The need for tailored rural health interventions is a well-established priority to address the significant gap in health outcomes experienced by the one third of older Australians who live in rural and regional areas. While many evidence-based interventions exist, they are typically developed with metropolitan contexts in mind. Assumptions about the availability of a skilled workforce, proximity to services, and adequate social infrastructure impact the effective translation of programs into rural settings, limiting their long-term viability and sustainability. We have addressed this challenge by integrating academic expertise, the practical experiences of our rural service partners and well-established principles of implementation science to examine the factors influencing rural program implementation. We have identified enablers that support the implementation, effectiveness and sustainability of health programs with older adults in rural Australia. This ThinkTank will provide a forum for participants to critically examine whether the enablers align with lived and professional experience, identify gaps or contextual nuances, and explore how these enablers can be translated into actionable strategies. Through facilitated roundtable discussions and activities, participants will: • Assess the relevance and completeness of the rural implementation enablers across diverse rural contexts. • Identify additional factors shaping implementation that are not currently captured. • Explore practical strategies for operationalising each enabler in real-world settings. • Share insights from real-world implementation experience. The outcomes of this ThinkTank are to: • Refine the rural implementation enablers. • Develop a preliminary set of implementation strategies aligned to each enabler. • Inform the ongoing development of the Rural-IST Implementation Support Toolkit. By directly testing evidence-derived enablers against real-world experience, this session aims to bridge the gap between research and practice. The ultimate goal is to produce a more robust, context-sensitive rural implementation framework that reflects the complexities of rural service delivery and supports sustainable, locally responsive implementation of programs for older adults. Proposed Activity Timeline (90 minutes) • Introduction (5 mins): Overview of session aims and format. • Overview of implementation enablers (10 mins): Summary of the evidence base and identified enablers. • Facilitated roundtable discussions (30 mins): Small-group exploration of enablers (relevance, gaps, feasibility, examples). • Whole group synthesis (20 mins): Sharing insights and identifying common themes and contested areas. • Implementation strategy development (20 mins): Identify practical approaches to operationalise enablers. • Session close and next steps (5 mins): Outline next steps and opportunities for ongoing collaboration.