Over 60 million Americans live in rural areas, yet only 12% of physicians practice in these communities. Rural families face significant barriers to healthcare, increasing the risk of chronic disease mortality from conditions like heart disease, cancer, trauma, lung disease, and stroke. Many patients in these areas also contend with comorbid conditions that require regular monitoring by qualified healthcare teams. Still, access to these services can be hindered by transportation challenges, as primary medical centers are often far away.
Unfortunately, traditional brick-and-mortar healthcare provided in rural settings is financially unsustainable. More than 30% of rural hospitals currently risk closing due to financial challenges, contributing to a growing national healthcare crisis.
To address these challenges, Mission Mobile Medical Group has been awarded up to $26 million from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) to develop a next-generation mobile clinic under the Platform Accelerating Rural Access to Distributed & Integrated Medical Care (PARADIGM) program. This innovative project will offer advanced diagnostics and flexible care delivery to underserved rural communities through new modular electric vehicle clinics.
The Mobile Access to Revolutionary Care Connecting US (MARCUS) platform aims to modernize healthcare for millions of underserved Americans. Emily M. D’Agostino, DPH, MS, MEd, MA, an associate professor in Orthopaedic Surgery and the Duke Clinical Research Institute, Director of Community Engaged Research Practice, and the lead of the MARCUS Research Team, is spearheading integration efforts to translate user requirements into actionable design language. The team is conducting an early-stage Human-Centered Design sprint to collect user data, ensuring that the needs of patients, providers, and the community remain central to the design and services. The first modular units are expected to be deployed by mid-2025, with a full national rollout projected for 2027.