Rural Behavioral Health Programs

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP) coordinates activities related to rural health care within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ORHP has department-wide responsibility for analyzing the possible effects of policy decisions on 62 million residents of rural communities. ORHP was created by Section 711 of the Social Security Act to advise the Secretary of Health and Human Services on health issues within rural communities, including the effects of Medicare and Medicaid on rural citizens' access to care, the viability of rural hospitals, and the availability of physicians and other health professionals. ORHP administers grant programs designed to build health care capacity at both the local and State levels. This book allows rural behavioral health programs to learn from information gathered in a 2008 study examining the barriers to evaluating programs in rural and frontier behavioral health. The book identifies innovative rural programs (i.e., sets of practices, activities, and strategies), and uses the results to suggest basic tools for rural organizations to embark upon the steps necessary to move a program that is perceived to be effective into a promising practice.