeds in spreading innovations across the organization.
-
Open Innovation in Times of Crisis: An Overview of the Healthcare Sector in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic
During the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare organizations rapidly developed innovations in personal protective equipment, medical devices, testing, treatment, and vaccines through open innovation and cross-organizational collaboration. This paper reviews open innovation strategies during the crisis using a business ecosystem framework, identifies key emerging themes in UK and global healthcare sectors, and offers policy recommendations for crisis recovery.
-
A workforce survey of Australian osteopathy: analysis of a nationally-representative sample of osteopaths from the Osteopathy Research and Innovation Network (ORION) project
A survey of nearly 1,000 Australian osteopaths reveals the profession's workforce composition and practice patterns. Most practitioners are female, university-educated, and work in urban multi-practitioner clinics treating musculoskeletal disorders. The osteopathy workforce delivers approximately 3 million hours of care annually to 3.9 million patients, primarily through referral networks with other healthcare providers.
-
Explaining high and low performers in complex intervention trials: a new model based on diffusion of innovations theory
This study examined why some general practices in London successfully implemented a rapid HIV testing intervention while others struggled. Using ethnographic observation and interviews, researchers found that high-performing practices had strong leadership, good management relations, staff training culture, and available resources. Staff in these practices believed the test benefited patients and felt comfortable using it. Low-performing practices lacked these characteristics and experienced resource constraints. The diffusion of innovations theory effectively explained performance variation across organizations.
-
What Health System Challenges Should Responsible Innovation in Health Address? Insights From an International Scoping Review
This scoping review of 254 studies across 99 countries identifies major health system challenges that responsible innovation should address. Service delivery, human resources, and governance emerge as the most frequent challenges globally. The analysis reveals that innovations often increase human resource demands, worsen service delivery when requiring highly skilled users, and create different pressures depending on country development levels. Rural areas particularly need flexible IT solutions. The authors argue that innovation development must address broader system vulnerabilities, not just immediate clinical needs.
-
Applying social innovation theory to examine how community co-designed health services develop: using a case study approach and mixed methods
Community co-designed health services in rural Australia emerge when local participants combine contextual knowledge with external facilitation, but require manager and policymaker support to sustain. Social innovation theory effectively explains how grassroots innovations develop through three stages: growth, development, and diffusion. Political relationships and compatibility with existing health systems determine whether innovations survive beyond pilot phases.
-
Clinical Team Functioning and IT Innovation: A Study of the Diffusion of a Point-of-care Online Evidence System
Clinical team functioning significantly affects whether healthcare teams effectively use online evidence systems to improve patient care, though it doesn't determine initial awareness or adoption. Small teams showed greater awareness of the system than large teams. The study of 180 clinicians across three Australian hospitals demonstrates that team climate matters most at the implementation stage of innovation diffusion, supporting Rogers' diffusion theory.
-
Doctors on-line: using diffusion of innovations theory to understand internet use.
Family physicians in a northeastern U.S. metropolitan area adopt internet use for medical information when they have time to learn and observe its benefits firsthand. Diffusion of innovations theory predicts adoption patterns: physicians need protected time to develop skills and experience usefulness before internet searching becomes routine. Continuing medical education focused on internet skills could increase adoption, while demographic factors like gender or training recency do not affect adoption rates.
-
Technology as system innovation: a key informant interview study of the application of the diffusion of innovation model to telecare
This study examined factors influencing adoption and use of telecare technologies through interviews with 16 key participants from organizations developing and providing these services. The research found that successful telecare implementation depends on complex interactions between technology features, individual adopters, organizational readiness, and implementation processes. Critical barriers included user system complexity, insufficient ongoing support after initial adoption, and weak connections between technology designers and end users. Telecare succeeds only when treated as a coordinated system involving multiple stakeholders, not merely as a technology.
-
The Unexplored Contribution of Responsible Innovation in Health to Sustainable Development Goals
Responsible Innovation in Health represents an emerging approach that addresses multiple Sustainable Development Goals beyond health alone. The study identified 105 health innovations, mostly from non-profits and universities, with 47% originating in the United States and targeting Africa, Central/South America, and South Asia. These innovations addressed newborn care, mobility issues, infectious diseases, and healthcare access. Most aligned with goals on reducing inequalities and partnerships, while fewer addressed economic development or environmental sustainability. The innovations combined entrepreneurship with social impact to tackle health determinants.
-
Diffusion of Surgical Innovations, Patient Safety, and Minimally Invasive Radical Prostatectomy
Minimally invasive radical prostatectomy using the da Vinci robot spread rapidly across U.S. hospitals starting in 2006, but early adoption was associated with worse patient safety outcomes compared to open surgery. Patients undergoing the new procedure in 2005–2007 faced double the risk of safety incidents. The study shows that surgical innovations diffuse without adequate safeguards, exposing patients to harm during the learning phase.
-
Analysing organisational context: case studies on the contribution of absorptive capacity theory to understanding inter-organisational variation in performance improvement
This study examines how organizational context affects quality improvement in healthcare using absorptive capacity theory. Three UK NHS organizations with performance problems were studied through interviews with managers and external improvement teams. The organization with the highest absorptive capacity—strong strategic priorities, effective information management, and learning orientation—achieved the fastest and most comprehensive improvements. Internal characteristics enabled better engagement with external knowledge and support, even in challenging environments. Lower absorptive capacity delayed improvement efforts.
-
The Application and Adaptation of a Diffusion of Innovation Framework for Information Systems Research in NHS General Medical Practice
This paper adapts the diffusion of innovation framework to study how healthcare organizations adopt information systems. The authors analyzed four existing DOI studies and applied their modified framework to examine ICT adoption across general medical practices in northern England. They found that professional cultures and organizational power structures significantly constrain how innovations are perceived and implemented in healthcare settings.
-
The Diffusion of Medical Innovations: Can Figurational Sociology Contribute?
This paper argues that figurational sociology, developed by Norbert Elias, provides a robust theoretical framework for understanding innovation and change. The author demonstrates how Elias's emphasis on long-term unplanned processes helps explain complex change management, using evidence-based medicine adoption in clinical practice as a case study. The approach offers insights for policymakers managing innovation implementation.
-
Emerging Lessons From Regional and State Innovation in Value‐Based Payment Reform: Balancing Collaboration and Disruptive Innovation
Value-based payment reform projects across six U.S. states succeeded when multistakeholder coalitions had trusted leadership, external funding, and supportive regulatory environments. Key barriers included incompatible information systems, competing stakeholder priorities, and misalignment between payment models and care delivery. Successful reform required an honest broker to convene stakeholders, change management expertise, and community health infrastructure alongside pressure from payers and providers.
-
Innovation networks in the advanced medical equipment industry: supporting regional digital health systems from a local–national perspective
This study maps innovation networks in China's advanced medical equipment industry using patent data from 2005–2024. The national network shows sparse, core-periphery structure dominated by Beijing and Shanghai, with weak participation from central and western regions. The Yangtze River Delta region, by contrast, has built a denser polycentric network with Shanghai, Nanjing, and Suzhou as hubs. Economic development, technological capability, and government policy drive network formation, with infrastructure as a key enabler.
-
Online consulting in general practice: making the move from disruptive innovation to mainstream service
Online consulting in general practice represents a shift from experimental innovation to standard healthcare delivery. The authors argue that rigorous evaluation of these services is essential to maximize their benefits while minimizing potential risks, enabling the transition from disruptive innovation to mainstream adoption in primary care.
-
Disruptive Innovation: Implementation of Electronic Consultations in a Veterans Affairs Health Care System
A Veterans Affairs health system implemented electronic consultations enabling clinicians to request specialist input through the electronic health record without requiring patient visits. Between 2012 and 2013, over 7,000 e-consults were used, with nurse practitioners requesting them more frequently than physicians. Beyond initial diagnostic purposes, clinicians creatively adapted e-consults for scheduling and documentation. Requesting providers found the system highly useful, though specialists worried about workload increases.
-
Organizational Learning, Diffusion of Innovation, and International Collaboration in Telemedicine
This paper examines how telemedicine practices spread across organizations and what organizations learn from adopting telemedicine. The authors identify competing forces that influence this diffusion process and propose five sets of propositions explaining how telemedicine collaboration generates learning effects and shapes institutional development. The work addresses implications for building telemedicine networks.
-
The Role of Action Research in the Investigation and Diffusion of Innovations in Health Care: The PRIDE Project
Action research effectively investigates and spreads healthcare innovations, particularly when adaptations are needed for different settings. The authors analyze a UK project to show that action research combines research with practical implementation and development, making it valuable for studying how innovations diffuse through health systems. However, the method remains underutilized in innovation research despite its strengths as a whole-systems approach.
-
Orchestration Roles to Facilitate Networked Innovation in a Healthcare Ecosystem
Healthcare systems need innovation to address rising costs and digitalization demands. This paper identifies orchestration roles that facilitate networked innovation within healthcare ecosystems. The authors examine how different actors coordinate to develop more effective, cost-efficient care models and personalized healthcare solutions through connected health technologies.
-
Organization-wide adoption of computerized provider order entry systems: a study based on diffusion of innovations theory
Computerized provider order entry systems were adopted unevenly across healthcare staff. Nurses reported better experiences and perceived greater advantages than physicians, who found the systems poorly adapted to their work and wanted to return to paper-based methods. The study reveals that successful adoption requires designs offering substantial additional benefits beyond error reduction, continuous user feedback collection, and better communication about system advantages to healthcare workers.
-
Global Lessons In Frugal Innovation To Improve Health Care Delivery In The United States
This study identifies five successful low-cost healthcare innovations from global contexts and examines how they could improve US healthcare delivery. The researchers find common themes across these frugal innovations and outline critical factors for adapting them to American settings. They highlight existing US trends—shifting care to community settings, alternative payment models, and expanded use of community health workers—that create opportunities for implementing these globally-sourced innovations.
