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Lessons Learned from the Maine Rural Community Health Improvement Partnership Background: From 2022-2023, the Maine Department of Health and Human Services developed the Rural Community Health Improvement Partnership (R-CHIP) demonstration aimed at addressing health related social needs (HRSNs) such as housing, transportation, and social connectiveness that can impede equitable access to health care and contribute to poor health outcomes. R-CHIP funding enabled public health, health care, and social service sectors in three rural communities to develop a partnership with a shared purpose, governance, data sharing, financing structure and plan to address complex HRSNs and mitigate disparities. Purpose: This poster highlights the lessons learned from the September 2023-September 2024 evaluation of the three demonstration sites’ Phase I planning process. Methods: Using a mixed method design, we evaluated the three R-CHIP demonstration sites’ progress towards achieving Phase I goals to develop: 1) a formalized community partnership, 2) a detailed plan describing the targeted populations and HRSNs, 3) an outline of the strategies to address the HRSNs, and 4) a sustainability plan for Phase II Implementation. Results: The three rural communities developed partnerships consisting of organizations from the public health, health care, and social service sectors. To varying degrees, they established a shared vision, governance structure, coalesced their partners around priority HRSNs and strategies to address them, and created a sustainability plan. Lessons learned involved partnership development and management strategies, community engagement, data sharing systems, and accountability measures. Conclusion: The R-CHIP project demonstrates how Maine rural communities can develop partnerships to address HRSNs.

Publication Date

10-28-2024

Lessons Learned from the Maine Rural Community Health Improvement Partnership Demonstration

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