Related Guides on this Topic
You may also want to see these guides on related topics:
Leadership, Community Development, and Economic Development.
Introduction
Efforts to improve and sustain the quality of life in rural communities must include collaboration and networking among a broad spectrum of leaders in health and human services, government, education, business, the faith community, and economic development. Both formal and informal leaders need to be identified early in the effort to build a collaborative or network to ensure success. Members of the collaborative and/or network may be similar in scope and function or extremely diverse. Program development needs to focus on creating win-win partnerships that avoid duplication of efforts while creating opportunities for resource sharing and synergy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Regulations, Forms & Other Useful Documents
Area Health Education Center and Community Health Center Collaboration: Effective Partnerships for the Recruitment of Health Professionals
Sponsoring organization: National Rural Health Association
Describes ways that Area Health Education Centers (AHECs) and Community Health Centers (CHCs) can work together to recruit and retain health professionals. Includes examples of AHEC-CHC partnerships in several states.
Date: 2006
Collaboration Is Key For Rural Challenges
Author(s): Jocelyn Richgels, Kristine Sande
Sponsoring organization: American Public Human Services Association
Discusses how collaborative efforts can help mitigate the significant challenges rural communities face when providing health and human services with fewer and different kinds of resources than their urban counterparts.
Journal citation: Policy & Practice
Date: 10 / 2009
Collaborations to Enhance Community and Population Well-Being
Sponsoring organization: National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services
Chapter from the 2005 Report to the Secretary: Rural Health and Human Services Issues. Discusses ways the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services can support collaborations among community organizations and local rural leaders to improve the well-being of rural communities and residents. Includes examples of successful rural collaborations.
Date: 04 / 2005
Collaborative Workspace and Services
Author(s): Tuan Ngo
Sponsoring organization: Housing Assistance Council
Collaborative workspaces can help nonprofits overcome unavoidable operating expenses, and foster community synergy.
Journal citation: Volume 14 Issue 3
Date: 2009
Creating EHR Networks in the Safety Net
Sponsoring organization: California HealthCare Foundation
Discusses how a network approach to implementing EHR systems can ensure clinics and health centers to remain in the forefront of delivering quality care to the safety net.
Date: 03 / 2008
Developing Rural Ethics Networks
Author(s): Lisa Anderson-Shaw, Jacqueline J. Glover
Sponsoring organization: Board of Trustees of Dartmouth College
This sixteenth chapter of "Handbook for Rural Health Care Ethics", describes ethics network models currently available, including academic, government, independently-based networks, and informal networks, then details how to begin a rural ethics network.
Date: 2009
Grantee Sustainability in the Rural Health Outreach Grant Program
Author(s): Walter Gregg, Astrid Knott, Ira Moscovice
Sponsoring organization: University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center
Describes a study of the post-grant experiences of 99 Rural Health Outreach Grant recipients. Focuses on the extent to which programs were able to maintain or expand services after their grants ended and characteristics that helped programs succeed in the post-grant period.
Date: 12 / 2003
History of the Rural Health Care Services Outreach Grant Program
Sponsoring organization: Office of Rural Health Policy
Describes the history of the Outreach Grant Program, which has had a significant impact on the health and welfare of many rural communities.
Date: 2004
In Focus: Improving the Quality of Rural Health Care Through Collaboration
Author(s): Sarah Klein
Sponsoring organization: Commonwealth Fund
Identifies how academic medical centers are using collaborative care models and distance learning programs to broaden the scope and improve the quality of health care services in rural communities. Many of these programs seek to expand the knowledge of local providers and enhance the linkages between urban and rural medical centers, in hopes of reducing disparities in care between the rural and urban populations they serve.
Date: 11 / 2009
Interagency Collaboration in Rural Areas
Sponsoring organization: National Child Welfare Resource Center for Organizational Improvement
Explores two approaches to interagency collaboration in rural areas, and the potential of these collaborations to improve the child welfare services available to children and families.
Journal citation: Child Welfare Matters Volume IV Issue 2
Date: 2003
Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility/Critical Access Hospital Program in Pennsylvania: Success in Implementation and Collaboration
Sponsoring organization: Pennsylvania Office of Rural Health
Highlights of the PA CAH program.
Journal citation: Pennsylvania Rural Health Magazine Volume 12 Issue 2 Pages: 5
Date: 06 / 2003
Nonprofit Sustainability: Doing More With Less
Author(s): Stephanie L. Geller, Lester M. Salamon, Sharon Wise, Kim Schaffer, Marlene Anglin, Tanisha Smith, Robin Kees, Tuan Ngo, Kim C. Datwyler, Dana Pancrazi
Sponsoring organization: Housing Assistance Council
This issue of Rural Voices focuses on nonprofit sustainability. Illustrates what organizations can do and are doing to survive the economic recession to include developing partnerships and encouraging volunteerism that can help sustain housing and other human services programs.
Journal citation: Rural Voices Volume 14 Issue 3
Date: 10 / 2009
Opportunities for Collaboration Across Human Services Programs
Sponsoring organization: Finance Project
Overview of some of the major human service programs administered at the state and local level. Discusses the interdependence of those programs, their common goals, and the way in which those programs might work together. Contributors include American Public Human Services Association, Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation, National Association for State Community Services Programs, National Association of State Alcohol/Drug Abuse Directors, National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services, National Association of State Directors of Special Education, National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors, National Association of State Workforce Agencies, National Association of Workforce Boards, National Child Support Enforcement Association, and the Finance Project.
