Growing and Sustaining Rural Programs
Design first, then build and sustain
The RTT Collaborative and its peer consultants represent a wide scope of deep distributed knowledge and expertise in rural health professions education and training, across specialties in medicine and multiple disciplines.
A design consult and paired peer visit, either in person or online, is an important first step on the Roadmap to Rural Residency Program Development. Only after careful attention to building for sustainability can recommendations be made regarding financial estimates, necessary capital improvements, the process of accreditation, faculty recruitment and development, further community engagement, and promotion of the program to prospective trainees. Like building a house, success depends upon good design. The RTT Collaborative team brings deep knowledge on matters of accreditation, finance, governance and community engagement to this task. We conduct consultations in pairs, with expertise tailored to the community’s and program’s needs.
The conversation begins with a non-binding RTTC Consultation Request
Brief videoconference consultations and targeted technical assistance ($450* per hour)
The RTT Collaborative provides brief, targeted assistance in the form of videoconference consultation billed at an hourly rate. Examples include:
- Videoconference with developing program leadership for the purpose of clarifying options for rural residency finance, accreditation, and governance
- Grant application review (Estimate 2-6 hours; turnaround 1-2 weeks)
- Review of application for accreditation (Estimate 2-6 hours; turnaround 1-2 weeks)
- Mock ACGME site visits
- Longitudinal coaching or mentoring an hour a month for a period of months, for the purpose of problem-solving or ongoing leadership and faculty development
Online consultation package ($15,000*)
This initial online consultation for a residency program early in development includes a series of three or four (3-4) 60 to 180-minute video-consults, each with a pre-assignment for both the consulting site and the two RTTC peer consultants, conducted over 1 week to 3 months and followed by a summary report within 30 days of last session. These video-consults will address the following elements:
- Introduction and exploration of community’s purpose in developing a rural residency or rural track in medical or other health professions’ school
- Clarification of the rules of accreditation and finance as applied to rural programs
- Review of community assets and capacity and how that might influence the program design
- Proposal and discussion of core design elements and their implications for accreditation, finance and governance
- High-level financial modeling
- Recommendations for next steps
In-person visit and consultation package (Beginning at $20,000*)
An in-person visit and consultation for either developing or established programs includes a preparatory videoconference, an on-site 1 to 4-day visit to one or multiple sites, and appropriate follow-up video visits and report ($5,000 for preparation, $10,000 per day for the first day and 7,500 each additional day of an on-site visit, and $5,000 for follow-up and summary report within 30 days). As in an online design consultation the two consultants will prepare a final report addressing items 2-6 as noted above.
Negotiated contracts and other services
The RTT Collaborative is happy to customize our services to meet your specific needs, whether in preparation for a grant application or for a particular project that neccessitates a unique deliverable.
*For participating programs who pay an annual fee to be a part of our cooperative, all billable services are offered at a discount.
Hawes EM, Weidner A, Page C, Longenecker R, Pauwels J, Crane S, Chen F, Fraher E. A Roadmap to Rural Residency Program Development, Journal of Graduate Medical Education August 2020;12(4):384-7.