-
Digital innovation evaluation: user perceptions of innovation readiness, digital confidence, innovation adoption, user experience and behaviour change
This paper develops short user-reported measures to assess healthcare innovation adoption by evaluating user perceptions of capability, opportunity, and motivation for behavior change. The measures map onto existing frameworks for understanding why health innovations succeed or fail at scale. These tools help predict whether digital health innovations will spread successfully across health systems.
-
The preferences of users of electronic medical records in hospitals: quantifying the relative importance of barriers and facilitators of an innovation
Hospital nurses and physicians prioritize different features when adopting electronic medical records. Both groups value flexible interfaces most highly, but nurses prioritize departmental support and performance feedback, while physicians prioritize decision support functionality. Current EMR systems inadequately meet user needs, suggesting hospitals should tailor implementation strategies to different professional groups and involve users earlier in system design.
-
Innovation adoption in inter-organizational healthcare networks – the role of artificial intelligence
This paper examines how artificial intelligence adoption improves buyer-supplier relationships in healthcare networks. AI reduces information asymmetry by providing real-time access to supplier data, pricing, inventory, and delivery status. The authors position AI as both a technology tool and an innovation strategy that strengthens vertical alliances and cooperation across the healthcare supply chain, enabling better operational transparency and performance outcomes.
-
Understanding organisational development, sustainability, and diffusion of innovations within hospitals participating in a multilevel quality collaborative
Dutch hospitals participating in a multilevel quality collaborative developed systematic approaches to sustain and spread quality improvements. The program combined leadership training, quality-improvement teams, and internal coordination to build quality-management systems focused on patient safety and logistics. Hospitals used plan-do-study-act cycles, performance agreements, and monitoring to embed changes across organizational units and maintain improvements over time.
-
Adoption of Sustainability Innovations and Environmental Opinion Leadership: A Way to Foster Environmental Sustainability through Diffusion of Innovation Theory
This study examines how Pakistani hospitals can adopt sustainability innovations by leveraging environmental opinion leadership. Using survey data from hospital employees, the research identifies five key factors that drive adoption: trialability, innovativeness, compatibility, simplicity, and relative advantage. The findings provide practical guidance for improving environmental sustainability in Pakistan's hospital sector.
-
Decentralized clinical trials in the trial innovation network: Value, strategies, and lessons learned
The Trial Innovation Network evaluated decentralized clinical trial approaches across over 400 studies, finding that remote tools like electronic consent, social media recruitment, and remote interventions improve efficiency and reduce participation barriers. Some elements work well, while remote recruitment and monitoring need refinement. Hybrid trials combining remote and in-person methods offer promise for increasing urban-rural diversity, though ensuring equitable access to technology and building trust with marginalized communities remain critical challenges.
-
The Role of Organizational Affiliations and Research Networks in the Diffusion of Breast Cancer Treatment Innovation
Patients treated at hospitals affiliated with cancer research networks received innovative breast cancer treatment (sentinel lymph node biopsy) at significantly higher rates than those at unaffiliated hospitals. Hospital teaching status and surgical volume did not affect adoption rates. The findings support using research networks to accelerate translation of medical innovations into community practice.
-
An open innovation approach to co-produce scientific knowledge: an examination of citizen science in the healthcare ecosystem
Citizen science—where lay people participate in research—can drive innovation in healthcare by enabling large-scale data collection, educating the public, and co-creating value with scientists. The authors examined citizen science projects tackling COVID-19 and found that engaging non-experts as data collectors and analysts strengthens healthcare ecosystems. They argue policymakers must support lay participation in scientific research to address major health challenges.
-
User-centered requirements engineering to manage the fuzzy front-end of open innovation in e-health: A study on support systems for seniors’ physical activity
This study applies user-centered requirements engineering methods to manage the early stages of developing an e-health system supporting seniors' physical activity. Researchers conducted interviews with three user groups and used workshops with multidisciplinary teams to elicit, analyze, and prioritize requirements. The resulting Concept of Operations document successfully guided stakeholder recruitment and collaboration in the subsequent open innovation development process, demonstrating that involving users early produces systems meeting real-world complexity.
-
Practising innovation in the healthcare ecosystem: the agency of third-party actors
Third-party actors in digital healthcare ecosystems drive innovation by brokering connections between multiple stakeholders, mediating between different practices, and coalescing resources across networks. These intermediaries challenge established healthcare practices and enable new service co-creation opportunities by connecting diverse actors, institutions, and resources in ways that reshape how healthcare services are delivered.
-
Assessing E-Health adoption readiness using diffusion of innovation theory and the role mediated by each adopter's category in a Mauritian context
Healthcare workers in a Mauritian hospital show strong readiness to adopt E-Health technology, driven by desires for modernized management, improved efficiency, and faster results. Using diffusion of innovation theory, the study confirms that five key dimensions—relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, and observability—predict E-Health adoption. Physicians and nursing managers emerge as crucial influencers whose endorsement significantly affects whether colleagues recommend the technology.
-
Using TV white space spectrum to practise telemedicine: A promising technology to enhance broadband internet connectivity within healthcare facilities in rural regions of developing countries
TV white space spectrum technology offers a cost-effective way to deliver broadband internet to remote healthcare facilities in developing countries. Project Kgolagano in Botswana demonstrates this approach, using unused TV frequencies to connect clinics in underserved regions. The technology enables telemedicine services in dermatology, cancer screening, and infectious disease management, reaching populations previously without reliable internet access.
-
Educational and health services innovation to improve care for rural Hispanic Communities in the US
A rural health program in South Carolina addressed barriers to care for Hispanic immigrants through an innovative mobile clinic combining culturally competent healthcare delivery with student education. The Accessible and Culturally Competent Health Care Project used nurse practitioners, bilingual interpreters, community health advisors, and university students to provide affordable, accessible care while training future health professionals. The program demonstrates how educational and health service innovation can serve underserved rural populations.
-
Examining palliative care program use and place of death in rural and urban contexts: a Canadian population-based study using linked data
This Canadian study examined palliative care program enrollment and place of death across rural and urban Nova Scotia from 2003 to 2009. Women, younger seniors, and cancer patients enrolled most frequently. Distance to palliative care services strongly predicted enrollment and hospital death, but urban-rural residence alone did not. Effects varied significantly by district, suggesting local context and service organization matter more than simple rural-urban categorization for end-of-life care access.
-
IT‐enabled innovation to prevent infant blindness in rural India: the KIDROP experience
KIDROP pioneered a tele-ophthalmology system in rural India that trains non-physicians to capture and analyze retinal images of infants for retinopathy of prematurity screening. Remote experts review images via a customized digital platform and provide real-time diagnoses. This IT-enabled innovation successfully delivers expert eye care to underserved rural areas where specialists are scarce, and has expanded through public-private partnerships across India and influenced similar programs in developing countries.
-
The Association of Broadband Internet Access and Telemedicine Utilization in rural Western Tennessee: an observational study
Rural patients in western Tennessee with high broadband access (80-100%) were significantly more likely to use telemedicine than those with low access (0-20%), even after adjusting for income, education, and physician supply. Broadband availability emerged as a key factor enabling telemedicine adoption in rural communities, suggesting that expanding broadband infrastructure directly improves rural healthcare access.
-
Innovations and issues in the delivery of continuing education to nurse practitioners in rural and northern communities.
Rural nurse practitioners need continuing education to maintain professional skills, but distance delivery presents challenges. This study tracked Ontario's Rural Nurse Practitioner Continuing Education Initiative through needs assessment, implementation, and evaluation. Practitioners preferred face-to-face learning but faced barriers. The pilot project addressed these constraints using multiple online delivery modes and constructivist teaching methods. Despite innovations, significant challenges remain in serving rural and remote nurse practitioners.
-
Hype, evidence gaps and digital divides: Telehealth blind spots in rural Australia
Telehealth adoption in rural Australia remains slow despite significant health service demand. The authors identify four critical blind spots hindering progress: technocentric hype that ignores unintended consequences, gaps in evidence about patient experiences, insufficient attention to digital divides and social determinants of health, and failure to involve communities in service design. They argue that understanding telehealth as a socio-technical practice rather than purely technological solution is essential for improving accessibility and effectiveness.
-
Crossing the "digital divide:" implementing an electronic medical record system in a rural Kenyan health center to support clinical care and research.
Researchers implemented the first documented electronic medical record system in ambulatory care in sub-Saharan Africa at a rural Kenyan health center. After one year, the system captured data for over 13,000 patients and 26,000 visits. The paper describes implementation lessons and modifications that improved data capture and enabled the center to support clinical care and research while managing limited resources.
-
Exploring how to sustain ‘place-based’ rural health academic research for informing rural health systems: a qualitative investigation
Rural health researchers in Australia face seven major sustainability challenges: poor recognition, excessive workloads, weak networks, inadequate funding mechanisms, unsupportive organizational culture, job insecurity, and limited career advancement. The study of 17 early-career rural researchers reveals that strategic grants ignore generalist research, fixed-term contracts undermine retention, and isolation from main campuses limits opportunities. The authors recommend establishing research hubs, collaborative networks, targeted funding, and career development pathways to sustain this critical field.
-
Rural and Non-Rural Digital Divide Persists in Older Adults: Internet Access, Usage, and Perception
Older adults in rural America face a persistent digital divide compared to urban peers. Rural residents aged 50+ have 29% lower odds of internet access and use technology less across communication, financial, health, and media applications. Rural non-users also perceive technology as overly complicated and difficult to learn. The study calls for targeted interventions to expand broadband infrastructure and digital skills training in rural communities.
-
Do entrepreneurial food systems innovations impact rural economies and health? Evidence and gaps.
Local food system innovations—farmers' markets, community supported agriculture, farm-to-institution programs, and food hubs—aim to strengthen rural economies and improve food access and health. The authors review evidence on whether these entrepreneurial models help producers earn viable incomes, boost local economies, increase affordable healthy food access, and improve dietary outcomes. While some evidence supports each benefit, significant research gaps remain about their actual economic and public health impacts.
