Rural Veterans Health Access Program

Improving Health Care Services and Coordination of Care

In 2022, the Kentucky Office of Rural Health (KORH) was awarded a three-year, $899,997 grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Federal Office of Rural Health Policy to improve access to health care services for veterans living in rural Kentucky and to improve the coordination of care for veteran patients.

The funding, provided through the Rural Veterans Health Access Program, will support a range of efforts: conducting a needs assessment focused on the resources, programs, best practices and organizations currently available to assist the Commonwealth’s rural veterans; establishing and regularly calling together a stakeholder advisory group that will be tasked with guiding projects being developed and carried out; and hosting training sessions and Veteran Community Health Days events for veterans, families of veterans, health care organizations and other community members.

KORH will also partner with community stakeholders to support projects at the local level that address veteran access to care.

Much of the office’s work with veterans will be focused in the 27 counties where Kentucky’s 28 critical access hospitals operate: Allen, Breckinridge, Caldwell, Carroll, Casey, Cumberland, Estill, Fleming, Floyd, Grant, Green, Hart, Knox, Leslie, Lincoln, Livingston, Madison, Marshall, Mercer, Morgan, Ohio, Russell, Simpson, Trigg, Union, Wayne, and Woodford.