RAWLINS (AP) - Carbon County has been chosen for a pilot program aimed at increasing health care services in rural areas of Wyoming.

While the rural health care pilot project is still in its infancy, the program's goal is to prioritize health care needs in rural areas of Carbon County and design ways to improve them. The project also includes Wamsutter, which is in Sweetwater County.

Rep. Jeb Steward, R-Encampment, was responsible for organizing a 12-member team that requested the pilot project be held in Carbon County.

Steward said some of the loftiest needs he sees in rural Carbon County areas are coordinated EMS services, recruitment and retention of health care professionals, and 24-hour health services.

"The evolution of this project came when the (Wyoming) Healthcare Commission requested a study to look at health care delivery for the state of Wyoming," Steward said. "They took a closer look at Carbon County and came and interviewed people."

The rural health care pilot project is led by the University of Nebraska's Rural Policy Research Institute.

Outside of Rawlins, health care can be spotty. Hanna's health clinic, for example, is run through Rawlins-based Memorial Hospital of Carbon County, has one full-time physician's assistant and has a physician visit once a week. Saratoga has a private physician.

The Little Snake River Valley is served by a rural health care district, which uses doctors from Craig, Colo. Medicine Bow also has a rural health care district.

"I think we chose Carbon County because they asked," said Beth Worthen, assistant director of the Wyoming Healthcare Commission. "But Carbon County is a very natural fit. It has issues similar to other counties."

For example, Worthen said Carbon County's municipalities are spread far apart, and the county has been touched by energy expansion in the past few years.

Steward said recommendations from the pilot project should be available in March, and the state representative hopes money can be allocated to implement the recommendations following the 2009 legislative session.