Innovation Fellowship
For professionals and community leaders who have a direct role in, or connection to, rural healthcare.
Rhode Island’s rural communities face unique challenges, including limited access to care, workforce shortages, transportation barriers, and persistent health disparities. While Rhode Island is the smallest state, rural health disparities affect thousands of residents. Developed by the Office of Primary Care and Rural Health and approved by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy to guide administration of the State Offices of Rural Health Program, RI identifies 18 Rhode Island towns as having rural health challenges, including: limited access to providers, transportation barriers, higher rates of chronic disease, reduced access to behavioral health and specialty care
What is it?
How does it work?
Who should apply?
Formally titled Rhode Island Rural Health Innovation Fellowship, The Fellowship is a new professional development initiative designed to equip healthcare professionals, administrators, educators and community leaders with the skills and tools needed to lead meaningful innovation in Rhode Island’s rural healthcare communities.
While rural healthcare systems face complex challenges — from workforce shortages and access barriers to changing models of care and increasing technology demands — solving those challenges requires more than new technologies or programs. It requires local leaders who understand how to identify problems, evaluate solutions and successfully implement change.
The Rural Health Innovation Fellowship is designed to build that capacity. The Fellowship is intentionally designed to create rural healthcare champions who can carry innovation beyond the program itself.
The Rural Health Innovation Fellowship will provide participants with a cohort-based learning experience combining workshops, peer learning, applied projects and expert mentorship.
Participants will develop practical skills in:
Healthcare innovation
Process improvement
Digital health implementation
Artificial intelligence
Telehealth deployment
Population health management
Change leadership
Rather than focusing exclusively on classroom learning, the Fellowship will connect participants' learning to real-world rural healthcare challenges, giving them an opportunity to apply new tools and approaches within their organizations and communities.
Through applied projects and mentorship, participants will work on healthcare innovation challenges relevant to their organizations and communities. The goal is to strengthen local leadership capacity while creating a network of professionals equipped to advance innovation across Rhode Island's rural healthcare system.
What is the Innovation Fellowship?
The Fellowship will be delivered through a combination of in-person and hybrid programming at partner healthcare facilities, educational institutions, community venues and NEMIC-hosted locations throughout Rhode Island.
Two Fellowship cohorts are planned, with approximately 10 healthcare professionals, community leaders and healthcare administrators participating across the program.
The Fellowship will also connect participants to a broader network of rural healthcare providers, employers, educators, workforce organizations, innovators and community stakeholders participating in RI RHIP-TIDE.
The initiative's broader recruitment network includes rural healthcare providers, higher education institutions, healthcare and life sciences organizations, workforce partners and community organizations across Rhode Island.
How does the Innovation Fellowship work?
The Fellowship is designed for professionals and community leaders who have a direct role in, or connection to, rural healthcare.
Potential participants include:
Healthcare administrators and leaders
Nurses and clinical managers
Public health professionals
Community health leaders
Healthcare workers
Educators and other professionals working to improve rural healthcare
Participants will be selected through an application and screening process designed to assess their interest, organizational alignment, commitment to completing the program, ability to implement their learning within their organization, and potential to contribute to improved rural healthcare outcomes.
Who should apply to the Innovation Fellowship?
Healthcare professionals, administrators, clinical leaders, public health professionals and community leaders interested in strengthening their ability to lead innovation in rural healthcare are encouraged to apply.
[PROGRAM URL]
Questions about the Challenge may be directed to:
Lara Zimmerman
New England Medical Innovation Center
Application Information
This program is part of Rhode Island’s Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP) supported by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), to improve the health and healthcare services of rural Rhode Islanders. RHTP programs increase access to care, build the health workforce of the future, and modernize health infrastructure technology. For more information on RHTP, visit https://eohhs.ri.gov/initiatives/rural-health-transformation-program.
All you need to know
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Healthcare administrators and leaders
Nurses and clinical managers
Public health professionals
Community health leaders
Healthcare workers
Educators and other professionals working to improve rural healthcare
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TBD
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TBD
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Healthcare professionals, administrators, clinical leaders, public health professionals and community leaders interested in strengthening their ability to lead innovation in rural healthcare are encouraged to apply.
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Solutions are not required to originate in RI, provided that they can be implemented in RI and impact the RI community directly.
This project is supported by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award totaling $156,169,931.19 with 100 percent funded by CMS/HHS. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by CMS/HHS, or the US Government.