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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Access

MedPAC Report to the Congress: Physician Supervision Requirements in Critical Access Hospitals and Small Rural Hospitals
Provides background information on Medicare physician supervision requirements, and examines how enforcement of these requirements impacts access to care, quality of care, and staffing needs in Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) and small rural hospitals. Findings are based on interviews with CMS officials, hospital association representatives, and CAH administrators in several states.
Date: 12/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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Rural Long-Term Services and Supports: A Primer
Discusses the basics of rural long-term services and supports (LTSS) for older adults including system fundamentals, access, and opportunities and limitations of current policy. Includes models for rural LTSS and suggests priority areas for a high-performing rural health delivery system.
Author(s): Andrew F. Coburn, Jennifer P. Lundblad, Erin M. Mobley
Date: 11/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Rural Policy Research Institute Rural Health Panel
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Philanthropy as the South's Passing Gear: Fulfilling the Promise
Report providing an overview of Southern economic development and population health since the 1960s, describing the state of philanthropy in the South, profiling philanthropic foundations and programs, and presenting reflections by experienced grantmakers. Covers racial and ethnic equity, health access and outcomes, and the needs of rural communities throughout.
Date: 11/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: MDC, Southeastern Council of Foundations (SECF)
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Pain in the Nation: The Drug, Alcohol and Suicide Crises and the Need for a National Resilience Strategy
Examines current trends, causes, costs, and potential solutions to the drug, alcohol, and suicide crises in the U.S. Includes rural data and discussion of rural-specific issues.
Author(s): Laura M. Segal, Anne De Biasi, Jennifer L. Mueller, Kendra May, Molly Warren
Date: 11/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Trust for America's Health
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Emerging Strategies to Ensure Access to Health Care Services: Emergency Medical Center
Provides an overview of the emergency medical center (EMC) model, which would allow struggling hospitals to convert to EMC status and provide emergency and outpatient services, without having to provide inpatient acute care services. Also outlines rural-specific federal policy proposals that seek to create similar hospital designations, with the goal of improving access to and the delivery of care in underserved communities.
Date: 11/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: American Hospital Association
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Emerging Strategies to Ensure Access to Health Care Services: Frontier Health System
Discusses the challenges of providing care in frontier communities and offers solutions for improving access to and delivery of care. Proposes the creation of a frontier-specific accountable care organization (ACO), the Frontier Health System (FHS), that provides traditional ACO services along with transportation, swing beds, home-based care, expanded visiting nurse services, and more.
Date: 11/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: American Hospital Association
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Digging In: Supporting a Healthy, Sustainable Food Future in Santee Sioux Nation
Presents a report on a food sovereignty program as a solution to limited food access of the Santee Sioux Nation in Nebraska. Discusses the barriers to healthy food access on the reservation and proposed solutions to increasing access.
Author(s): Becky Keim
Date: 11/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Center for Rural Affairs
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Kalispell Regional Healthcare: Managing the Needs of Medically and Socially Complex Patients or Superutilizers
Details how Kalispell Regional Healthcare teamed with Mountain-Pacific Quality Health to introduce a modified transitional care model, which is designed to reduce service utilization and improve the health of high-cost, high-need patients. Initiative is part of a special innovations project through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and uses multidisciplinary "ReSource" teams to coordinate care and services across rural and underserved areas of Montana.
Date: 11/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: American Hospital Association Rural Health Services
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Ensuring Access with a Hospital's Conversion to a Freestanding Emergency Department
Outlines Ellijay, Georgia-based North Georgia Medical Center's transition from a traditional community hospital to a freestanding emergency department (ED). Shares administrative, legal, and logistical challenges that, once overcome, resulted in Piedmont Mountainside Hospital Emergency Services - a successful, community-focused, freestanding ED.
Date: 11/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: American Hospital Association Rural Health Services
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Social Determinants of Health Series: Transportation and the Role of Hospitals
Presents a report on the role of hospitals in providing health-based transportation services. Features case studies of 4 different hospital programs' approach to addressing their patients' lack of access to reliable transit.
Date: 11/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: American Hospital Association
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