Conducting Research That Matters to Rural Practice and Communities

Even though 20% of Americans live in rural communities, few research studies intentionally include or engage rural communities. The National Institutes of Health recently launched the CARE for Health™ Initiative that is initially focusing on engaging rural communities and primary care practices in research. In this commentary, we describe activities designed to improve rural clinical and community engagement in research led by two practice-based research networks (the Oregon Rural Practice Research Network and the WWAMI [Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho] region Practice and Research Network) funded through this initiative.