Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Access
Examining Rural Hospital Bypass for Inpatient Services
Explores the drivers of rural hospital bypass for inpatient services. Examines demographic characteristics, why patients bypassed their nearest rural hospital, how the local supply of healthcare services affects rural hospital bypass, and if health insurance networks or cost affect the decision to bypass rural hospitals.
Date: 12/2020
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
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Explores the drivers of rural hospital bypass for inpatient services. Examines demographic characteristics, why patients bypassed their nearest rural hospital, how the local supply of healthcare services affects rural hospital bypass, and if health insurance networks or cost affect the decision to bypass rural hospitals.
Date: 12/2020
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
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Modernizing Demand-Responsive Transportation for the Age of New Mobility
Provides an overview of demand-responsive transportation (DRT) and its role in supporting people with disabilities, older adults, people with lower incomes, and rural residents. Explores how a new data specification, the transactional data specification (TDS), can be used to modernize DRT services. Presents case studies of systems adopting TDS, including ITNAmerica, a national transportation network serving older adults in rural communities, and a pilot program in rural Oregon. Offers recommendations to policymakers and stakeholders to promote wide-scale adoption of TDS by DRT providers.
Author(s): Jana Lynott
Date: 12/2020
Sponsoring organization: AARP Public Policy Institute
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Provides an overview of demand-responsive transportation (DRT) and its role in supporting people with disabilities, older adults, people with lower incomes, and rural residents. Explores how a new data specification, the transactional data specification (TDS), can be used to modernize DRT services. Presents case studies of systems adopting TDS, including ITNAmerica, a national transportation network serving older adults in rural communities, and a pilot program in rural Oregon. Offers recommendations to policymakers and stakeholders to promote wide-scale adoption of TDS by DRT providers.
Author(s): Jana Lynott
Date: 12/2020
Sponsoring organization: AARP Public Policy Institute
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How Might Internet Connectivity Affect Health Care Access?
Describes how a lack of internet access may negatively impact access to healthcare. Features data and statistics on internet access, with information broken down by race/ethnicity, age, poverty level, insurance status and type, and metropolitan/nonmetropolitan location. Discusses COVID-19 and how social distancing measures have led to increased implementation of telehealth, resulting in additional challenges accessing healthcare among people with little to no internet connectivity.
Author(s): Krutika Amin, Matthew Rae, Giorlando Ramirez, Cynthia Cox
Date: 12/2020
Sponsoring organization: KFF
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Describes how a lack of internet access may negatively impact access to healthcare. Features data and statistics on internet access, with information broken down by race/ethnicity, age, poverty level, insurance status and type, and metropolitan/nonmetropolitan location. Discusses COVID-19 and how social distancing measures have led to increased implementation of telehealth, resulting in additional challenges accessing healthcare among people with little to no internet connectivity.
Author(s): Krutika Amin, Matthew Rae, Giorlando Ramirez, Cynthia Cox
Date: 12/2020
Sponsoring organization: KFF
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Substance Use Disorder: Reliable Data Needed for Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant Program
Reviews what is known about the number of substance use disorder (SUD) treatment facilities and services, overall treatment capacity, and barriers to expanding capacity. Describes the Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant (SABG), State Targeted Response to the Opioid Crisis (STR) and State Opioid Response (SOR) programs, and examines how seven states utilized these programs. Evaluates the data used to assess the effectiveness of these programs, and offers recommendations to improve the reliability of data collected on individuals served by the SABG program.
Additional links: Full Report
Date: 12/2020
Sponsoring organization: Government Accountability Office
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Reviews what is known about the number of substance use disorder (SUD) treatment facilities and services, overall treatment capacity, and barriers to expanding capacity. Describes the Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant (SABG), State Targeted Response to the Opioid Crisis (STR) and State Opioid Response (SOR) programs, and examines how seven states utilized these programs. Evaluates the data used to assess the effectiveness of these programs, and offers recommendations to improve the reliability of data collected on individuals served by the SABG program.
Additional links: Full Report
Date: 12/2020
Sponsoring organization: Government Accountability Office
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Federal Funding for Rural Health: Supporting Planning and Development Around a Regional Transportation Need
Features Rides to Health and Wealth, a regional transportation program in eastern Missouri helping improve rural healthcare access and other health-related transportation needs. Includes discussion of how the program planning and development continued during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Author(s): Kay Miller Temple
Citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 12/2020
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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Features Rides to Health and Wealth, a regional transportation program in eastern Missouri helping improve rural healthcare access and other health-related transportation needs. Includes discussion of how the program planning and development continued during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Author(s): Kay Miller Temple
Citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 12/2020
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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The Surgeon General's Call to Action to Improve Maternal Health
Describes the state of maternal health in the United States, including data and statistics on mortality and morbidity. Discusses risks to maternal health, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, infectious diseases, mental health conditions, intimate partner violence, and more. Recommends strategies and actions that individuals, organizations, and communities can implement to improve maternal health and reduce maternal morbidity and mortality. Includes rural references throughout.