-
Sustainable Rural Healthcare Entrepreneurship: A Case Study of Serbia
Rural health entrepreneurs in Serbia provide essential medical services through private practices, policlinics, and dental clinics in underserved areas. The study identifies frugality, family orientation, and sustainability-driven innovation as key characteristics. While aging populations increase healthcare demand and financing instruments have improved, non-reimbursable services from the state health fund create significant barriers, perpetuating rural healthcare inequalities.
-
Withdrawn as duplicate: Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM) urges Congress to ensure efforts to increase and enhance broadband internet access in rural areas
The Society for Behavioral Medicine advocates for Congress to expand high-speed broadband access in rural U.S. areas to enable telehealth services. Better internet infrastructure would allow real-time healthcare delivery, increase access to specialists, and reduce rural health disparities. The organization calls for protecting and enhancing the National Broadband Plan through adequate funding, infrastructure investment, and regulatory reform to make rural internet services both high-quality and affordable.
-
Place-based research in small rural hospitals: an overlooked opportunity for action to reduce health inequities in Australia?
Small rural hospitals in Australia represent an underutilized setting for place-based research that could address health inequities. The authors argue that conducting research within these hospitals, tailored to local contexts and needs, offers a practical opportunity to generate evidence and implement solutions that reduce disparities in rural healthcare access and outcomes.
-
The effect of broadband access on electronic patient engagement activities: Assessment of urban‐rural differences
Rural residents without broadband access use electronic patient engagement tools like email, text, and video consultations far less than urban counterparts. Between 2014 and 2018, rural areas consistently lagged in adopting these digital health technologies. Lack of broadband connectivity in rural areas significantly increased the likelihood of non-use of electronic patient engagement tools, suggesting that expanding rural broadband infrastructure could improve patient-provider communication.
-
Developing an educational research framework for evaluating rural training of health professionals: A case for innovation
Rural medical training programs need innovative approaches to improve learning. This paper describes a collaborative workshop process that developed a research framework for evaluating a rural health professional training intervention. The framework enables systematic study of educational innovations and establishes accountability for identifying effective practices in rural healthcare worker training.
-
What a Pandemic Has Taught Us About the Potential for Innovation in Rural Health: Commencing an Ethnography in Canada, the United States, Sweden, and Australia
The paper examines how rural health systems in Canada, the United States, Sweden, and Australia built resilience and capacity during the pandemic. Using antifragility as a framework—the concept that systems strengthen under stress—the authors conducted ethnographic research to understand how rural health innovations emerged and persisted through crisis conditions.
-
Applying the model of diffusion of innovations to understand facilitators for the implementation of maternal and neonatal health programmes in rural Uganda
Two maternal and neonatal health projects in rural Uganda—one using vouchers to reduce financial barriers and another strengthening health systems—were analyzed using a diffusion of innovations framework. The analysis revealed key barriers and facilitators to implementing health interventions. The researchers found that understanding how innovations are adopted and spread after external support ends requires studying projects beyond their initial implementation period.
-
Rural Health Networks and Care Coordination: Health Care Innovation in Frontier Communities to Improve Patient Outcomes and Reduce Health Care Costs
A frontier community implemented a community care team and care coordination program to improve patient outcomes and reduce healthcare costs. The program increased collaboration among 17 organizations serving 165 adults. Patients showed decreased emergency department use and similar physical health outcomes to national averages, though emotional health remained lower. Successful urban care coordination models applied effectively to rural settings, particularly through dedicated team facilitators, intensive coordination for complex cases, and technology-enabled specialty care access.
-
The North Dakota Experience: Achieving High-Performance Health Care Through Rural Innovation and Cooperation
North Dakota addresses rural healthcare challenges through primary care support and medical home models, coordinated care networks, and technology innovation. The state demonstrates how cooperation between providers and strategic technology deployment can improve healthcare delivery in sparsely populated areas.
-
The Digital Divide and the Elderly: How Urban and Rural Realities Shape Well-Being and Social Inclusion in the Sardinian Context
Rural elderly people in Sardinia have significantly lower access to and use of digital tools compared to urban elderly, creating a digital divide that threatens social inclusion and well-being. Psychological and cognitive well-being predict digital use differently in rural versus urban areas. The study demonstrates that digital inequality persists even in developed countries, particularly affecting older populations, and calls for targeted interventions to improve rural digitalization and reduce exclusion.
-
Public health nursing: Challenges and innovations for health literacy in rural area
Rural communities face severe barriers to health literacy, including limited healthcare access, low literacy rates, cultural and language barriers, financial constraints, and digital divides. Nurses can address these challenges through community-based health education, professional training, digital health technology, partnerships with local organizations, radio programs, and community health ambassadors. Combining community empowerment with technology development will gradually improve health literacy outcomes in rural areas.
-
Making the case for place based governance in rural health workforce recruitment and retention: Lessons from Canada and Australia
Rural communities worldwide struggle to recruit and retain health workers, creating healthcare access gaps between rural and urban areas. This study examines place-based governance approaches through case studies in Canada and Australia. The authors argue that effective rural health workforce strategies require context-specific benchmarks and cross-national collaboration to understand how place-making strategies can improve recruitment and retention in rural health services.
-
Can public medical insurance promote rural entrepreneurship? Evidence from China
China's National Cooperative Medical Scheme, a subsidized public health insurance program for rural populations, increases rural entrepreneurship by reducing out-of-pocket medical expenses. The wealth effect from lower healthcare costs drives entrepreneurial investment. The effect is strongest among wealthier households, those with better insurance coverage, and those with younger household heads.
-
Assessment of rural households’ mobile phone usage status for rural innovation services in Gomma Woreda, Southwest Ethiopia
Rural households in Southwest Ethiopia use mobile phones primarily to access marketing services, with educated farmers adopting more innovation services than less educated ones. The study surveyed 188 households and found mobile phones enable access to agricultural extension, health services, and marketing. Stakeholders must address barriers to mobile phone utilization in rural areas to expand these innovation services.
-
In-Place Training: Optimizing Rural Health Workforce Outcomes through Rural-Based Education in Australia
Extended rural clinical school placements strongly predict where medical graduates practice in their first years after graduation in Australia. Graduates who completed longer rural placements were six times more likely to work in rural areas than those without such placements. Rural background and being older at graduation also increased rural practice likelihood. Surprisingly, formal bonding agreements requiring rural practice had no effect. The study recommends expanding rural placement opportunities to address rural doctor shortages.
-
Innovations in Practice: Dissemination and implementation of child–parent psychotherapy in rural public health agencies
Researchers trained clinicians at four rural public health agencies to deliver Child-Parent Psychotherapy, an evidence-based trauma treatment for young children. Half of the 112 client-caregiver pairs who started treatment remained enrolled or completed it. The study identifies specific barriers and facilitators to implementing this intervention in rural settings and confirms that evidence-based trauma treatment is feasible to deliver through rural community mental health agencies.
-
Delivery of rural and remote health care via a broadband Internet Protocol network – views of potential users
Rural and remote health providers in Alberta viewed a proposed broadband Internet Protocol network as valuable for expanding telehealth services and implementing electronic health records. Public-sector respondents felt more ready to adopt the technology than private-sector respondents. All groups identified the need for changes to health-service delivery practices as the main barrier to implementation.
-
Challenges, solutions and future directions for public health innovations targeting dementia prevention for rural and remote populations
Rural and remote populations in Australia face 80% higher dementia risk and 1.4 times greater chronic disease burden than metropolitan areas, yet health interventions remain designed for urban populations. This paper identifies challenges in cognitive health service delivery for rural communities and proposes short and long-term policy and clinical practice innovations to improve dementia prevention in these underserved regions.
-
Challenges and innovations in access to community‐based rural primary care services during the Covid‐19 pandemic in Australia
Rural Australian general practices faced evolving challenges during the Covid-19 pandemic while developing innovations to maintain accessible primary care. Over a year of interviews, eleven practices reported implementing new planning processes, digital health options, and protective measures for patients and staff. The study identifies reflexive action as a common theme, showing how rural practices adapted their service delivery models to sustain access during the pandemic's changing conditions.
-
Managing innovation: a qualitative study on the implementation of telehealth services in rural emergency departments
This study examined how six U.S. healthcare systems implemented telehealth services in 65 rural emergency departments. Researchers interviewed 18 key staff members and identified three implementation stages: startup, utilization, and sustainment. They found that eight factors—strategies, capability, relationships, financials, protocols, environment, service characteristics, and accountability—either facilitated or hindered success at each stage. Healthcare systems can improve telehealth adoption by addressing these specific domains.
-
‘Hybrid’ top down bottom up health system innovation in rural China: A qualitative analysis
China's Rural Health Reform Project piloted a hybrid top-down and bottom-up approach to health system reforms across rural counties serving 21 million people. Initial implementation struggled because counties lacked autonomy and initiative, but tight top-down supervision combined with expert support helped counties develop the mindset and capabilities to tailor reforms to local needs. Successful counties achieved sustainable improvements and developed advanced learning capabilities.
-
The Digital Divide of Older People in Communities: Urban‐Rural, Gender, and Health Disparities and Inequities
Rural older adults face significantly larger digital divides than urban counterparts, driven by poor infrastructure and reduced intergenerational support from youth migration. Women and those in poor health experience greater barriers to accessing and using digital technology. The study quantifies these disparities across access, use, and knowledge dimensions, showing that addressing urban-rural, gender, and health inequalities is essential for inclusive digital aging.
-
Can cultural capital, cognitive ability, and economic capacity help rural older adults bridge the digital divide? Evidence from an empirical study
Rural older adults in China face a significant digital divide that limits their access to health information online. This study finds that cultural capital directly helps bridge this gap, and also works indirectly by boosting cognitive ability and economic capacity. The effect is stronger for men aged 60-69. The researchers recommend expanding rural cultural infrastructure and targeted training programs to help older adults develop digital skills.
-
Examining Key Stakeholder and Community Residents’ Understanding of Environmental Influences to Inform Place‐Based Interventions to Reduce Obesity in Rural Communities, Kentucky 2015
Rural Kentucky counties with obesity rates exceeding 40% face significant barriers to healthy living. Stakeholders and residents identified limited access to fresh produce and inadequate physical activity infrastructure as key problems. Residents concerned about obesity shopped more at supercenters, while those with information about physical activity opportunities reported better access to safe exercise spaces, sidewalks, and trails. These findings provide a foundation for designing community-specific interventions.
