About MRHA
The Missouri Rural Health Association (MRHA) is a non-profit member driven 501(c)(3) organization whose mission is to safeguard and improve the health of rural Missourians. The Association accomplishes this mission by engaging in partnerships and providing leadership on rural issues through advocacy, communication, education and research. MRHA consists of nearly 100 members representing rural constituencies with backgrounds that range from health providers, community health users, local, state and federal agencies, educators, health plans, local organizations, networks and other state wide health organizations.
Services and Benefits
MRHA provides four key services:
1) specialized capabilities (expertise, equipment, and facilities)
2) linkages and social relationships
3) transfer of knowledge
4) management and organization
The primary specialized capabilities are human capital in the form of expertise of the Board, volunteers and contracted management staff. The contracted management staff also brings intellectual capital to the organization, allowing MRHA to deliver value-added services through MRHA and its strategic alliances.
A critical service continues to be MRHA’s capacity to establish, maintain and enhance linkages and social relationships with customers and strategic partners, serving as a broker that brings together rural health expertise, knowledge and information and connects with the customers who have a need for it. MRHA creates value by identifying rural health experts and gathering rural health knowledge and information; identifying rural health consumers’ needs for expertise, knowledge and information; organizing and sharing data; synthesizing data into informational packages that meet consumer needs; and disseminating knowledge and information in user friendly formats. This is met through the following specific services:
- Serving as a clearing house for rural health expertise, knowledge and information.
- Rural health policy issue statements and white papers.
- Leadership in coalition building around rural health issues.
- Exchange for rural health solutions via the promotion of the development of new service delivery models, rural health quality improvement and the dissemination of information regarding best practices.
- Training programs and materials on topics such as community development, community partnership building with business and industry, leadership/team building, and grant writing.
- Tools, such as community needs assessment, resource mapping, consumer surveys, business planning processes and templates, etc.
- An exchange for technical assistance to help members and partners acquire data analysis and interpretation services as well as management assistance.
- Advocacy for rural health.
Population Served
MRHA’s target population is rural Missourians as depicted in our vision statement, “Healthy Rural Missourians in Healthy Rural Communities”.
Credibility
Together, the MRHA’s mission, a diverse and rural cross-section membership and a successful track record in collaborating with other state and health care organizations, combine to provide the experience and expertise in rural healthcare needed to carry out the mission of the organization.
MRHA was established in 1994 and became an affiliate of the National Rural Health Association (NRHA) as a state rural health association in February 1995. Since that time, MRHA has received and managed two contracts from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, Office of Rural Health, for provision of health-related services and receives funding from NRHA annually to provide education, training and networking opportunities for the diverse mix of MRHA members. A significant component of MRHA’s health-related experience is in advocacy. MRHA supports legislation of rural health interests. The Association seeks to establish board membership consensus on issues that affect the quality and quantity of services and activities for the public’s health. To this end, the Association is committed to creating legislation, providing education on legislative issues and to participate in coalitions to advance the interest of the public’s health.
Governance
MRHA governance is both broad (state-wide) and regionally based, and consists of at least two members from each of the following four regions:
Region 1 - Northwest Missouri
Region 2 - Northeast Missouri
Region 3 - Southwest Missouri
Region 4 - Southeast Missouri
MRHA’s Board of Directors is comprised of 20 members. The Board is represented by members in each of the four regions, individual and organizational memberships, diverse health care entities, and has state agency and student representation. The commitment of the Board, management and staff is demonstrated through the progress made toward achieving our goals and objectives as outlined in MRHA’s Strategic Plan and our sustaining membership.
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