Transforming rural health: strategies for effective mobile health clinic deployment - rural communities in southwest oklahoma face persistent healthcare access challenges due to geographic…

The National Institute for Minority Health and Health Disparities awarded Sam Houston State University $218,160 under the Minority Health and Health Disparities Research program (CFDA 93.307) on September 1, 2026.

The award funds research to optimize mobile health clinic utilization and resource allocation in rural southwest Oklahoma. The project pursues two primary aims: identifying barriers to mobile health clinic uptake among rural residents, healthcare providers, and clinic staff through surveys and interviews, then developing tailored communication strategies and service enhancements to increase community awareness and engagement; and creating a dynamic decision-support tool that integrates geographic information science modeling and real-time community health data to enable data-driven deployment decisions and efficient resource allocation by health administrators. The research combines community-engaged methods with geospatial analytics to improve rural healthcare access beyond traditional health professional shortage area designations.

Performance occurs in Huntsville, Texas, with work concluding by February 29, 2028. The project is structured as a Project Grant under NIH assistance mechanisms.

Transforming rural health: strategies for effective mobile health clinic deployment - rural communities in southwest oklahoma face persistent healthcare access challenges due to geographic isolation, provider shortages, and limited awareness of available services. The pandemic highlighted these challenges, leading the oklahoma state department of health (osdh) to introduce mobile health clinics (mhcs) to expand access to essential testing and vaccination services. Today, mhcs in oklahoma provide a range of essential healthcare services, including chronic disease management, maternal health, immunizations, and preventive screenings. However, utilization remains low due to limited public awareness, trust issues, and inefficient deployment strategies. This project aims to optimize MHC utilization and resource allocation in rural oklahoma by integrating community-driven insights with geographic information science (GIS)-based decision-support tools. This study has two primary aims. Aim 1 seeks to identify challenges to MHC utilization and develop strategies to improve community awareness and engagement. Through surveys and interviews with rural residents, healthcare providers, and MHC staff, we will examine challenges such as trust, accessibility challenges, and gaps in service awareness. Findings will inform the development of tailored communication strategies and service enhancements to increase MHC uptake. Aim 2 focuses on developing a dynamic decision-support tool to optimize MHC deployment. Using GIS modeling and real-time community health data, we will create an interactive tool that enables data-driven decision-making, allowing health administrators to identify high-need areas and efficiently allocate MHC resources. This research is innovative because IT combines community-engaged research with advanced geospatial analytics to enhance rural healthcare access. Unlike traditional models that rely on broad health professional shortage area (hpsa) designations, our approach incorporates fine-scale accessibility measures, population health data, and stakeholder input to ensure mhcs reach the communities that need them most. By integrating MHC patient record data, survey findings, and CDC community-level health indicators, this project will create a scalable framework for improving mobile health service delivery in rural areas. Expected outcomes include improved community engagement with mhcs, increased access to essential healthcare services, and a GIS-based decision-support tool to enhance deployment strategies. This project aligns with the national institute on minority health and health disparities (nimhd) mission by improving healthcare access in rural communities with limited healthcare resources. Findings will lay the groundwork for a future NIH R01 proposal, expanding the research to additional rural regions and refining MHC deployment strategies nationwide.