Rural Community Programs

The Black Lung Center of Excellence helps strengthen the quality of services provided by Black Lung Clinics Program awardees, including their ability to collect and analyze clinical and programmatic data. Contact: Allison Hutchings, 301-945-9819

Provides support to health facilities to reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with occupation-related coal mine dust lung disease through the provision of medical, outreach, educational and benefits counseling services to coal miners. Contact: Allison Hutchings, 301-945-9819

Provides support to rural communities in the Delta States (Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee) to implement preventive or clinical health services for chronic diseases. Contact: Alexa Ofori, 301-945-3986

Provides support for outreach services to individuals exposed to nuclear fallout or nuclear materials resulting from U.S. nuclear weapons testing. Outreach services include the development of education programs, dissemination of information on radiogenic diseases and the importance of early detection, screening of eligible individuals for cancer and other radiogenic diseases, referrals for medical treatment, and the facilitation of documentation for Radiation Exposure Compensation Act claims. Contact: Megan Lincoln, 301-443-2702

Provides support to community consortiums in rural communities to prepare individuals with opioid-use disorder to start treatment, implement care coordination practices to organize patient care activities, and support individuals in recovery by establishing new or enhancing existing behavioral counseling, peer support, and alternative pain management activities. Contact: Michael Blodgett, 301-443-0144

Provides support to rural communities to offer education and enrollment services for individuals and families eligible for qualified health insurance plans and public health insurance such as Medicare, Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. 
Contact: Cassie Phillips, 301-945-3940. 

Provides support to mature networks of rural health care providers to implement evidence-based care coordination models and strategies to address the prevalence and management of chronic diseases, including diabetes, congestive heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Contact: Salamatu Barrie, 301-443-0456

Provides support to promote rural health care services outreach projects utilizing evidence-based or promising practice models in order to address community-specific health concerns. Contact: Meriam Mikre, 301-945-3110

Provides support to rural communities for the implementation of activities needed to plan and develop formal and integrated health care networks such as, but not limited to, business plan development, community needs assessment, network organizational assessment, SWOT analysis and health information technology readiness assessment. Contact: Sara Afayee, 301-945-4169

Provides support to mature networks of rural health care providers and community health partners to integrate administrative, clinical, technological and financial functions to improve access and quality of health care in rural areas. Contact: Jayne Berube, 301-443-4281

Provides support for the recruitment, clinical training and retention of allied health professionals in rural areas. Contact: Marcia Colburn, 301-443-3261

Provides support to mature networks of rural health care providers engaged in quality improvement initiatives to improve patient care and chronic disease outcomes using evidence-based quality improvement models, tests of change focused on improvement and the use of health information technology to collect and report data. Contact: Katy Lloyd, 301-443-2933