Skip to main content
Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Access

Opioid Use Disorder: Barriers to Medicaid Beneficiaries' Access to Treatment Medications
Examines Medicaid beneficiaries' access to medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid use disorder. Identifies state and federal policies that can impose barriers to MAT medications. Highlights how 3 states and the District of Columbia are addressing these barriers. Discusses challenges to medication deliveries to rural and small practices and access to addiction medicine providers in rural areas.
Additional links: Full Report
Date: 01/2020
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Government Accountability Office
view details
Challenges in Providing Substance Use Disorder Treatment to Child Welfare Clients in Rural Communities
Provides an overview of the unique challenges rural communities face serving parents with substance abuse issues, including provider shortages, limited access to health insurance, transportation and technological barriers, and lack of routine cross-systems collaboration with the child welfare system. Offers strategies to overcome these challenges in rural communities.
Author(s): Elizabeth Clary, Christina Ribar, Elizabeth Weigensberg
Date: 01/2020
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Mathematica
view details
Recognizing and Sustaining the Value of Community Health Workers and Promotores
Discusses the ways in which community health workers and promotores (CHW/Ps) contribute to the healthcare system, with a focus on California. Gives examples of the ways in which CHW/Ps in rural areas can alleviate workforce shortages, strengthen patient engagement with the healthcare system, and act as liaisons to social structures, including churches and Native American tribal organizations.
Author(s): Jim Lloyd, Kathy Moses, Rachel Davis
Date: 01/2020
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Center for Health Care Strategies
view details
Views of Rural US Adults About Health and Economic Concerns
Results of phone surveys of 1705 rural adults, conducted in 2018 and 2019. Explores their views on the most important problems facing their communities, including healthcare access and costs, suicide, and opioid or other drug abuse.
Author(s): Mary G. Findling, Robert J. Blendon, John M. Benson, Justin M. Sayde, Carolyn E. Miller
Citation: JAMA Network Open, 3(1)
Date: 01/2020
Type: Document
view details
Assessment of Rural-Urban Differences in Postacute Care Utilization and Outcomes Among Older US Adults
Results of a study of 2,044,231 Medicare beneficiaries who were hospitalized in 2011-2015 for pneumonia, stroke, heart failure, hip fracture, or COPD. Examines the frequency, type, and duration of postacute care, as well as readmission and mortality rates in people discharged to a community or to postacute care. Features statistics with breakdowns by urban area, rural community adjacent to urban area, or rural community nonadjacent to urban area.
Author(s): Cyrus M. Kosar, Lacey Loomer, Nasim B. Ferdows, et al.
Citation: JAMA Network Open, 3(1)
Date: 01/2020
Type: Document
view details
Public Transportation: Enhanced Federal Information Sharing on Coordination Could Improve Rural Transit Services
Report details the Federal Transit Administration's (FTA) efforts in improving rural public transit coordination and identifies areas for improvement. Highlights some of the challenges affecting the FTA's ability to effectively coordinate transportation for rural and tribal areas.
Additional links: Full Report
Date: 01/2020
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Government Accountability Office
view details
Geographic Access to Child Care in Wisconsin
Provides information on childcare access and availability in Wisconsin. Includes information on the importance of child care, methodology of the mapping tool, the childcare access map, and reflections on the research, with considerations related to equity.
Date: 2020
Type: Website
Sponsoring organization: Applied Population Laboratory
view details
White Paper on Telehealth in the Rural American West
Describes issues of healthcare access for rural communities in the American West and ways that telehealth can address disparities in access and health conditions for rural and underserved populations. Offers an overview of telehealth technology, policy, barriers to implementation, and recommendations.
Author(s): Bruce E. Cain
Date: 2020
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Stanford Bill Lane Center for the American West
view details
Primary Care Needs Assessment of Arkansas
Offers an overview of health needs in Arkansas, including a state profile that covers rurality, race/ethnicity, poverty, food insecurity, and other population characteristics, and the state's health system and access to care. Presents results of a community needs assessment addressing workforce development, social determinants of health, and mental and behavioral health services.
Author(s): Quinyatta P. Mumford, Wayne Miller, Ellie Wheeler, Payton Christenberry, Robin Howell
Date: 2020
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: Arkansas Department of Health, Arkansas Office of Rural Health & Primary Care
view details
Striving for Birth Equity: Family Medicine's Role in Overcoming Disparities in Maternal Morbidity and Mortality
Policy position paper examining disparities in maternal morbidity and mortality, and offering recommendations for ways in which family physicians, educators, and policy makers can facilitate and advocate for change. Mentions rural throughout.
Date: 2020
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: American Academy of Family Physicians
view details