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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Health occupations

Foreign Physicians: Data on Use of J-1 Visa Waivers Needed to Better Address Physician Shortages
Examines the number of J-1 visa waivers requested by states and federal agencies; waiver physicians' practice specialties, settings, and locations; and the extent to which waiver physicians are accounted for in the Department of Health and Human Services efforts to address physician shortages.
Additional links: Full Report
Date: 11/2006
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Government Accountability Office
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Medicare Physician Payment: Impacts of Changes on Rural Physicians
Presents an overview of the effects of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act (MMA) of 2003 on physician payment rates in rural areas.
Author(s): Keith J. Mueller, A. Clinton MacKinney, Timothy D. McBride
Date: 09/2006
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
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A Primer on the Occupational Mix Adjustment to the Medicare Hospital Wage Index
Focuses on the occupational mix adjustment (OMA) to the labor-related share in the hospital inpatient prospective payment system. Explains what the OMA is, why it is needed, and how it has been calculated. Discusses reasons the effect of the OMA has been less than some rural advocates anticipated.
Author(s): Kristin Reiter, Rebecca Slifkin, Mark Holmes
Date: 09/2006
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: North Carolina Rural Health Research Program
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Medicare Physician Payments: Trends in Service Utilization, Spending, and Fees Prompt Consideration of Alternative Payment Approaches
Statement discussing the sustainable growth rate (SGR) system, which Medicare uses to determine annual changes to physician fees. Includes some rural-specific information.
Additional links: Full Report
Author(s): A. Bruce Steinwald
Date: 07/2006
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Government Accountability Office
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Information Gaps on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Population: A Background Paper
Presents the relevant issues regarding the mental health information needs of deaf and hard of hearing populations, particularly in rural America.
Date: 05/2006
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education
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Foreign Physicians: Preliminary Findings on the Use of J-1 Visa Waivers to Practice in Underserved Areas
Reports preliminary findings regarding the number of J-1 visa waivers requested by states and federal agencies and states' views on the 30-waiver limit and on their willingness to have unused waiver allotments redistributed.
Additional links: Full Report
Date: 05/2006
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Government Accountability Office
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Training Community Health Workers: Using Technology and Distance Education
Highlights programs and issues related to the use of technology and distance education to train community health workers (CHWs) in frontier areas. Includes examples of successful programs.
Date: 04/2006
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Federal Office of Rural Health Policy
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Emergency Medical Services in Frontier Areas: Volunteer Community Organizations
Provides information on paid and volunteer emergency medical services (EMS) workers in frontier and rural areas. Discusses challenges facing volunteer EMS systems and provides examples of different types of programs from several states.
Date: 04/2006
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Center for Frontier Communities
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Rural Dental Practice: A Tale of Four States
Reports the findings of a study investigating rural dentist issues, such as: demography, training, practice characteristics, staff, and job satisfaction in Alabama, California, Maine, and Missouri.
Additional links: Project Summary
Author(s): C. Holly A. Andrilla, Denise M. Lishner, L. Gary Hart
Date: 03/2006
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
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How Adults' Access to Outpatient Physician Services Relates to the Local Supply of Primary Care Physicians in the Rural Southeast
Examined how access to outpatient medical care varies with local primary care physician densities across primary care service areas in the rural Southeast, for adults, the elderly, and the poor.
Author(s): Donald E. Pathman, Thomas C. Ricketts III, Thomas R. Konrad
Citation: Health Services Research, 41(1), 79-102
Date: 02/2006
Type: Document
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