-
Microfinance with education in rural Ghana: Men's perception of household level impact
A microfinance and nutrition education program in rural Ghana increased women's incomes and household food security. Male household heads reported supporting women's participation and perceived positive impacts on business practices and meal quality. However, men reduced their own household contributions in response to women's increased earnings, revealing unintended consequences of women's economic empowerment on household dynamics.
-
Distance Learning in the Cloud: Using 3G Enabled Mobile Computing to Support Rural Medical Education
Rural medical students face isolation and expensive distance learning systems. This paper describes a pilot program using 3G-enabled mobile devices and cloud-based technology to deliver medical curriculum remotely. The system combines live video conferencing and recorded content, reducing costs and technical barriers while maintaining social interaction between students and instructors in a constructivist learning framework.
-
Deployment of broadband wireless access for E-health in Chinese rural areas
This paper describes a low-cost mobile e-health system for rural China that combines VSAT and broadband wireless access technology to provide internet and telecommunications connectivity. The system supports telemedicine and e-learning services within three-level medical networks, helping rural communities access healthcare services and reduce the digital divide.
-
Improving access to primary health care through financial innovation in rural China: a quasi-experimental synthetic difference-in-differences approach
A financing reform in rural China that integrated primary healthcare supply and established a dedicated fund significantly increased outpatient visits to primary care facilities by 15 percentage points and raised per capita spending by 87 yuan. The reform proved effective across multiple model specifications and strengthened over time, demonstrating that horizontal integration in healthcare financing improves access and resource allocation in resource-limited rural settings.
-
The digital health divide: Understanding telehealth adoption across racial lines in rural Illinois
Rural residents in Southern Illinois adopt telehealth at lower rates than urban residents, with significant racial disparities. Broadband access is a critical barrier—rural areas lack adequate infrastructure. Privacy concerns about data protection deter adoption across all demographic groups. Geographic location and race shape whether people use telehealth to reduce travel and childcare costs.
-
Applying diffusion of innovation theory to examine providers’ perceptions of rural telehealth application and competencies
Rural Americans face worse health outcomes partly due to limited healthcare access. This study identifies best practices for telehealth in rural settings by examining how providers perceive and apply telehealth technology. The research consolidates five key telehealth application strategies and five essential provider competencies needed to deliver effective care to rural patients, with implications for medical education and practice.
-
A Disruptive Innovation Model for Indigenous Medicine Research: A Nigerian Perspective
Nigeria's pharmaceutical sector struggles to develop affordable medicines despite access to indigenous medicinal knowledge. The paper argues that the problem isn't just economic or technological constraints, but rather the absence of frameworks for scientific validation and policymakers' failure to account for local realities. The author proposes a disruptive innovation model that applies scientific rigor to traditional phytomedicinal knowledge, enabling researchers and policymakers to identify effective treatments while discarding ineffective ones.
-
Ensuring safe access to medication for palliative care while preventing prescription drug abuse: innovations for American inner cities, rural areas, and communities overwhelmed by addiction
This paper proposes innovations for delivering safe palliative care medications in underserved American communities while preventing prescription drug abuse. The author recommends establishing guarded medication dispensing centers in pharmacies, creating medication purchasing cooperatives to reduce costs, and expanding methadone programs to provide pain management and patient monitoring. These programs would integrate pharmacists, police, medical providers, and social workers to improve access while strengthening oversight and reducing diversion.
-
Prototyping technology adoption among entrepreneurship and innovation libraries for rural health innovations
Entrepreneurship and innovation libraries across Europe, Asia, and the USA adopt Figma prototyping technology to support rural health startups. Previous experience, social impact, brand image, and system quality drive perceived usefulness, while usability, training, and self-efficacy influence ease of use. Both factors shape behavioral intention and actual adoption. Strategic partnerships between libraries, policymakers, and technology providers accelerate technology adoption and foster rural health innovation ecosystems.
-
Strength of cross‐sector collaborations in co‐designing an extended rural and remote nursing placement innovation: Focusing on student learning in preference to student churning
A cross-sector collaboration between Australian universities and rural health services co-designed an extended nursing placement program to improve student learning in remote areas. The program addresses short placements that limit students' exposure to rural practice and their ability to consider rural careers. By involving stakeholders in program design and implementation, the collaboration created a rural-ready nursing workforce while reducing student attrition from rural regions.
-
Design and Simulation of an Inverter Drive System with a Display for a Renewable Energy System in the Rural Isolated Communities of Uganda
Researchers designed and simulated an inverter system that converts single-phase AC power to three-phase DC power for rural health facilities in Uganda. The five-level inverter uses passive and active components to reduce distortion and ripples while improving efficiency. Testing showed the system can suppress power ripples using smaller capacitors than conventional converters, enabling three-phase medical equipment to run reliably in isolated communities with limited electrical infrastructure.
-
Disruptive innovation in rural American healthcare: the physician assistant practice
Physician assistant-owned primary care practices represent a disruptive innovation for rural healthcare. The model addresses physician shortages in underserved rural communities by offering lower costs, fewer competitors, high quality care, and sustainable competitive advantage. This business model solves chronic primary care shortages in rural areas facing educational, financial, and transportation constraints.
-
Electronic Medical Record Adoption in Oklahoma Practices: Rural‐Urban Differences and the Role of Broadband Availability
Rural and urban physician practices in Oklahoma show similar overall electronic medical record adoption rates, but significant differences emerge in specific subcategories. Solo rural practices adopt EMRs at higher rates than urban solo practices, as do rural psychiatric practices. Broadband availability shows no statistical relationship with EMR adoption. The findings suggest that targeted policies addressing specific practice types matter more than broadband expansion alone for increasing EMR adoption.
-
Challenges of the Rural Healthcare Pilot Program Broadband Initiative
The Federal Communications Commission funded a Rural Healthcare Pilot Program in 2007 to deploy broadband networks to rural areas. Researchers interviewed 40 funded organizations and found that 90 percent encountered challenges during planning. The main obstacles fell into two categories: program deployment issues and communication problems. The findings aim to help future telemedicine grantees navigate similar funding processes more effectively.
-
Service innovation: a virtual informal network of care to support a ‘lean’ therapeutic community in a new rural personality disorder service
A rural personality disorder service in England created a virtual informal care network using internet messaging and chat rooms to support therapeutic community principles across a large mixed urban-rural catchment area. The system is inexpensive, easily transferable, and allows therapeutic work to continue with reduced in-person programming. This innovation demonstrates how virtual networks can expand access to community-based therapeutic services in rural areas.
-
Enhancing Pharmacological Access and Health Outcomes in Rural Communities through Renewable Energy Integration: Implications for chronic inflammatory Disease Management
Solar-powered cold chain systems in rural healthcare facilities improve medication storage and vaccine distribution, reducing waste and maintaining drug potency. Case studies from sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East show that renewable energy integration increases immunization coverage and improves management of inflammatory diseases. The authors argue that deploying solar energy solutions strengthens rural healthcare infrastructure and promotes health equity in underserved regions.
-
Optimal Planning and Deployment of Hybrid Renewable Energy to Rural Healthcare Facilities in Nigeria
Rural healthcare facilities in Nigeria suffer from unreliable electricity supply. This paper designs hybrid renewable energy systems combining solar, wind, and diesel generation with the existing grid to reliably power six rural health centers. Optimized configurations achieve very low energy costs between $0.06 and $0.12 per kilowatt-hour, with solar and wind providing the majority of power at all locations.
-
National, regional, and urban-rural patterns in fixed-terrestrial broadband internet access and cardiac rehabilitation utilization in the United States
Rural and Southern US regions show high cardiac rehabilitation eligibility but low participation rates, alongside widespread broadband internet gaps. The study reveals that rural areas lack broadband access more than urban areas, creating a critical barrier to telehealth cardiac rehabilitation. Policymakers must address broadband infrastructure before expanding telehealth rehabilitation programs in underserved regions.
-
Immersive Place-Based Attachments in Rural Australia: An Overview of an Allied Health Program and Its Outcomes
An Australian university's rural immersive attachment program for allied health students significantly increased rural practice intentions among both metropolitan and rural-origin students. Graduates who completed longer placements (18+ weeks) were 2 to 2.7 times more likely to work in rural or remote areas within 1–3 years post-graduation compared to those with shorter placements. Extended rural immersive experiences effectively drive rural workforce placement independent of students' geographic background.
-
Rewards and employee creativity among rural healthcare employees: the mediating role of organizational support for innovation and the moderating impact of supervisory support
Rewards boost employee creativity in rural hospitals primarily by fostering organizational support for innovation. Supervisory support strengthens this relationship—when supervisors actively support innovation, the path from rewards to creativity through organizational support becomes significantly stronger. The study demonstrates that rural healthcare workers' creative contributions depend on how management structures rewards, organizational backing, and supervisory engagement together.
-
Techno‐Economic Potential of Hybrid Renewable Energy Systems for Rural Health Units in the Philippines
This study evaluated hybrid renewable energy systems for rural health clinics in the Philippines, comparing grid-connected and off-grid configurations. Solar photovoltaic panels paired with either the grid or battery-generator systems reduced energy costs by 37–42 percent and carbon emissions by 59 percent while meeting at least 70 percent of facility electricity demand. The findings support integrating these systems into rural healthcare facilities to improve energy access, resilience, and sustainability.
-
Remote and rural placements occurring during early medical training as a multidimensional place-based medical education experience
A medical school in Northern Ontario places second-year students in remote and rural communities for four-week clinical rotations to prepare them for rural practice. The study found that students, instructors, and institutions shared five core educational aims but differed significantly in emphasis and priorities. Students valued clinical training but undervalued community engagement, while teachers prioritized broader place-based learning. The research recommends curricula explicitly address these expectation gaps to improve rural medical education outcomes.
