Skip to main content
Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Access

Innovations in Rural Health System Development: Federally Qualified Health Center Initiatives
Reports on Maine's Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs). Discusses strategies for workforce recruitment and retention, serving high-need patient populations, addressing critical community needs, and providing services that address the social determinants of health. Provides various examples of programs from across the state.
Author(s): Sara Kahn-Troster, Amanda Burgess, Andrew Coburn
Date: 09/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: Catherine Cutler Institute, Maine Health Access Foundation
view details
A Toolkit for Legislative Reform: Improving Criminal Justice Responses to Mental Illness in Rural States
Toolkit details methods to improve access to mental health treatment in rural communities through the criminal justice system. Presents options for state policy reform, using South Dakota's mental illness intervention law as a case study.
Author(s): Barbara A. Pierce
Date: 09/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Crime and Justice Institute
view details
In Focus: Expanding Access to Addiction Treatment Through Primary Care
Discusses the lack of access to treatment for drug addiction and presents models for implementing medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for addiction, including one in a rural community health center. Looks at barriers to expanding MAT in primary care, as well as methods for overcoming those barriers.
Author(s): Martha Hostetter, Sarah Klein
Citation: Transforming Care: Reporting on Health System Improvement
Date: 09/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Commonwealth Fund
view details
Tackling the Opioid Crisis in a Rural Community
Discusses a partnership between a rural hospital physician and the director of a community counseling center to establish a medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid addiction in rural Maine. Presents the program's support structure, as well as the advantages of having an integrated treatment approach.
Date: 09/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: American Hospital Association
view details
Barriers and Facilitators to Implementation of VA Home-based Primary Care on American Indian Reservations: A Qualitative Multi-case Study
Highlights a study on the efficacy of the Veterans Health Affairs (VA) home-based primary care program at providing non-institutional long-term care for rural American Indian veterans living on reservations. Bases findings on a qualitative analysis of interviews conducted with staff, clinicians, and managers who oversaw the program's implementation. Discusses the challenges, barriers, and facilitators related the program's expansion into Indian Country.
Author(s): B. Josea Kramer, Sarah D. Cote, Diane I. Lee, Beth Creekmur, Debra Saliba
Citation: Implementation Science, 12, 109
Date: 09/2017
Type: Document
view details
"Taking the Bull by the Horns": Four Principles to Align Public Health, Primary Care, and Community Efforts to Improve Rural Cancer Control
Commentary on the CDC MMWR report, Invasive Cancer Incidence, 2004-2013, and Deaths, 2006-2015, in Nonmetropolitan and Metropolitan Counties — United States. Discusses factors contributing to rural cancer disparities and identifies opportunities to improve rural cancer control.
Author(s): Stephanie B. Wheeler, Melinda M. Davis
Citation: Journal of Rural Health, 33(4), 345-349
Date: 09/2017
Type: Document
view details
Wisconsin Drive Time to Emergency Care
Shows a map of Wisconsin with drive times to Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs), non-CAHs, and freestanding emergency rooms in 10, 20, and 30-minute increments.
Date: 09/2017
Type: Map/Mapping System
Sponsoring organization: Wisconsin Office of Rural Health
view details
Telehealth and Patient Satisfaction: A Systematic Review and Narrative Analysis
Provides a literature review on articles related to patient satisfaction of telehealth regarding its effectiveness and efficiency. Discusses factors such as cost, health outcomes, quality, ease of use, communication, drive time, access to healthcare, and more, with references to telehealth impacts specific to rural populations.
Author(s): Clemens Scott Kruse, Nicole Krowski, Blanca Rodriguez, et al.
Citation: BMJ Open, 7(8)
Date: 08/2017
Type: Document
view details
Engaging Patients and Families to Create a Feasible Clinical Trial Integrating Palliative and Heart Failure Care: Results of the Enable CHF-PC Pilot Clinical Trial
Presents the results of a study to determine the feasibility and site differences in an early palliative care (EPC) trial, the ENABLE CHF-PC (Educate, Nurture, Advise, Before Life Ends Comprehensive Heartcare for Patients and Caregivers). Participants were from rural and underserved areas with diverse socioeconomic and racial backgrounds. Sixty-one patients with advance heart failure and 48 caregivers participated in the program.
Author(s): Marie Bakitas, J. Nicholas Dionne-Odom, Salpy V. Pamboukian, et al.
Citation: BMC Palliative Care, 16(1), 45
Date: 08/2017
Type: Document
view details
Immigrant Health in Rural Maryland: A Qualitative Study of Major Barriers to Health Care Access
Highlights a study on barriers to healthcare access for rural immigrants in Maryland. Bases findings on interviews with immigrants living on Maryland's rural Eastern Shore. Discusses insurance coverage, language barriers, and citizenship status, among other factors.
Author(s): Thurka Sangaramoorthy, Emilia M. Guevara
Citation: Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, 19, 939-946
Date: 08/2017
Type: Document
view details