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Leadership and Board MembersParticipating Programs
The purpose of this organization is to sustain health professions education in rural places through mutual encouragement, peer learning, practice improvement, and the delivery of technical expertise, all in support of a quality rural workforce. The RTT Collaborative (“the Collaborative,” or RTTC) is a board directed cooperative of participating programs and individuals committed to this mission. The Collaborative emerged as a sustainable non-profit from the RTT Technical Assistance Program, a Federal Office of Rural Health funded program from 2010-2016.
The organization’s name, registered in the State of Ohio, is “The RTT Collaborative”. ‘RTT’ historically referred to a family medicine program in the “1-2 format,” spread over urban and rural locations (1 year urban, 2 years rural). ‘RTT,’ which used to be an acronym for “rural training track,” has now been replaced by ‘rural track program’ (RTP) in accreditation and federal regulations around funding for graduate medical education. Because of its broad use among students, rural medical educators, policy folks, and others, The RTT Collaborative has retained ‘RTT’ as a moniker (as opposed to an acronym) for rural pathways in any discipline or specialty, and a tribute to the ‘RTT’ programs who launched the organization a decade ago.
Collaboration
The RTTC functions as a cooperative, with participating programs paying annual fees. These funds, fees from direct services, and charitable contributions support an administrative infrastructure, including communications, peer support and annual meeting planning.
An annual meeting provides a collaborative forum for problem solving and innovation for the education of medical professionals in rural places. This in-person meeting, generally hosted by a participating program, increases communication while also creating an important platform for networking.
Technical Expertise
An executive director and a panel of peer consultants provide technical assistance to established and developing rural medical school and residency programs in multiple specialties and in various configurations. For more information regarding these consultative services, click here.
Student Engagement
The RTTC promotes student awareness and interest in rural training programs and assists participating programs with recruitment strategies. For more information, visit the “Student” section of our website.
Research
The Collaborative maintains a database of rural programs in both undergraduate and graduate medical education, including demographics and outcomes. In addition, RTTC serves as the nucleus of a community of practice in rural health professions education research.