The Rural Action Plan provides a description of the current rural health care and human services landscape, particularly the challenges rural individuals and communities face in accessing and financing health care and human services. The characteristics of rural health and human service disparities include poorer health status, with residents of rural areas more likely than their urban counterparts to die from heart disease, cancer, unintentional injury, chronic lower respiratory disease, and stroke, and to have health care and human service workforce shortages, fragile provider networks, and the limited and varied capabilities of public health and human services departments, among others. In acknowledgment of these rural health disparities, the foundation of the Rural Action Plan is based on the following Four-Point Strategy:

1. Build a Sustainable Health and Human Services Model for Rural Communities by
   empowering rural providers to transform service delivery on a broad scale.
2. Leverage Technology and Innovation to deliver quality care and services to rural
   communities more efficiently and cost-effectively.
3. Focus on Preventing Disease and Mortality by developing rural-specific efforts to improve
   health outcomes.
4. Increase Rural Access to Care by eliminating regulatory burdens that limit the availability
   of needed clinical professionals.

Read the action plan >>