-
Endoscopic treatment of hydrocephalus with minimal resources: Resource utilization and indigenous innovation in developing countries like India
Indian neurosurgeons successfully treated hydrocephalus using endoscopic surgery in resource-limited public hospitals by designing indigenous equipment and coordinating across departments. They adapted available tools from anesthesia and used custom-made steel sheaths to perform 34 procedures with minimal specialized resources, achieving comparable outcomes to standard approaches and demonstrating that innovation and interdisciplinary collaboration can overcome equipment scarcity.
-
Internet or dvd for distance learning to isolated rural health professionals, what is the best approach?
A study in Madagascar compared internet-based and DVD-based distance learning for training rural health center leaders on hypertension management. Both methods significantly improved knowledge scores. DVD training proved slightly more effective for doctors, while both methods performed equally for paramedics. The researchers recommend DVD as the preferred approach for Madagascar's remote health centers, where internet access is limited.
-
Using microfinance to facilitate household investment in sanitation in rural Cambodia
Rural Cambodian households want latrines but cannot afford them. This study tested whether microfinance loans could bridge the gap. While 27% of surveyed households expressed interest in microfinance for latrine purchase, actual loan applications remained low at 4% of attendees. Only 5% of current latrine owners used microfinance. The researchers conclude that linking sanitation markets to existing finance institutions requires stronger coordination between vendors and lenders to become scalable.
-
Cognitive access to TVWS in India: TV spectrum occupancy and wireless broadband for rural areas
The paper measures TV spectrum usage in Pune, India and finds poor utilization in the TV band, creating opportunity for cognitive radio operation. The authors propose using TV white spaces—unused TV frequencies after digital switchover—to deliver wireless broadband to rural India. This approach can bridge the digital divide by enabling rural access to online governance, banking, and health services.
-
Implementation of distance learning IMCI training in rural districts of Tanzania
Tanzania implemented a distance learning model for childhood illness management training in three rural districts. The program combined self-directed learning with brief in-person sessions, successfully training many healthcare workers at low cost and improving their knowledge and competence. However, participants faced technological barriers, work-life conflicts, and insufficient mentorship due to limited funding and transport infrastructure.
-
Potential of Biogas Utilization for Renewable Energy Mix Contribution and Rural Electrification in Sarawak
Sarawak faces rural electrification challenges due to scattered populations in remote terrain. The region's extensive oil palm plantations generate palm oil mill effluent that could produce enough biogas to power nearly 2 million households. The paper examines solid oxide fuel cell technology for converting biogas to electricity, achieving up to 60% efficiency—superior to conventional combustion engines. This approach offers a viable pathway for renewable energy generation and rural electrification across Sarawak.
-
Is place or person more important in determining higher rural cancer mortality? A data-linkage study to compare individual versus area-based measures of deprivation
Rural cancer patients in Northeast Scotland living over 60 minutes from treatment centers experienced worse one-year survival rates than those living closer, despite receiving timely treatment more often. This geographic disadvantage persisted regardless of whether researchers adjusted for area-based or individual socioeconomic status, indicating that distance to services, not personal characteristics, drives poorer rural cancer outcomes.
-
The relationship between a microfinance-based healthcare delivery platform, health insurance coverage, health screenings, and disease management in rural Western Kenya
A microfinance program integrated with health screenings in rural Western Kenya significantly increased rates of health screening for multiple conditions including diabetes and cervical cancer among participants. However, microfinance membership did not improve health insurance uptake or disease management outcomes. The findings suggest that combining microfinance with healthcare delivery can overcome structural barriers to screening access, though additional interventions are needed to improve insurance coverage and disease management in low-resource settings.
-
Microfinance Institutions’ Successful Delivery Of Micronutrient Powders: A Randomized Trial In Rural Haiti
A randomized trial in rural Haiti tested whether microfinance institutions can effectively deliver health products to underserved populations. Micronutrient powders distributed through microfinance meetings to improve child nutrition significantly increased hemoglobin levels and reduced anemia rates compared to control groups. The results match outcomes from traditional health delivery systems, demonstrating that microfinance institutions offer a viable platform for scaling health interventions in low-income countries.
-
Comprehensive approaches to electrifying rural health facilities: Integrating renewable energy and financial mechanisms in Sub-Saharan Africa
Rural health facilities in Sub-Saharan Africa can achieve reliable electricity access by combining renewable energy solutions with innovative financing mechanisms. The study identifies that successful electrification requires coordinated investment from governments, private sector, and development organizations, supported by enabling policy frameworks. This integrated approach makes sustainable energy access for healthcare delivery in underserved regions economically and technically feasible.
-
Poor Representation of Rural Counties of the United States in Some Measures of Consumer Broadband
Rural counties in the United States are significantly underrepresented in major broadband speed test datasets. The researchers analyzed data from Measurement Labs and Ookla across 2020-2021, finding that very rural counties had far fewer fixed broadband speed tests per capita than urban counties, while mobile test patterns showed no rural-urban difference. This data gap undermines efforts to identify and address broadband gaps in rural communities that need telehealth access.
-
Relationship between perceived value, attitudes, and academic motivation in distance learning among nursing students in rural areas
Jordanian nursing students in rural universities show low perceived value, negative attitudes, and weak academic motivation toward distance learning. The study of 298 students found strong positive correlations between these three factors: students with low perceived value of distance learning also held negative attitudes and lacked motivation. Educators must improve how distance learning is presented and delivered to enhance rural health education quality.
-
Improving Access to Essential Medications in Rural and Low-Income U.S. Communities: Supply Chain Innovations for Health Equity
Rural and low-income U.S. communities face critical barriers to accessing essential medications due to geographic isolation, economic constraints, and inefficient supply chains. The paper examines supply chain innovations—including mobile pharmacies, micro-fulfillment centers, AI-driven forecasting, and blockchain technology—to improve medication delivery. It proposes regulatory frameworks and public-private partnerships to support these solutions and recommends federal and state policies to expand coverage for underserved populations.
-
Solar powered vaccine refrigerator for rural off-grid areas in Nigeria
Nigerian researchers designed an affordable solar-powered vaccine refrigerator system for rural off-grid health facilities. The system uses a 100W solar panel, battery storage, and charge controller to power a 75W refrigerator holding 50 litres of vaccine, costing approximately N135,000 per health centre. This replaces unreliable diesel generators and enables reliable vaccine storage in remote areas, potentially reducing infant and maternal mortality.
-
Indigenous-led First Peoples health interprofessional and simulation-based learning innovations: mixed methods study of nursing academics’ experience of working in partnership
Nursing academics working with Indigenous leaders developed culturally safe curriculum innovations through partnership. The study shows that educating educators about cultural safety in teaching, learning, and research is essential. Non-Indigenous academics can effectively collaborate within Indigenous-led pedagogical approaches to create culturally appropriate health education programs.
-
The Role of Microfinance in China’s Rural Public Health: Evidence from the Anti-Poverty Microcredit Program
A microcredit program in impoverished Chinese villages improved rural residents' health levels and health insurance uptake. The effect operated through poverty reduction and was strongest among low-income households with high credit ratings and strong social networks. Remaining debt reduced health gains, while formal credit access increased health spending by relaxing financial constraints.
-
Does Distance Learning Facilitate Diversity and Access to MSW Education in Rural and Underserved Areas?
Distance learning in social work education does expand access to rural and underserved areas. Analysis of 2018 graduate survey data shows that online and blended Master of Social Work programs increase workforce diversity by attracting older, working adults who might not attend traditional in-person programs, and graduates from these programs practice more frequently in rural and underserved communities.
-
Layering of a health, nutrition and sanitation programme onto microfinance-oriented self-help groups in rural India: results from a process evaluation
A health and nutrition program integrated into rural microfinance self-help groups in Bihar, India improved maternal and child health outcomes. Community mobilizers trained on health, nutrition, and sanitation topics shared knowledge in monthly group meetings and home visits. Trained mobilizers demonstrated significantly higher knowledge levels and were more likely to conduct related activities, collect health data, and seek guidance from block-level coordinators. The study shows that non-health programs can effectively deliver health services through dedicated local staff.
-
Recruitment and retention of healthcare professionals in rural areas is a major, worldwide concern. Medical education has integrated community-oriented medical education strategies to help address these challenges. This study explored medical trainees' preferences regarding place of work and choice of specialty after completing training using either the traditional or mixed Problem-Based Learning/Community-Based Education and Service curriculum in Ghanaian medical schools
Medical students in Ghana trained using problem-based learning combined with community-based education and service reported significantly better preparation for rural practice than those in traditional programs. Seventy-four percent of students in the innovative curriculum felt adequately prepared for rural work, compared to just thirty-five percent in traditional training. Students in traditional programs called for curriculum reforms incorporating rural outreach to increase their interest in rural practice.
-
Stem Barks and Roots Extravitism in Ekiti State Nigeria: Need for Conservation as a Sustainable Innovation in Healthcare Management in Rural Areas
Rural communities in Ekiti State, Nigeria rely heavily on botanical stem and root extracts for healthcare, viewing them as safer and cheaper than conventional medicine. However, most medicinal species are wild-harvested unsustainably and face depletion from deforestation. The paper argues that conservation of these indigenous species is essential to maintain rural healthcare access and sustainability.
-
Advances in the Design of Renewable Energy Power Supply for Rural Health Clinics, Case Studies, and Future Directions
Rural health clinics in remote areas lack reliable electricity from national grids, compromising healthcare quality and staff recruitment. This paper reviews renewable energy solutions for isolated clinics worldwide, examining modeling techniques, battery storage systems, and microgrid maintenance approaches. The authors recommend analytical standards and procedures to optimize sustainable power supply for remote healthcare facilities.
-
Investment in community-based rural health care innovation to address health inequities in Australia
Rural Australians face higher chronic disease rates, lower life expectancy, and poor healthcare access due to distance and workforce shortages. The authors argue that investment in community-based rural health research is critical to address these inequities. They demonstrate that place-based partnerships between researchers, hospitals, and community organizations—including innovative models like community paramedicine—improve patient outcomes and reduce hospital admissions, yet receive only 2.4% of national health research funding.
