Rural Health Grant Funds Statewide Map of Care Gaps

The University of Arkansas received $777,351 from Arkansas’ Rural Health Transformation Program to expand the Arkansas Health Survey, a detailed portrait of physical and behavioral health across the state, into THRIVE RADAR, a statewide platform that shows where rural health needs are greatest and what services and resources are available.

“We have spent the last several years building a much clearer picture of health and health needs across Arkansas,” said Michael Niño, associate professor of sociology and criminology and a co-leader of the project. “THRIVE RADAR is the next step. We will connect those needs with the providers, services and infrastructure people rely on so communities can see where resources exist, where gaps remain and where investment is needed most.” 

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders in August announced the grant, which is part of the Telehealth, Health-Monitoring and Response Innovation for Vital Expansion (THRIVE) initiative funded by the federal One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

“Arkansas’ rural communities are home to families who work hard, care for their neighbors and deserve access to quality health care close to home,” said Gov. Sanders.

College of Education and Health Professions researchers Michelle Gray, a professor of exercise science who studies aging, and Divya Bhagianadh, an assistant professor of public health, also received a separate grant of $176,847 to support THRIVE RADAR by measuring and improving access to telehealth in rural Arkansas. Their work will focus on Dallas County with a goal of developing approaches that can be used across the state. 

THRIVE RADAR, led by a multidisciplinary team of researchers in the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, builds on the Arkansas Health Survey , which, in its first year, surveyed nearly 10,000 adults across all of the state’s 75 counties. Those data are publicly available through AR-COMPASS, an interactive dashboard that provides health and community estimates across Arkansas’ 75 counties and 823 census tracts. 

The new funding from the Rural Health Transformation Program will support the second year of the Arkansas Health Survey, while expanding AR-COMPASS. THRIVE RADAR will also allow users to examine whether the providers, services, workforce and infrastructure needed to respond to health needs are available. 

The platform will integrate information on health and behavioral health providers, specialty care, telehealth, referral pathways, workforce capacity, broadband access, transportation resources and other community services. Whenever possible, providers and resources will be mapped alongside Arkansas Health Survey data, allowing users to see where health needs and access barriers overlap with available services. 

Niño, who founded and runs the Arkansas Health Equity and Access Lab, will co-lead the project with Johanna Thomas, professor and director of the School of Social Work. Ana Bridges, Distinguished Professor in the Department of Psychological Science, will guide the project’s behavioral health work, helping the team identify and interpret behavioral health needs, treatment resources and barriers to accessing care. Together, the team has expertise in population health, social work, behavioral health, health disparities and community-based research.

Connecting Health Needs With Rural Resources

According to the 2020 U.S. Census, about 45% of Arkansas residents live in rural areas, where provider shortages, long travel distances, limited transportation and uneven broadband access can make health care difficult to obtain. Information about available services is often spread across multiple agencies, directories and organizations, making it difficult for residents and rural-serving organizations to know what resources are available and how to access them.

“For many rural Arkansans, the challenge is not simply knowing that help exists — it is figuring out where to go, who can provide the service they need and how to get connected,” Thomas said. “THRIVE RADAR is designed to make that process easier by giving residents and the organizations that serve them a more practical way to navigate care and community resources.” 

The platform is being developed for rural residents, health care and behavioral health providers, hospitals, schools, public health agencies, nonprofit organizations, community groups and policymakers. To increase usage, the project will also include statewide outreach and at least eight training sessions to help rural-serving organizations locate resources, identify service gaps and use the platform for referral planning, program development, grant applications and other local decisions. 

By bringing together annual AHS data with continuously updated information on services and infrastructure, THRIVE RADAR will help move the U of A’s statewide health data work from documenting where needs exist to providing communities with actionable information about the resources available to address them.

About the University of Arkansas: As Arkansas' flagship institution, the U of A provides an internationally competitive education in more than 200 academic programs. Founded in 1871, the U of A contributes more than $3 billion to Arkansas’ economy  through the teaching of new knowledge and skills, entrepreneurship and job development, discovery through research and creative activity while also providing training for professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the U of A among the few U.S. colleges and universities with the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the U of A among the top public universities in the nation. See how the U of A works to build a better world at Arkansas Research and Economic Development News.