Date: 12/2020
Sponsoring organization: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
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Describes the state of maternal health in the United States, including data and statistics on mortality and morbidity. Discusses risks to maternal health, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, infectious diseases, mental health conditions, intimate partner violence, and more. Recommends strategies and actions that individuals, organizations, and communities can implement to improve maternal health and reduce maternal morbidity and mortality. Includes rural references throughout.
Date: 12/2020
Sponsoring organization: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
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Healthy Women, Healthy Pregnancies, Healthy Futures: Action Plan to Improve Maternal Health in America
Action plan outlining steps the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is taking to reduce maternal mortality and address disparities that endanger women before, during, and following pregnancy. Four main goals include: improving prevention and treatment services to promote positive health outcomes for every woman of reproductive age; prioritizing quality improvement efforts to support healthy pregnancies and births; improving postpartum health; and enhancing data and research to inform future interventions. Includes data and statistics on maternal health and morbidity, and addresses rural considerations throughout.
Author(s): Dawn Alley, Andre Chappel, Nancy De Lew, et al.
Date: 12/2020
Sponsoring organization: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
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Action plan outlining steps the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is taking to reduce maternal mortality and address disparities that endanger women before, during, and following pregnancy. Four main goals include: improving prevention and treatment services to promote positive health outcomes for every woman of reproductive age; prioritizing quality improvement efforts to support healthy pregnancies and births; improving postpartum health; and enhancing data and research to inform future interventions. Includes data and statistics on maternal health and morbidity, and addresses rural considerations throughout.
Author(s): Dawn Alley, Andre Chappel, Nancy De Lew, et al.
Date: 12/2020
Sponsoring organization: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
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Input from Multiple Stakeholder Levels Prioritizes Targets for Improving Implementation of an Exercise Intervention for Rural Women Cancer Survivors
Presents findings from group technique meetings with interventionists, community/organizational stakeholders, and cancer survivors to identify facilitators for participation and implementation of a multicomponent exercise intervention for women in rural settings. Highlights factors relevant to program strategy and planning, including differences in perspective and priorities among stakeholders, interventionists, and participants.
Author(s): Haiyan Qu, Richard Shewchuk, Xuejun Hu, et al.
Citation: Implementation Science Communications 2020, 1, 97
Date: 11/2020
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Presents findings from group technique meetings with interventionists, community/organizational stakeholders, and cancer survivors to identify facilitators for participation and implementation of a multicomponent exercise intervention for women in rural settings. Highlights factors relevant to program strategy and planning, including differences in perspective and priorities among stakeholders, interventionists, and participants.
Author(s): Haiyan Qu, Richard Shewchuk, Xuejun Hu, et al.
Citation: Implementation Science Communications 2020, 1, 97
Date: 11/2020
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Buprenorphine Dispensing in an Epicenter of the U.S. Opioid Epidemic: A Case Study of the Rural Risk Environment in Appalachian Kentucky
Explores buprenorphine dispensing practices among pharmacists in rural, Appalachian Kentucky, highlighting issues related to buprenorphine dispensing hesitancy. Identifies themes from interviews with 14 pharmacists operating in 12 rural, Appalachian Kentucky counties and discusses dispensing risk environment. Reviews factors influencing hesitancy, including national and state-level drug policy, stigma, and continuing impacts of the opioid epidemic.
Author(s): Hannah LF Cooper, David H. Cloud, Patricia R. Freeman, et al.
Citation: International Journal of Drug Policy, 85, 102701
Date: 11/2020
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Explores buprenorphine dispensing practices among pharmacists in rural, Appalachian Kentucky, highlighting issues related to buprenorphine dispensing hesitancy. Identifies themes from interviews with 14 pharmacists operating in 12 rural, Appalachian Kentucky counties and discusses dispensing risk environment. Reviews factors influencing hesitancy, including national and state-level drug policy, stigma, and continuing impacts of the opioid epidemic.
Author(s): Hannah LF Cooper, David H. Cloud, Patricia R. Freeman, et al.
Citation: International Journal of Drug Policy, 85, 102701
Date: 11/2020
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Rural Disparities in Surgical Care from Gynecologic Oncologists Among Midwestern Ovarian Cancer Patients
Compares the surgeries of 1,003 rural and urban women between 18 and 89 with ovarian cancer between 2010 and 2012 in Kansas, Missouri, and Iowa with particular focus on access to gynecologic oncologist specialists. Discusses referral practices, distances to specialists, and outcomes of surgeries with specialists compared to non-specialists.
Author(s): Kristin Weeks, Charles F. Lynch, Michele West, et al.
Citation: Gynecologic Oncology, 160(2), 477-484
Date: 11/2020
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Compares the surgeries of 1,003 rural and urban women between 18 and 89 with ovarian cancer between 2010 and 2012 in Kansas, Missouri, and Iowa with particular focus on access to gynecologic oncologist specialists. Discusses referral practices, distances to specialists, and outcomes of surgeries with specialists compared to non-specialists.
Author(s): Kristin Weeks, Charles F. Lynch, Michele West, et al.
Citation: Gynecologic Oncology, 160(2), 477-484
Date: 11/2020
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