-
Cultural innovation in the face of modernization: a study of emerging community-based care in rural Cambodia
Rural Cambodian communities have developed a Buddhist ritual called sângkeahăh that functions as community-based care in response to modernization and rising medical costs. The ritual, performed at homes of ill persons, collects donations for families while allowing participants to earn merit. This practice represents a grassroots, culturally-rooted response that shifts care from private to public spheres, demonstrating how traditional values support adaptation to rapid social change.
-
Animal Health Management perspectives of rural livestock farmers in Southwest Nigeria: The place of community based Animal Health Workers
Rural livestock farmers in southwest Nigeria rely on community-based animal health workers, indigenous healers, and Fulani pastoralist healers because modern veterinarians are expensive, unreliable, and inaccessible. Farmers rate modern practitioners as more effective but prefer local healers for availability and affordability. The study confirms that community-based animal health workers can effectively address the major livestock health problems farmers face, including disease and production losses.
-
Addressing digital divide: experiment on tele-medicine applications using broadband wireless system in rural areas
Researchers implemented a broadband wireless LAN system in rural hospitals in Vietnam's Hatinh province to deliver telemedicine services. The project tested video transmission, X-ray image sharing, and electronic medical document exchange. User surveys revealed system effectiveness and identified lessons for expanding telemedicine applications in rural healthcare settings.
-
Social vulnerability, lower broadband internet access, and rurality associated with lower telemedicine use in U.S. Counties
Analysis of 8 million U.S. telemedicine sessions reveals that rural counties use telemedicine at lower rates than urban counties. Broadband internet access and rurality are stronger predictors of telemedicine use than social vulnerability factors. The relationship between social vulnerability and telemedicine adoption differs significantly between rural and urban areas, with greater variability in urban counties.
-
Bridging the urban–rural divide: digital literacy as a catalyst for enhancing physical exercise participation in China
Digital literacy significantly increases physical exercise participation in China, with stronger effects for rural residents. Using data from 18,336 participants, the study finds that improved digital skills help rural people overcome structural barriers to physical activity. Enhancing digital competencies in rural areas could reduce urban-rural health disparities and advance health equity through better access to exercise information and resources.
-
NGOs' Role in Sustaining Indigenous Knowledge in RuralBangladesh: Agriculture, Healthcare, and Disaster Management
NGOs in rural Bangladesh actively preserve and apply indigenous knowledge across agriculture, healthcare, and disaster management. The study documents how organizations like BARCIK support local communities in using traditional practices for cyclone resilience, seed preservation, and farming methods. NGOs bridge indigenous knowledge with modern science, protecting these practices from erosion due to globalization while enabling sustainable rural development.
-
An interdisciplinary telemedicine innovation to enhance pediatric diabetes care in rural communities: A proposed practice initiative
A nurse-led telemedicine model improves pediatric diabetes care in rural communities by eliminating long-distance travel to appointments. The initiative uses telehealth technology to increase access to specialty care, reduce costs, and improve patient outcomes. The approach is feasible, reimbursable, and accepted by families and providers, demonstrating how nurses can lead innovative care delivery models in rural settings.
-
Gender Differences in the Digital Divide, Digital Back-Feeding, and Health-Related Quality of Life Among Rural Older Adults: Cross-Sectional Study
In rural China, 71% of older adults experience the digital divide, which significantly reduces their health-related quality of life. Digital back-feeding—receiving digital support from family members—buffers this negative effect, but only for women. The study calls for gender-tailored digital inclusion policies that encourage adult children to engage digitally with their mothers in rural communities.
-
Techno-economic and environmental analysis of an off-grid hybrid system using solar panels, wind turbine, diesel generator, and batteries for a rural health clinic considering
Researchers designed and analyzed a hybrid renewable energy system combining solar panels, wind turbines, diesel generators, and batteries to power a rural health clinic in Saudi Arabia. The optimized system achieves 84.7% renewable energy generation with annual CO2 emissions of 10,825 kg and operating costs of $2,361 per year. The findings demonstrate that hybrid systems are economically and environmentally viable for rural healthcare in arid regions, with potential applications across developing nations.
-
The Alberta Indigenous Mentorship in Health Innovation Network: approach, activities and reflections of an Indigenous mentorship network programme
The Alberta Indigenous Mentorship in Health Innovation Network supports First Nations, Métis, and Inuit scholars pursuing health research careers through intergenerational mentorship, funding, and professional development activities. The program strengthens scholars' personal and professional resources while advocating for systemic changes in academia and health research to promote Indigenous success. The authors describe their mentorship philosophy, organizational structure, and adaptations made during the COVID-19 pandemic.
-
Perceived quality of home- and community-based services and urban-rural disparities in aging-in-place intentions: evidence from Chinese older adults
This study examines how older adults in China perceive home and community-based services and how these perceptions affect their desire to age in place. Rural and urban older adults respond differently to service gaps: rural residents tolerate limited service quantity but struggle with poor quality and distance, while urban residents are more affected by provider shortages and proximity issues. The findings show that context-specific policies addressing these distinct urban-rural challenges are essential to support aging in place.
-
Mitigate or exacerbate? Assessing digital engagement's impact on mental health inequalities across gender and urban–rural divides
Digital engagement improves mental health outcomes for Chinese adults and reduces mental health inequalities across gender and urban-rural divides. The effect is stronger for urban-rural disparities than gender disparities. Digital engagement simultaneously enhances overall mental health while narrowing inequality gaps, suggesting that increasing digital access and use can address both mental health levels and equity concerns in China.
-
Place-based rural health professional pre-registration education programs: a scoping review
Place-based health professional education programs train students in rural communities to address healthcare workforce shortages. A review of 138 programs across 12 countries identified four training models: short-term placements, extended placements, rural campuses, and distributed blended learning. Programs recruit local students, engage communities in selection and delivery, and evaluate graduate work locations and access outcomes. Successful programs combine widening educational access, comprehensive design, and community engagement aligned with social accountability.
-
Building a rural medical workforce: the foundations of a place-based approach to program evaluation
A rural medical training program in Australia's Deakin University footprint admits 30 local students annually to address doctor shortages. Graduates who completed rural clinical schools, chose general practice, had rural backgrounds, and stayed in early postgraduate training were 3 to 7 times more likely to work in the target region. However, many left after three years, signaling the need for expanded rural specialty training to retain doctors locally.
-
Analysis of Renewable Energy Deployment and Investment for Rural Health Facility Electrification: A Case Study of Kenya, Ghana, and Rwanda
Poor electricity access in rural health facilities across Kenya, Ghana, and Rwanda undermines healthcare delivery and increases child mortality. The study examines how renewable energy investments and financing models can electrify these facilities. Findings show investment approaches vary by country, and decision-makers should develop public-private partnerships and innovative financing mechanisms to deploy renewable energy systems in rural health centers, supported by stronger collaboration between financial and health institutions.
-
Can telemedicine reach rural, older veterans on the edge of or caught in the digital divide? – Unique considerations for two distinct populations
A national telemedicine program serving rural older veterans through VA clinics identified two distinct populations with different barriers to digital healthcare. Some veterans on the edge of the digital divide faced access risks from declining health or economic status. Others were completely caught in the divide—lacking reliable internet, devices, or skills—including isolated veterans with trauma histories and institutional distrust. The study reveals that structural supports must address these specific contextual factors to expand telemedicine reach.
-
Place-based strengths and vulnerabilities for mental wellness among rural minority older adults: an intervention development study protocol
Rural minority older adults in the United States face severe depression inequities driven by economic insecurity, trauma, transportation gaps, and limited service access. This study examines protective place-based factors like social support and community attachment alongside vulnerabilities among American Indian and Latinx older adults in New Mexico. Researchers will conduct surveys, interviews, and network analysis to understand how these factors shape depression experiences, then develop a community-driven intervention addressing place-based causes of mental health disparities.
-
Building research capacity at a rural place‐based community service organisation in southwest Victoria, Australia
Rural community service organizations lack evidence about their outcomes, limiting policy decisions for rural populations. This paper describes implementing an embedded researcher model at an Australian family and youth services organization to build research capacity and establish monitoring, evaluation, and learning practices. The embedded researcher, positioned on-site and jointly funded by the service organization and a university, works with staff to develop a place-based framework for generating local evidence and improving service outcomes.
-
The association between rurality, places of care and the location of death of long-term care home residents with dementia: A population-based study
This study analyzed 65,375 long-term care residents with dementia in Ontario between 2014 and 2019. Rural residents were more likely to die in their care homes, while urban residents experienced more hospitalizations and died outside care facilities. Urban LTC homes sent residents to hospitals at roughly double the rate of rural homes, suggesting geography shapes end-of-life care patterns for dementia patients.
-
Based on capital theory to exploring the digital health divide and determinants among urban and rural older adults in China: Cross-sectional study
Rural older adults in China face significant barriers to digital health services compared to urban peers. The study identifies three levels of digital divide: access, usage, and outcomes. Digital usage divide is most pronounced and driven primarily by cultural capital, social support, economic resources, and habits. Cultural and social capital account for over half the urban-rural gap. Targeted interventions addressing policy, motivation, economics, culture, and social support can reduce these disparities.
-
Home-Based Digital Technologies to Support Aging-in-Place for Rural African American People With Alzheimer Disease and Their Care Partners: Protocol for a Mixed Methods Feasibility Study
This study investigates remote monitoring technologies to support rural African American people with Alzheimer's disease aging at home. Researchers will identify barriers to aging-in-place and assess attitudes toward remote monitoring, then test a home-based system over 18 months to measure usability, acceptability, and feasibility. Findings will guide development of tailored interventions for this underserved population with the highest dementia rates but least access to formal care.
-
Mobile Health and Chronic Care: Using GIScience to Assess Health Care Accessibility among Broadband Subscribers in Nebraska’s Micropolitan and Rural Areas
This study uses geographic information systems to analyze how broadband internet access affects rural and micropolitan residents' ability to reach healthcare providers for chronic conditions. Researchers compared travel times to medical facilities for broadband customers in Nebraska, revealing differences between rural and micropolitan areas. The findings show how internet speed variations influence who can actually use mobile health services, demonstrating GIScience's practical value for addressing rural healthcare access problems.
