Mobilizing Rural Maryland Communities to Engage in Improving the Health Care System

Rural areas in Maryland experience poorer health outcomes and more limited access to health care providers and facilities. To raise awareness of rural health disparities and set action steps to address them, the Maryland State Office of Rural Health (SORH) developed and published a Rural Health Plan including strategies and implementation direction for improving rural health in Maryland.

In order to ensure wide community involvement, the published Plan was presented at six listening sessions in rural areas throughout the state to identify needed revisions and better understand the most pressing local needs and priorities. Each listening session was successful in attracting 20-40 community members, for a total of over 140 rural stakeholders statewide, including users and deliverers of health care. As a result, rural community members became aware of statewide rural issues, while having the opportunity to voice their unique concerns and have them incorporated into policy action at the state level.

Participants in the listening sessions completed post-session evaluations which indicated overall satisfaction with engagement in the issues. As a result of the sessions' findings, the SORH and partners have implemented several identified priorities, including new staff to coordinate workforce issues statewide, better utilization of existing recruitment tools, and increased technical assistance provided to rural communities. More importantly, the listening sessions brought together interested rural health stakeholders which resulted in local communities mobilizing to join into new partnerships and build coalitions. These coalitions meet regularly to plan how to increase access in their community.