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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Health insurance

Nevada Rural and Frontier Health Data Book - Twelfth Edition
Provides an overview of the health and healthcare in rural and frontier Nevada. Offers state and county-level data on the resident population, economic and social characteristics, insurance coverage, population health, the healthcare workforce, and the healthcare delivery system.
Author(s): Tabor Griswold, John Packham, Simran Kaur, et al.
Date: 01/2025
Sponsoring organization: University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine Office of Statewide Initiatives
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Enhancing Rural Access to Medications for Opioid Use Disorder: Policy Brief and Recommendations to the Secretary
Provides an overview of issues related to opioid use disorder (OUD) in rural areas. Discusses access to medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD), MOUD workforce, telehealth to support access to MOUD, and Medicaid 1115 demonstrations that address OUD. Offers policy recommendations related to regulatory barriers, reimbursement flexibility, workforce, and service site expansion to increase access to MOUD in rural areas.
Date: 01/2025
Sponsoring organization: National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services
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Opioid Use among Rural Medicare Beneficiaries
Examines trends in prescription opioid use among Medicare beneficiaries in rural areas, utilizing 2010-2017 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) data. Provides data on receipt of opioid prescriptions among community-dwelling and facility-dwelling beneficiaries, associations between prescribing and chronic overlapping pain conditions (COPCs), and prescriptions exceeding CDC guidelines. Includes rural-urban comparisons.
Author(s): Yvonne Jonk, Heidi O'Connor, Karen Pearson, et al.
Date: 01/2025
Sponsoring organization: Maine Rural Health Research Center
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Evaluating Access to Psychosocial Services for the Medicaid-Insured Children in Georgia
Assesses mental health workforce supply and demand for psychosocial services for the Medicaid-insured children in Georgia, and examines the impact of policy interventions to increase availability of services for the Medicaid-insured population. Analyzes factors associated with unmet demand, including data on rurality, travel distance, and more.
Author(s): Yujia Xie, Pravara Harati, Janani Rajbhandari-Thapa, Nicoleta Serban
Citation: BMC Public Health, 25, 244
Date: 01/2025
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Medicaid Coverage in Metro and Small Town/Rural Counties, 2023
Presents county-level data for children, non-elderly adults, and seniors insured by Medicaid/CHIP. Utilizes 2023 American Community Survey (ACS) Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) data to provide insurance comparisons by county and by state.
Date: 01/2025
Sponsoring organization: Georgetown University Health Policy Institute
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Examining Differences in Rural and Urban Medicare FFS Beneficiaries' Emergency Department Use Before and During COVID-19
Results of a study describing changes from 2018-2022 in emergency department use among rural and urban Medicare Fee-for-Service (FFS) beneficiaries. Features statistics including patient demographics, primary diagnoses, and admission sources, with breakdowns by urban and rural areas.
Author(s): Alana Knudson, Craig D. Holden, Marilyn Klug, Tricia Stauffer, Shena Popat
Date: 01/2025
Sponsoring organization: ETSU/NORC Rural Health Research Center
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January 2025 MedPAC Meeting Transcript
Transcript from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission's (MedPAC) January 2025 meeting. Covers payment adequacy and updates for physician and other health professional services, hospital inpatient and outpatient services, skilled nursing facility services, home health agency services, inpatient rehabilitation facility services, outpatient dialysis services, and hospice services. Discusses status reports on Medicare Part D, ambulatory surgical centers, and the Medicare Advantage program, as well as policy options for modifying the cost-sharing liability for beneficiaries who receive care at Critical Access Hospitals. Includes rural references and considerations throughout.
Additional links: Reducing Beneficiary Cost-sharing for Outpatient Services at Critical Access Hospitals
Date: 01/2025
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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Impact of the Medicare Improvements for Patients And Providers Act on Mental Health Service Utilization And Spending among Older Adults
Examines the impact of the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act (MIPPA) on outpatient mental healthcare utilization. Utilizes 2008-2017 Medicare claims and administrative data to analyze MIPPA in a pre-implementation phase as well as 4 post-implementation phases. Includes data on mental healthcare outpatient visits by age group, race, dual eligibility status, substance use disorder, comorbidities, and urban, large rural, small rural, or isolated rural location.
Author(s): Matt Toth, Brent Gibbons, Abbie Levinson, et al.
Date: 01/2025
Sponsoring organization: HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation
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Postpartum Health Care Use in Medicaid During the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency: Implications for Extending Postpartum Coverage
Examines the impact of Medicaid continuous enrollment during the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) on postpartum healthcare utilization. Utilizes 2018-2023 claims data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Transformed Medicaid Statistical Information System (T-MSIS) to analyze a pre-PHE versus PHE cohort of women. Includes healthcare utilization data with breakdowns according to age, race/ethnicity, eligibility group (Medicaid or other form), rural versus urban location, maternity care desert status, severe maternal morbidity and/or chronic health condition, postpartum month, and state.
Author(s): Amelia Whitman, Anupama Warrier, Sarah Gordon, et al.
Date: 01/2025
Sponsoring organization: HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation
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Emergency Triage, Treat, and Transport (ET3) Model: Final Evaluation Report
Presents quantitative and qualitative results from the evaluation of the Emergency Triage, Treat, and Transport (ET3) Model, a voluntary model that allowed ambulance care teams to use alternate models of emergency healthcare to improve quality and lower care costs. Describes the characteristics of ET3 participants, the extent to which ET3 interventions successfully prevented emergency department (ED) visits, and how average Medicare Parts A and B spending for patients that received ET3 interventions compared to patients who had low acuity ED visits. Discusses challenges and barriers to delivering ET3 interventions. Includes rural references throughout.
Additional links: Findings at a Glance, Technical Appendix
Date: 01/2025
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
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