-
Innovation in addressing depression and anxiety symptoms in rural Honduran communities: a cross-sectional pilot study
This pilot study applied validated depression and anxiety assessment tools for the first time in rural Honduras, surveying 21 residents of Ojojona. Nearly half the participants showed depression (47.7%) and anxiety (47.6%), with 29% experiencing both conditions. The findings reveal high mental health disorder prevalence in rural Honduras and highlight the need for improved healthcare access and research capacity in these communities.
-
Enhancing the local workforce outcomes for rural LICs: what is the role of the local health service in leading innovation in medical education?
A rural health service in South Australia created the Riverland Academy of Clinical Excellence to train its own medical workforce, increasing local doctors by over 20% in one year. By offering extended training contracts and a complete pathway from medical school through advanced practice in the region, the health service successfully recruited junior doctors and specialists committed to rural practice, demonstrating that local health services can lead medical education innovation to address rural workforce shortages.
-
Bridging the gap or widening the divide? Municipal decision-makers’ perceptions of healthcare digitalization in shrinking rural regions
Municipal decision-makers in shrinking rural Finnish regions view healthcare digitalization as a potential solution for aging populations, but worry it may deepen inequality rather than improve access. The study examines whether digital healthcare actually bridges gaps or widens divides in rural communities, considering both local accessibility and broader regional development impacts.
-
The usage divide of digital health technology in age-friendly home modifications: an ethnographic study among older adults in rural China
Rural older adults in China face significant barriers to using digital health technologies for home modifications, even when access is available. The study identifies obstacles including difficulty forming stable technology habits, challenges adapting to system updates, and cumulative frustration from repeated failures. These barriers explain why technological access alone fails to translate into genuine empowerment, highlighting the gap between availability and effective use in rural aging populations.
-
The impact of the three-level digital divide on the mental health of rural residents: A study from China
Rural residents in China experience three interconnected digital divides—unequal access to internet, insufficient usage skills, and limited perceived utility—that harm mental health through distinct mechanisms. Access gaps reduce fairness perceptions, usage gaps lower perceived social class, and utility gaps diminish both social class and economic status assessments. Education and regional location moderate these effects, with impacts varying across social groups.
-
A Review on Digital Divide and Its Impact on Physiotherapy Delivery in Rural Settings
Digital physiotherapy effectively delivers care to underserved populations, but rural areas face severe disparities. Poor network coverage, device affordability, low education levels, and limited awareness of telerehabilitation prevent rural residents from accessing digital health services. This review synthesizes literature on the digital divide's impact on rural physiotherapy delivery, identifies key barriers and research gaps, and recommends changes to clinical practice, research, and policy to ensure equitable access.
-
Reimagining community health nursing: a qualitative participatory action research study of nurse-led primary healthcare innovation in rural Saudi Arabia
Nurses in rural Saudi Arabia drive primary healthcare innovation through locally grounded, relationship-centered changes. Using participatory action research with 12 rural nurses, the study identified four themes: frontline leadership, co-creating solutions with communities, adapting to rural constraints, and organizational support. Nurses implemented ten practice innovations targeting care continuity and efficiency. Sustainability succeeded when innovations were simple and embedded into routine workflows. The findings show nurses as key agents for equitable rural healthcare transformation.
-
Evaluating Integrated Care Innovations: NICHE Anchor Institute’s Impact on Overcoming Constraints in Tackling Health Equity in Rural Coastal Communities
The NICHE Anchor Institute in Norfolk and Waveney, England, developed integrated care models to address health disparities in rural coastal communities facing workforce shortages and isolation. Using participatory evaluation methods with over 50 healthcare professionals and community groups, the institute improved service delivery accessibility, strengthened workforce resilience through leadership training, and built community ownership of healthcare solutions. Early evidence shows improved return on investment and workforce retention, offering a scalable model for addressing health inequalities in rural areas.
-
Analysis Of Risk Factors For Adolescent Pregnancy And Innovations In Community-Based Prevention Interventions In Rural Areas
Teenage pregnancy in rural Indonesia and Southeast Asia stems from low reproductive health literacy, poverty, and conservative cultural norms. A systematic review of 12 studies found that community-based prevention interventions involving families, community leaders, and schools prove most effective. Participatory approaches grounded in local values outperform top-down programs. Cross-sectoral collaboration offers the strongest strategy for reducing adolescent pregnancy rates in rural areas.
-
If you build it who will come? Widening access through a place-based Rural Training Stream to address local medical workforce shortages
Deakin University's Rural Training Stream for medical education, expanded in 2024 to an end-to-end program allowing students to remain in rural communities, successfully increased enrollment from rural areas in Western Victoria from 5% to 28% of medical students. The program attracted mature-aged women and health professionals returning to study. This place-based approach addresses rural medical workforce shortages by embedding students in their communities during training.
-
Modeling the Performance of Glass-Cover-Free Parabolic Trough Collector Prototypes for Solar Water Disinfection in Rural Off-Grid Communities
Researchers developed a numerical model to optimize glass-free parabolic trough collectors for solar water disinfection in rural off-grid communities. Testing the design in Colombia's Caribbean region, they found that compact collectors can reach temperatures above 70°C and effectively kill pathogens quickly. The model identifies which design features—rim angle, focal length, optical properties—matter most for performance, providing a practical tool for communities to build and adapt low-cost water treatment systems locally.
-
Techno-Economic Assessment of an Off-Grid Hybrid Renewable Energy System with Green Hydrogen Storage System for a Rural Primary Healthcare Centre in Abuja
This study designs an off-grid hybrid renewable energy system combining wind, solar, and green hydrogen storage to power a rural primary healthcare centre in Abuja, Nigeria, where 40% of centres lack electricity access. The system meets all electrical demands over 25 years with a levelized cost of $2.53 per kilowatt-hour and minimal unmet load, using excess renewable energy to produce hydrogen for backup power during low resource periods.
-
Rural and Non Rural Digital Divide: Impact on Health Communication of Chitradurga District, Karnataka
This study examines how digital access gaps between rural and urban areas affect health communication in Chitradurga District, Karnataka. Using surveys and interviews, researchers found that rural residents have less internet access and are less likely to use online health information. Factors including sex, education, age, income, and internet availability significantly influence whether people seek health information online.
-
IMPACT OF DIGITAL DIVIDE ON HEALTHCARE ACCESS AND HEALTH OUTCOMES IN RURAL POPULATIONS
Rural populations in Pakistan face severe digital health disparities that directly harm health outcomes. The study found that 72.5% had primary education or less, 39.2% owned smartphones, and only 28.3% had home internet access. Participants with higher digital literacy reported significantly better health scores. Digital exclusion, dependency on others for access, and preference for face-to-face care emerged as major barriers. Bridging this divide requires integrated efforts in infrastructure, education, and policy reform.
-
Bridging the Digital Divide: A Mixed-Methods Evaluation of the Efficacy, Accessibility, and Impact of Web-Based Mental Health First Aid Training for Community Health Volunteers (Kader) in Rural Indonesia
A web-based Mental Health First Aid training program significantly improved mental health knowledge and reduced stigmatizing attitudes among 165 community health volunteers (Kader) across rural Indonesian provinces. The platform achieved excellent usability ratings and participants reported feeling digitally empowered with practical skills. The intervention successfully bridges geographical and educational barriers, demonstrating that scalable digital training effectively strengthens community-based mental health services in low-resource settings.
-
Bridging the Digital Divide: Community-Engaged Strategies for Implementing Technology in Rural Adult Day Centers
CareMobi, a mobile health app, was implemented in rural adult day centers to improve communication between staff and family caregivers of people with dementia. Community-engaged strategies—including collaborative design, staff training, and iterative adaptation—successfully addressed digital literacy gaps, infrastructure limits, and trust-building challenges. The app improved information-sharing and early identification of health changes, demonstrating that intentional engagement with frontline staff and caregivers enables sustainable technology adoption in under-resourced rural settings.
-
Bridging the Digital Divide: Developing Tech Support for Rural Veterans to Improve Telehealth Access
Rural older Veterans face barriers to telehealth due to limited digital skills and poor infrastructure. The T-COACH program trains community volunteers to provide in-home technology education, helping Veterans access telehealth appointments. Implementation challenges include recruiting skilled rural volunteers, transportation constraints, and regulatory compliance. Success requires partnerships with local organizations, adequate resources, and sustainable funding to scale this approach.
-
Digital Divides and Productive Development in Rural Women: A Systematic Analysis
A systematic review of 29 scientific documents reveals that digital technologies—particularly smartphones, mobile internet, and e-commerce platforms—significantly empower rural women entrepreneurs when paired with digital literacy training. The analysis identifies three critical barriers and opportunities: digital literacy gaps limiting entrepreneurship and health access, community resource constraints, and mobile technology's transformative impact on economic development. Strategic digital adoption plans strengthen cooperative marketing, collective economies, and overall quality of life for rural women.
-
Effects of Digitalization on Cybersecurity of U.S Hospitals: The Roles of Urban-Rural Divide and Religious-Secular Mission
Hospital digitalization reduces cybersecurity breach risk, but the relationship is complex. Breach likelihood initially rises as hospitals digitalize, peaks at moderate levels, then declines at high digitalization. Urban and secular hospitals show higher peak risks and delayed improvements. Religious hospitals experience lower peak risks, particularly in rural areas. The findings show that governance and security investments must be sequenced strategically alongside digital maturity.
-
Enhancing Health Care Access in Rural and Remote Communities: An Environmental Scan of Virtual Health Innovations in British Columbia
British Columbia has implemented 70 virtual health innovations in rural and remote communities over the past decade, including Real Time Virtual Support pathways for emergency and maternity care. These initiatives operate largely in isolation across regions. The paper argues that stronger partnerships among policymakers, health authorities, researchers, industry, and communities are essential to integrate these efforts and improve healthcare access and equity in underserved areas.
