2024 3RNET Accomplishments
It’s been a busy year!
Here is a snapshot of some new and noteworthy accomplishments 3RNET has undertaken toward our mission of improving health care in rural and underserved communities through the recruitment and retention of health professionals during 2024:
PRISM
It has been a very busy year for PRISM. In addition to adding two new states, bringing our total to 37, we also completed a major update to the PRISM system and developed a dashboard report that states can use to run on demand for the J-1 Conrad 30 Visa Waiver survey.
The updated PRISM system streamlines back-end functionality and provides new interactive tools to the states (graphs, pie charts). In 2024 we completed our third year of surveying J-1 Conrad 30 Visa Waiver holders and had 32 states participating. The J-1 dashboard report was launched in early August and we are excited to learn how states use the data.
Our partnership with the Behavioral Health Workforce Research Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill continues. A paper titled “Preparing behavioral health clinicians for success and retention in rural safety net practices” was published in The Journal of Rural Health in February. A second paper on the work and job characteristics and anticipated retention among behavioral health clinicians in HPSAs is almost completed and will be submitted for publication soon. We are excited to continue this partnership and contribute to behavioral health workforce data.
Behavioral Health Project
With support from the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP), 3RNET conducted a national review of existing behavioral health workforce models, career pathways, resources and tools that support the field and help lead people into a variety of behavioral health professions. Due to the fractured nature of behavioral health service delivery, this review was done state by state.
We collected tools and resources across the nation that have been designed with behavioral health professionals and employers of all types in mind. These resources are now available on the 3RNET website on each location page, as well as pages for both employers and health professionals which include national resources and can be found here: www.3rnet.org/Behavioral-Health-Resources.
Board of Directors Bylaws Changes
We held a special meeting in April 2024 to vote on proposed bylaws changes. The proposed changes, which were approved with 38 votes to accept, included:
- Changing Board Member terms from 2 years to 3 years.
- Changing officer terms to one (1) year (Secretary, Treasurer, President Elect, and President).
- Implementing the option of a Past President to serve as an ex-officio in the event their board term is over.
- Implementing a Nominating Committee in order to bring forward potential new Board Members to fill vacant positions.
- Changing the voting process for new Board Members from a plurality to a majority.
3RNET Plus Tools
3RNET Plus Tools soft launched in January 2023 and we made our first marketing push in March 2023.
3RNET Plus Tools is a subscription service for employers – separate from the access employers know and trust through their 3RNET Network Coordinators.
3RNET Plus Tools provides digital tools so employers can use technology to implement the best practices of recruiting to rural and underserved areas that 3RNET has been teaching since 1995! Some of the many tools included in 3RNET Plus Tools’ suite are: candidate tracking, website connectivity, featured jobs on 3RNET.org, and more.
We currently have 35 active 3RNET Plus Tools subscribers. We will continue to promote 3RNET Plus Tools and ask for your assistance and support as we market these low-cost tools to safety net employers.
3RNET’s New Senior Research Advisor
In August we welcomed Dr. David Schmitz as a Senior Research Advisor for 3RNET! Dave is the Chair of Family & Community Medicine at the University of North Dakota, and a longtime 3RNET advocate. We are so excited to have his expertise to help guide 3RNET’s research efforts!
AHEC Scholars + HOSA
We are proud of the work we’ve continued this year with expanding 3RNET’s reach into the “pathways” aspect of recruitment to support our future candidate pipeline for rural and underserved communities.
We continue to work with the National AHEC Organization (NAO) and their AHEC Scholars credential for health professionals. You may recall that 3RNET.org has the ability for health professionals to add digital badges to their profiles. This allows job seekers to share with employers the professional development they’ve completed which is geared toward safety net facilities. The two digital badges currently on 3RNET.org are: the Certified Rural Health Clinic Professional credential from NARHC, and the AHEC Scholar credential from NAO.
