State Office of Rural Health

The State Offices of Rural Health (SORH) grant is authorized by Section 338J of the Public Health Service Acts (42 U.S.C. 254r) and was designed as a federal- state partnership that requires a state funding match. SORH provides funding to a single grantee in each of the 50 states. Kentucky’s State Office of Rural Health program, the Kentucky Office of Rural Health (KORH) is organizationally assigned to the University of Kentucky and is a functioning unit of the University of Kentucky Center of Excellence in Rural Health (UKCERH). The UKCERH and KORH are located in Hazard, a rural community located in the Appalachian mountains region of southeastern Kentucky. The mission of the Kentucky Office of Rural Health (KORH) is to support the health and well- being of Kentuckians by promoting access to rural health services. The KORH assists clinicians, administrators and consumers find ways to improve communications, finances and access to quality health care while insuring that funding agencies and policy makers are made aware of the needs of rural communities. The KORH is committed to working with partners who share the same activities and values. The office collaborates with public and private entities statewide, and at the regional and national levels, to help increase rural access to healthcare. The core functions of the KORH are: 1) Collection and dissemination of information 2) Coordination of rural health care activities in state in order to avoid duplication 3) Provision of technical assistance The KORH provides administrative oversight and programmatic responsibility for several statewide programs with a rural focus. The Kentucky Rural Hospital Flexibility Program, Kentucky State Loan Repayment Program and Small Hospital Improvement Program continue to operate under the auspice of the KORH. Kentucky is a state that historically has a significantly higher than average proportion of the population subject to chronic illness and death especially in rural areas. Utilizing the methodology recently updated by HRSA’s Federal Office of Rural Health Policy, 102 of Kentucky’s 120 counties are considered non-metro (micropolitan and non-core based counties) or contain eligible census tracts within metropolitan counties. In addition, of the estimated 4,467,673 Kentucky residents, 1,826,673 live in rural areas (USDA-ERS).