-
Primary Care Rural and Frontier Clinical Trials Innovation Center (PRaCTICe): Co-designing research with communities
PRaCTICe is a research initiative that engages rural primary care clinics and communities in co-designing studies aligned with local health priorities. The program uses regional engagement specialists, community needs assessments, listening sessions, and an advisory board to build lasting research infrastructure across rural networks in the Pacific Northwest. Year 1 results show successful clinic-specialist relationships, identified research needs, and community-prioritized health topics.
-
Participatory health innovation for stunting prevention: A multi-strategy community engagement model in rural Indonesia
In rural East Java, Indonesia, researchers implemented participatory health innovation activities to prevent stunting through community engagement. Three strategies—a herbal garden food competition, a gamified board game for mothers and children, and anemia education for adolescent girls—generated creative local solutions and increased health awareness. Participants demonstrated ownership and sustained engagement, showing that culturally-rooted, community-led approaches outperform top-down nutrition interventions.
-
Innovations in Rural Aging: Community-Based Approaches to Support Older Adults
Rural communities face distinct aging challenges requiring tailored solutions. This symposium presents five community-based interventions across U.S. regions: Indigenous healing methods improved care for Native American elders in South Dakota; culturally appropriate family solutions addressed caregiving gaps for Latinx families in New Mexico; low-tech healthcare tools supported rural Veterans with vision loss in Florida/Georgia; intergenerational programming promoted healthy aging in Oklahoma; and flexible community programs enhanced independence and quality of life for older adults in North Dakota. Community-informed approaches prove effective for rural aging.
-
Investigating high-risk rural regions for potentially preventable hospitalisations: a method for place-based primary healthcare planning
Rural communities face higher rates of preventable hospitalizations due to limited primary healthcare access. This paper develops a six-step method to identify high-risk regions and improve local healthcare pathways. The method examines service gaps, provider experiences, and patient journeys to recommend targeted interventions. Applied to ear, nose, and throat conditions in Australia, it provides a replicable framework for health agencies to plan equitable primary care services.
-
Abstract C098: Analysis of disparities in access to modern cancer therapies based on the place of residence (rural/urban) of participants
A Polish study of 148 cancer patients in clinical trials found that rural residents made up only 28% of participants compared to 72% from urban areas. Rural men over 64 participated significantly less often than their urban counterparts. The researchers attribute this disparity to limited mobility, transportation challenges, and lower awareness of trial opportunities in rural communities. They recommend targeted education, expanded local research infrastructure, and logistical support to ensure equitable access to cancer treatments.
-
Learning in place: the creation of a community-based Rural Training Stream to grow a local health professional workforce in Western Victoria
This paper describes the development of a community-based Rural Training Stream in Western Victoria designed to train health professionals locally. The program aims to grow the regional health workforce by enabling students to learn and work within their own communities, addressing rural healthcare workforce shortages through place-based education and training initiatives.
-
Intentional transit practice through a nearby hospital for remote area emergencies provides earlier primary care than helicopter emergency medical services alone in rural emergencies: a single-center, observational study
In rural Japan, transporting serious patients to a nearby hospital while simultaneously requesting helicopter emergency services reduces the time before patients receive initial medical care compared to waiting for helicopter arrival alone. However, this practice delays final arrival at specialized facilities and increases helicopter waiting times. The approach helps direct patients to appropriate specialized centers based on diagnostic findings at the transit hospital.
-
The Correlation Between Aging Population and Public Transit-Based Medical Accessibility in Rural Areas - Focusing on Rural Townships in Seobuk-gu, Cheonan -
In South Korea's aging rural townships, this study compared medical accessibility by car versus public transit. Cars reached most hospitals within 60 minutes, but public transit served only 1-2 facilities in the optimal timeframe. Strong correlations emerged between elderly population growth and access to multiple hospitals via public transit, though not with travel speed alone. The findings show that offering diverse transit routes to multiple medical facilities matters more than speed for elderly populations in rural areas.
-
Kupuna transit hub – the case for the Waianae transit station: Addressing wellbeing, access, and mobility in rural areas of Oahu
This paper examines a proposed transit hub in Waianae, a rural area of Oahu, Hawaii. The project addresses transportation access and mobility challenges in rural communities while promoting wellbeing for kupuna (Hawaiian elders). The transit station design aims to improve connectivity and quality of life for residents in underserved rural areas.
-
Regional Transit Authority Efforts to Support COA Transportation in Rural Areas in Massachusetts
A regional transit authority in Massachusetts deployed trip-booking software to improve transportation for older adults and people with disabilities across rural and urban areas. Dispatchers and directors valued automated rider information and digital reporting, though some technical issues persisted. Trip data showed modest increases in essential trips, but riders wanted more social and recreational options. Coordination across towns remains difficult due to varying COA operations and policies.
-
Tobacco Use, Experiences and Knowledge Among Indigenous Mexican Agricultural Workers
Indigenous Mexican agricultural workers in the United States show high tobacco use and secondhand smoke exposure, with significant knowledge gaps about tobacco's health risks. Recent immigrants speaking only Indigenous languages need prevention programs most, while longer-term residents with Spanish proficiency need cessation resources. Current tobacco control programs rarely reach this population, creating an urgent need for culturally and linguistically tailored interventions.
Media stories — 8
-
Part 1: Hands-On Telehealth Helps Reach Rural Texas Communities
A retrofitted shipping container in Fort Davis, Texas now houses a telehealth clinic staffed by a local nurse who takes vital signs and guides patients through remote appointments with distant specialists. This hybrid model addresses barriers rural aging populations face—unreliable broadband, digital literacy gaps, and provider shortages—by combining in-person support with virtual care access.
-
Empowering Rural Areas: Microgrid Initiatives in Developing Countries
Microgrids—local electricity networks powered by renewable resources—enable rural communities in developing countries to generate and distribute their own energy independently. Examples from Cambodia, Japan, and Yemen demonstrate how microgrids provide reliable power for healthcare, water treatment, and lighting. Success requires community engagement, maintenance planning, and strategic investment in priority needs like healthcare infrastructure.
-
4 Digital Health Projects Transforming Care Delivery
Four digital health initiatives are expanding rural healthcare access across the United States. Projects include Rush University's direct-to-consumer telehealth membership service, University of Utah Health's TeleNICU connecting rural nurseries with neonatologists, New Mexico libraries installing soundproof telehealth booths funded by USDA grants, and a mobile medical unit with telehealth capabilities serving 40 West Virginia counties.
-
Rethinking Rural and Enterprise Broadband: Why Static Public IP Capabilities Matter for Africa's Wireless Networks
Fixed wireless, satellite, and cellular networks are bridging Africa's uneven fibre coverage gap. A new edge-based architecture from Cambium Networks assigns static public IPv4 addresses over encrypted tunnels to remote sites, enabling enterprise-grade security, VPN access, and direct service hosting for rural businesses and healthcare facilities without carrier-grade network address translation limitations.
-
India's AI Revolution in Rural Development
India is deploying artificial intelligence across rural governance, agriculture, healthcare, and education to improve service delivery and livelihoods. Tools like SabhaSaar for panchayat meetings, eGramSwaraj for local administration, and Kisan e-Mitra for farmers support decentralized decision-making. The IndiaAI Mission and multilingual platforms like BHASHINI address digital access barriers, though challenges remain: infrastructure deficits, algorithmic bias, and job displacement risks.
-
How AI is helping improve heart health in rural Australia
Google is partnering with Australian health organizations to deploy AI technology that identifies hidden heart disease risks in remote communities, where residents are 60% more likely to die from heart disease than urban dwellers. The initiative uses Google's Population Health AI to analyze clinical and geographic data, enabling targeted health screenings and interventions tailored to specific communities rather than one-size-fits-all approaches.
-
Rural Transformation: Global Health Lessons for Rural America
The Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs draws lessons from decades of rural health work in Nigeria, Guatemala, and Guyana to address similar challenges in rural America. Community-centered approaches—listening to local people, building trust with peers, and adapting services to fit daily life—have improved family planning, nutrition, and disease prevention outcomes globally. These proven methods can guide the $50 billion U.S. Rural Health Transformation Program.
-
Rural Impacts
Rural Southeast communities dependent on agriculture, fishing, and forestry face mounting climate risks including rising temperatures, drought, and sea-level rise that threaten crop yields, livestock health, and forest productivity. Heat stress endangers outdoor workers while energy-intensive facilities face resource constraints. Researchers develop climate-adapted crop varieties and livestock management strategies to help rural economies adapt to changing conditions.
Organizations — 3
-
Rural Health Information Hub
US clearinghouse for rural health information, funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy. Hosts toolkits, model programs, funding databases, and research aimed at health practitioners and rural communities.
-
AscendRural
AscendRural brings together local leaders and the innovation community to fund and facilitate technology pilots in rural communities. The organization runs an accelerator program that supports startups developing solutions for rural challenges, with a focus on areas like senior care and healthcare access. It convenes rural changemakers and works to scale innovations that improve rural well-being.
-
RUPRI
RUPRI is a university-based research center that conducts policy research on rural issues, with particular focus on rural health. The organization convenes stakeholders including the National Rural Health Association and other partners to identify rural health needs and develop policy approaches to improve health outcomes in rural communities.
Events — 2
-
NRHA's 49th Annual Rural Health Conference and 11th Rural Hospital Innovation Summit
NRHA's largest annual gathering of rural health professionals convenes in San Diego with over 80 innovative sessions addressing cost-saving solutions and best practices in rural healthcare delivery. The conference includes the 11th Rural Hospital Innovation Summit and associated events focused on raising standards for rural health across the country. Attendees engage with rural health leaders, thought leaders, and exhibitors to strengthen connections and explore solutions for rural healthcare challenges.
-
IU Center for Rural Engagement's Rural Conference
Indiana University's two-day conference brings together community and state leaders, residents, professionals, and university partners to strengthen rural Indiana communities. Breakout sessions address rural mental health, local food systems, substance use disorder interventions, public health planning, arts and economic development, environmental resilience, and placemaking. The event explores how community-engaged learning and collaborative partnerships can build local capacity and foster a more vibrant and resilient rural future.