Throughout 2007, over 40 Virginia partners collaborated on developing the Virginia Rural Health Plan. Participants representing government, local, private and statewide agencies and organizations were divided into four workgroups: Workforce, Access, Quality and Data/Rural Definition.
- Access Work Group - examined rural health care access issues related to primary care, specialty care, emergency medical services, and mental and dental health care in order to make recommendations for improving health care access.
- Quality Work Group - examined rural health care quality issues in order to make recommendations for quality improvement efforts and/or activities.
- Data and Rural Definitions Work Group - examined available rural health data and identifies data gaps in order to make recommendations for future data collection efforts and/or activities.
- Workforce Work Group - examined available resources and issues in order to make recommendations for improving the health care workforce in rural Virginia.
The intent of the Plan is to develop a roadmap for rural Virginia that will lead to improvements in health – not solely in the delivery of healthcare services. Objectives included:
- Define and describe rural Virginia;
- Determine the future of rural health (what should “rural” look like in the next three to five years);
- Develop recommendations and possible future programs that could be implemented at the various levels;
On March 31 and April 1, the Virginia Department of Health Office of Minority Health and Public Health Policy and the Virginia Rural Health Association hosted the 2008 Rural Health Summit in Roanoke, VA. At the meeting, rural partners worked to:
- Finalize the first year of the State Rural Health Plan
- Prioritize next steps/recommendations as they exist in the current workgroup areas;
- Determine and prioritize other priority areas for years the next several years (i.e. health information technology, mental/behavioral health, EMS, aging/long-term care, transportation, education, etc.);
- Develop activities/actions for upcoming rural health grants; and
- Determine collaboration on future grants
For additional information about the State Rural Health Plan or the Rural Health Summit, please contact: |
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