Date: 06 / 2003
Quality Through Collaboration: The Future of Rural Health Care (Executive Summary)
Sponsoring organization: Institute of Medicine
Summary of an Institute of Medicine (IOM) report that examines the quality of health care in rural America. Includes key findings on rural health care quality and patient safety, as well as recommendations.
Date: 11 / 2004
Quality Through Collaboration: The Future of Rural Health Care (Full Report)
Sponsoring organization: Institute of Medicine
Examines the quality of health care in rural America. Includes recommendations to improve health care quality and safety in rural communities. Addresses workforce, information technology, finance and other factors that impact rural health care quality.
Date: 11 / 2004
Staying Connected: Building Entrepreneur Networks
Author(s): Candace Nelson
Sponsoring organization: Aspen Institute
Discusses how networking, associations, and
peer and affinity groups can support business growth and provides guidance on how to assess
the costs and benefits of these strategies.
This is Volume six of the FIELD Best Practice Guide series.
Date: 03 / 2004
Strength of Internet Ties
Author(s): Jeffrey Boase, John B. Horrigan, Barry Wellman, Lee Rainie
Sponsoring organization: Pew Internet and American Life Project
Highlights how the Internet, particularly email, supplements the communication people have with others in their network who are geographically dispersed. Extended networks appear to be beneficial in helping people face problems or make significant decisions, such as those related to career changes and education.
Date: 01 / 2006
Using Rural Health Networks to Address Local Needs: Five Case Studies
Author(s): Ira Moscovice, Walter Elias
Sponsoring organization: AcademyHealth
Describes five successful rural health networks. Includes information about network sizes and compositions, service area characteristics, and relevant activities. Appendix includes a list of all Networking for Rural Health targeted consultation grantees.
Date: 07 / 2003
Working Together: Rural Nebraskans' Views of Regional Collaboration
Author(s): John C. Allen, Rebecca Vogt, Randolph L. Cantrell
Sponsoring organization: Center for Applied Rural Innovation
Discusses rural Nebraskans' perceptions of regional collaboration, including sharing services with other communities and collaboration of businesses and institutions across communities.
Date: 09 / 2003
Organizations
Georgia Health Policy Center
State/regional organization
Works to improve the health status of all Georgians through research, policy development, and program design and evaluation.
National Cooperative of Health Networks Association (NCHN)
National organization
A national nonprofit organization of health networks, allicances, collaboratives, and constorium. Supports and strengthens these organizations through collaboration, networking, leadership development and education. NCHN's membership currently includes approximately 60 networks (mostly rural) representing over 600 hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, community-based health programs, and Health Information Technology (HIT) organizations.
National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health (NOSORH)
National organization
Works to foster and promote legislation, information exchange, education, and liaison activities with all State Offices of Rural Health, the federal Office of Rural Health Policy, the National Rural Health Association, and other organizations.
National Rural Health Association (NRHA)
National organization
Promotes leadership, ideas, information, communication, education, research, advocacy, and methods to improve rural health. Composed of individual and organizational members who share a common interest in rural health.
NIFA Regional Rural Development Centers (RRDC)
Federal government
A component of USDA that promotes economic and community development by working to strengthen the capacity of local citizens to guide the future of their rural communities.
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Federal government
Promotes better health care service in rural America. Part of the Health Resources and Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Focuses on matters affecting rural hospitals and health care, coordinating activities within the department that relate to rural health care, and maintaining a national information clearinghouse.
Partners for Rural America (PRA)
Support the efforts of member State Rural Development Councils (SRDC’s), which are uniquely positioned: to expand economic and social opportunities for America’s rural communities and their residents; to promote equal treatment of rural America by government agencies and the private sector; to provide a collective voice for rural America.
USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA)
Federal government
Advances knowledge for agriculture, the environment, human health and well-being, and communities through national program leadership and federal assistance.
Terms & Acronyms
Collaboration The process by which people or organizations work together to accomplish a common mission.
Community A specific group of people, often living in a defined geographical area, who share a common culture, values, and norms and who are arranged in a social structure according to relationships the community has developed over a period of time.
Contractual Relating to or part of a binding legal agreement; "contractual obligations."
Gentleman's Agreement An agreement based on honor rather than on a formal contract and thus not legally binding.
Horizontal Network A network composed of similar types of entities, such as an all-hospital or all-nursing home network, that serve different geographic markets.
Integration Two or more organizations arrange to have a least one service from each contribute to the same program.
Legal Established by or founded upon law or official or accepted rules.
Networking The exchange of information or services among individuals, groups, or institutions.
Regionalization The identification of available resources within a geographic area, and the coordination of services to meet the needs of a specific group of patients.
Rural Health Network A formal organizational
arrangement among rural health
care providers (and possibly others) that
uses the resources of more than one existing
organization and specifies the objectives
and methods by which various collaborative
functions are achieved.
Vertical Network A network formed with organizations from different classes or with different purposes such as a network made up of a hospital, public health unit, nursing home, and ambulance system.
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