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Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Access

Annual Insurance Update 2024: Health Insurance in Kansas
Reports on health insurance coverage across Kansas and nationwide, including 2009-2022 trends in coverage. Presents 2021 county-level data on uninsured rates by age group and urban/rural classification, as well as Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) enrollment by county.
Author(s): Angela S Wu, Kaci Cink, Cynthia Snyder, Wen-Chieh Lin
Date: 04/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Kansas Health Institute
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Implementing Harm Reduction Initiatives in Rural Communities
Webinar recording discusses substance use harm reduction, such as safe syringe services. Features a discussion of Project Hope in Menominee, WI and highlights it's successes and challenges in establishing community buy-in and financial sustainability, among other topics.
Additional links: Webinar Slides
Author(s): Eric Atkinson
Date: 04/2024
Type: Video/Multimedia
Sponsoring organization: Mountain Plains Addiction Technology Transfer Center (Mountain Plains ATTC)
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Arizona Rural Maternity Care
Offers data on rural maternity healthcare access and mortality in Arizona. Highlights rural and urban comparisons of healthcare access and health insurance coverage. Includes recommendations for improving access and mortality rates.
Author(s): Bryna Koch, Daniel Derksen
Date: 04/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Arizona Center for Rural Health
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Rural Mental Health: Challenges & Opportunities
Webinar recording discusses barriers to rural mental health access and offers strategies for overcoming those barriers. Presents Kansas and Missouri as examples. Details unintentional injury fatalities in metro versus nonmetro areas.
Additional links: Webinar Slides
Author(s): Angie Schindler-Berg
Date: 04/2024
Type: Video/Multimedia
Sponsoring organization: Mental Health Technology Transfer Center Network
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Geographic Variation in Trauma Deaths in Rural Illinois: A Hypothesis about Trauma Deserts
Analyzes the relationship between trauma deserts and trauma mortality in Illinois counties. Includes metro versus nonmetro comparisons of mortality rates due to various health conditions, as well as driving distances to the nearest emergency medical services (EMS) by county.
Author(s): Adee Athiyaman
Date: 04/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs
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Reconsidering and Measuring Patient Access in Medicaid
Discusses ways to measure patient access and coverage of those enrolled in Medicaid, focusing on their insurance plan quality, reimbursement rates, and clinician networks. Considers policy impacts on rural areas.
Author(s): Benjamin D. Sommers, Renuka Tipirneni
Citation: JAMA Health Forum, 5(4)
Date: 04/2024
Type: Document
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April 2024 MedPAC Meeting Transcript
Transcript from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission's (MedPAC) April 2024 meeting. Covers telehealth in Medicare, alternative approaches to lowering Medicare payments for select conditions in inpatient rehabilitation facilities, approaches for updating the Medicare physician fee schedule, initial findings from an analysis of Medicare Part B payment rates and 340B ceiling prices, and more. Includes discussion of telehealth in rural areas and data on telehealth use in Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) between 2020 and 2022.
Additional links: Telehealth in Medicare: Status Report - Presentation Slides
Date: 04/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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Coming to Terms with Housing and Homelessness in Rural Places with Elizabeth Carpenter-Song, Ph.D
Podcast episode discussing rural homelessness and housing security. Covers stigma associated with rural homelessness; barriers to accessing resources, healthcare, and programs; life for families in rural homeless shelters; and how rural families endure poverty and rural homelessness, with a focus on rural New England.
Date: 04/2024
Type: Audio
Sponsoring organization: Impact! Communications, Inc.
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Cancer Care Coordination in Rural Hawaii: a Focus Group Study
Presents results from focus group discussions about challenges and facilitators of coordinated care with 8 rural cancer patients receiving active treatment in Hawaii. Identifies themes related to access to care, insurance, travel, electronic patient portal use, and more.
Author(s): Shin Chang, Michelle Liu, Christa Braun-Inglis, Randall Holcombe, Izumi Okado
Citation: BMC Health Services Research, 24, 518
Date: 04/2024
Type: Document
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Transforming Oral Health Care in North Carolina
Makes recommendations for improving oral health access, supporting oral care workforce and providers, and promoting oral health quality and equity in North Carolina. Discusses oral health in rural and underserved areas throughout, including coverage of workforce distribution, dental safety net, and access barriers.
Date: 04/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: North Carolina Institute of Medicine
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