We also attended HOSA: Future Health Professionals’ International Leadership Conference as an exhibitor for the first time in 2024. Attendees at the conference are primarily high schoolers, but some are as young as middle school aged. It was extremely energizing and uplifting to see the future of health care in person – it (the future) and they (the attendees) are extremely bright.
Search Engine Optimization
We engaged Sarah Arendt-Beyer to assist us with some freelance search engine optimization projects for 3RNET.org. Sarah is a longtime friend of 3RNET (she worked with AVS Group in Wisconsin who used to assist with 3RNET marketing efforts) and has been a steadfast resource for website expertise throughout the years. Sarah helped us implement some practical changes to the website, and we will continue to make her suggested changes during the last quarter of 2024. We hope to continue working with her on similar projects in the future.
Education Projects
We continue to be very busy sharing education and resources around rural and underserved recruitment and retention!
For the second consecutive year, 3RNET has partnered with the Pennsylvania SORH to provide direct recruitment and retention assistance to rural and underserved Pennsylvania healthcare facilities. This year, we are conducting twenty Recruitment for Retention (R4R) Readiness Assessments to Pennsylvania Rural Health Clinics/Critical Access Hospitals. R4R assessments are a practical approach used to assist these Rural Health Clinics and/or small rural hospitals in identifying strengths and challenges related to recruiting workforce.
3RNET was invited to present 13 educational webinars on a variety of recruitment and retention topics for national organizations including the Association for Advancing Physician and Provider Recruitment (AAPPR), Association of Clinicians for the Underserved (ACU), and the New England Rural Health Association (NERHA), in addition to the Georgia Primary Care Association, and the Michigan Center for Rural Health. Education was also delivered during presentations at three state primary care association conferences (Georgia, Michigan, and Pennsylvania), as well as the NERHA annual meeting, AAPPR conference, MINK conference (Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas), HRSA RCORP Reverse Site Visit, and the HOSA Future Health Professionals annual conference. 3RNET staff also provide regular trainings to network coordinators, PRISM users, and safety net employers throughout the year.
Another special workforce project completed this fiscal year included a virtual assessment and customized recruitment and retention plan with an accompanying resource guide for the Tennessee Department of Health.
Additionally, 3RNET staff participated in meetings, exhibited, and provided R4R education to other national organizations including the Center for Optimizing Rural Health (CORH), the National Rural Health Association (NRHA), National Association of Rural Health Clinics (NARHC), the National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health (NOSORH), and the National Association of Rural Mental Health (NARMH).
RRPD + THC Technical Assistance Centers Partnerships
This year we launched a new feature to the website, allowing you to post and promote faculty and teaching career opportunities.
We teamed up with the Rural Residency Planning and Development Technical Assistance Center which supports the development of new residency programs to implement this technology.
These positions are added to 3RNET the same way employment opportunities are, and are searchable to our thousands of registered candidates via our interactive website. Simply select ‘Faculty / Teaching Opportunity’ when adding your opportunity to 3RNET.org.
Monthly Communication for Employers
We continue to grow at 3RNET, and our communication needs have grown, too.
For the first time ever in 2024, we started sending out a monthly email and training for employers who post jobs to 3RNET.org. These emails include information on how employers can join the free training session we host each month. We also include any new website or resources available for safety net employers.
2024 Academy
Our ninth annual Recruiting for Retention Academy has been our biggest yet! 819 attendees from 32 states participated! Many of these participants were sponsored by the 26 3RNET members who paid to support Academy attendance for their employers. Learn more about our Academy here.
2024 Annual Conference
Our 2024 3RNET Annual Conference was held in Bismarck, North Dakota in September. We gathered 60 conference attendees, 20 speakers, and 10 sponsoring organizations.
2025 Annual Conference
We are excited to be headed for Reno, Nevada in 2025! Mark your calendars for August 25 - 27! We have booked a fantastic venue: the Whitney Peak hotel. You can learn more about our 3RNET Annual Conference here.