Table of Contents:
Region of the Week
Our Mobile Integrated Health programs are being funded by industry giants, so what?
A New Study: How MIH-CP ride-alongs can shape the space
Trivia!
Read Time: 4 minutes
Region of the Week: Oklahoma
OSU is leading the charge on RHTP-backed MIH expansion through a landmark partnership between OSU's Fire Service Training program and Center for Health Sciences, the Community Paramedicine Program is set to reach 30 Oklahoma counties over the next five years, making them one of the most ambitious RHTP implementers in the country.
$10M+ in federal funding secured: more than $10 million has been allocated through the Rural Health Transformation Program to cover training costs, mobile equipment, and paramedic reimbursement for community visits, solving one of the biggest structural barriers that has stalled programs elsewhere.
They're dismantling the training access problem head-on: traditional CP certification required 200 additional hours at hospitals and training centers far from rural communities. OSU's model brings mobile training directly to paramedics in the field, removing both the geographic and financial hurdles at once.
15 years in the making, now finally at scale: OSU-CHS's Denna Wheeler has been championing community paramedicine since before Oklahoma's 2016 enabling legislation. The Delaware County pilot was the proof of concept; this five-year expansion is the payoff.
The whole EMS world is watching: OSU's FST program will manage training cohorts, credentialing, quality assurance, and long-term workforce sustainability, a full-stack approach that peers across the country are tracking closely as a replicable model for closing rural health disparities.
Our Mobile Integrated Health programs are being funded by industry giants, so what?
Sponsored By: Julota
Julota's MIH-CP software empowers community paramedics to deliver smarter, more connected care by simplifying fragmented data and streamlining processes. With real-time patient insights, automated reporting, customizable workflows, secure HIPAA and CFR-42-compliant collaboration, and actionable analytics, Julota enables impactful care and improved outcomes. Designed to bridge healthcare and social determinants of health, it helps your program stay ahead of change.
A New Study
A new study makes the case for embedding MIH in medical education. Researchers from USC School of Medicine Greenville partnered with a Prisma Health MIH program to create a formal ride-along experience for first- and second-year medical students, directly exposing them to the social determinants of health that textbooks alone can't teach.
Students got real hands-on exposure: During their 8-hour shifts alongside community paramedics, students participated in home visits, medication reconciliations, chronic disease education, lab draws, and social resource referrals, a breadth of care that rarely shows up in early clinical training.
The results were striking: Nearly 94% of participants reported that the MIH experience deepened their understanding across all five SDOH categories, including economic stability, neighborhood environment, and healthcare access, with measurable knowledge gains confirmed through pre- and post-shift surveys.
Students essentially demanded it become permanent: All but one of the 33 participants recommended that MIH ride-alongs be formally integrated into the medical school curriculum, a rare near-unanimous signal in academic research.
The broader takeaway for the MIH field: community paramedics aren't just filling gaps in patient care, they're becoming essential educators in understanding how people actually live and why they struggle to access care, positioning MIH programs as a key training ground for more equity-minded physicians.
