Technology-Enabled Learning Collaborative Program - Medical Care Development, Inc., (MCD) a non-profit public health institute and Dartmouth Health (Dartmouth), an academic medical center with affiliated clinical sites propose to establish a Northern New England – Technology-enabled Collaborative Learning Program (NNE-TCLP) to serve Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. MCD, the lead applicant, and sub-recipient Dartmouth have well over 100 years of combined experience working with rural health care providers to provide training and technical assistance (TTA), capacity building assistance (CBA), and access to clinical specialists and subject matter experts (SME). HRSA-24-121 provides an opportunity for two organizations with a long history of collaboration to formally work together to address emerging “second level” needs among rural providers in a manner that will help reduce provider isolation and can contribute to reducing turnover in the workforce. Through an array of other grants and initiatives both MCD and Dartmouth have been using technology-enabled approaches to address many of the primary contributors to inequity in access to care for residents of rural northern New England and to reduce isolation among rural providers. We may not be able to fix transportation problems, for example, but we can use technology to virtually transport people and providers to one another to enable better access and connect providers to one another to reduce isolation and increase the use of best practices while supporting the ability of clinicians to provide high quality care in their rural communities. If funded the project would employ 2.28 full-time positions and stipends for many faculty and subject matter experts; enable provision of three Project ECHO® programs of 8-10 sessions each during each project year; enable provision of two Recovery Jobs for Beginners each year; and assure adequate data collection and analysis to inform content decisions and document lessons learned and project impact through presentations and publications. Approximately 250 people from 15 or more organizations would directly benefit each year by participating in the technology-enabled collaborative learning programs. Outreach would emphasize recruiting participation among providers from Federally Qualified Health Centers and look-alikes, community mental health centers, critical access hospitals, rural health clinics associated with Dartmouth Health, and providers of care to students in grades K-12. The secondary impact could reach as many as one-third of all residents in rural counties in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont over the five-year period of award.
