Current Projects

The UNH Advanced Nursing Education Workforce (ANEW) program funds Primary Care Family Nurse Practitioner (NP) students with trainee-ship awards to students who work and train in rural and under-served settings. ANEW provides NP students with the practice, preceptor, and peer support they need to address current workforce challenges in these unique primary care environments. ANEW also provides support and professional development opportunities for preceptors working alongside ANEW trainee-ship students.

ANEW professional development focuses on the key, high priority health concerns of rural New Hampshire, including behavioral health, substance use disorder, and telehealth providing continuing education for both the preceptor and NP preceptee using an all-teach all-learn continuing education strategy

This grant is supported by the Advanced Nursing Education and Workforce Initiative, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of an award totaling $2.8 million dollars with percentage financed with nongovernmental sources. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government.

Started in 2013, the New Hampshire Pediatric Improvement Partnership (NHPIP) is a program of the NH Citizens Health Initiative, coordinated by the Institute for Health Policy and Practice at UNH, with Medical Director leadership from the Children's Hospital at Dartmouth (see graphic below).  The NHPIP is a state-level multi-disciplinary collaborative of private and public partners dedicated to improving health care quality for all NH children through the use of systems and measurement-based quality improvement processes. We do this through:

• Promoting awareness of and interest in pediatric care quality measurement, projects, and resources.

• Facilitating dialogue to identify and act upon pediatric care quality opportunities in NH.

• Conducting and/or collaborating on pediatric quality improvement projects.

The University of Vermont Center on Rural Addiction (UVM CORA) is supported by the Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and was established in the fall of 2019. Our mission is to expand addiction treatment capacity in rural communities by providing consultation, resources, training, and evidence-based technical assistance to healthcare providers and other staff. At UVM CORA, we want to leverage our expertise in evidence-based practices for treating Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) and other Substance Use Disorders (SUDs) to: 

• Identify real-time needs of rural communities and science-supported methods for effectively addressing current and future addiction needs. 

• Deliver ongoing technical assistance and workforce training to support the effective use of best practices for assessing and treating rural patients. 

• Disseminate education and resources on evidence-based treatment and prevention to rural providers and policymakers. 

Our priority areas cover the HRSA-designated rural counties in VT, NH, ME, and northern NY, but our Center is designed to provide services nationally. 

In collaboration with the NH Maternal Child Health Bureau, the NH Pediatric Improvement Partnership is conducting the NH Mental Health Access In Pediatrics (NH MCAP) Project. Funded by a multi-year Health Resources and Services Administration Cooperative Agreement, the goal of NH MCAP is to promote behavioral health integration in pediatric primary care by:1) training and supporting NH's health care providers to identify and care for children with pediatric mental health conditions; 2) enabling front-line health providers to receive provider teleconsultation services about the identification and treatment of children with a mental health condition; 3) enhancing the delivery of services through the creation of a referral directory of pediatric mental/behavioral health services and supports.

Funded by the NH Children’s Health Foundation,  the NH Trauma-informed Care in Pediatrics Project is a 2.5 year project focused on increasing the capacity of NH pediatric primary care clinicians in screening for and responding to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). ACEs are potentially traumatic events that occur during childhood such as physical emotional abuse, neglect, caregiver mental illness, and household violence. The goals of this NH Pediatric Improvement Partnership (NHPIP) project are to:

1) increase pediatric general practitioner knowledge about trauma-informed care and existing tools to support addressing trauma in primary care settings and

2) support five pediatric primary care clinics in using quality improvement principles to pilot process(es) to detect and respond to patients experiencing toxic stress. This project will conclude in January 2022.

UNH's NH Citizens Health Initiative and the Department of Nursing partnered to develop the Partnership for Academic Clinical Telepractice Medications for Addiction Treatment (PACT-MAT) and launched in 2019. Participants include practice teams (e.g., from hospitals, correctional facilities, rural health centers, and federally qualified health centers, etc.) and student nurse practitioners medications for opiate use disorder (MOUD). The goals of this ECHO are to increase knowledge and confidence in prescribing MOUD, create connection and dialogue with community organizations across the state, raise awareness of harm reduction, stigma, and bias, and to increase access to medications for MOUD.

This was the first ECHO program developed at UNH CHI, and the first in the world to incorporate family nurse practitioner students as well as integrate the ECHO into Nursing curriculum at the UNH Department of Nursing. Funding for this program is provided by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) grant.

The University of New Hampshire Institute for Health Policy and Practice (IHPP) and Medical Care Development (MCD)’s Northeast Telehealth Resource Center Program (NETRC) are collaborating on a new virtual learning community for health care providers in rural and underserved communities in northern New England and northern New York thanks to federal investments of $475,000 annually over five years provided by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), one of only 9 awards across the country. Scheduled to launch on September 30th, 2021, the Collaborative for Advancing Rural Excellence and Equity (CARE²) will respond to the impacts of COVID-19 on our rural communities focusing on residents’ physical and mental well-being. The project will review effects of emerging COVID-19 variants and impacts of isolation and lack of access to treatment for those with substance use disorder and in home and facility-based long-term care. The CARE² team will provide training through Project ECHO® programs, as well as training resources through an open-access, e-learning portal.

The Preceptor ECHO to Enhance Rotations (PEER) project promotes case-based shared learning across clinical preceptor sites throughout New England and beyond, developing a learning community of preceptors and practice sites while sharing and developing competencies for rural and under-served preceptor sites.

PEER faculty and participants work collaboratively to:

• Expand the primary care workforce pipeline for rural and underserved populations  

• Enhance preceptor knowledge and confidence by sharing best practices and case studies combined with shared discussions, recommendations, and resources 

• Provide tools and shared experiences/innovations for practice efficiency while precepting students 

• Boost professional connections and create a supportive community among preceptors in New England and beyond