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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Health occupations

Challenges and Strategies to Improve Access to Oral Health Care in Rural America
Provides an overview of barriers to oral health in rural areas, and discusses strategies to increase access to oral healthcare and improve rural public health outcomes. Covers topics including dental insurance, service delivery models, oral health workforce, the role of oral health professionals in addressing opioid and tobacco use, and water fluoridation.
Author(s): Liang Hong, Shillpa Naavaal, Sohini Dhar, Siddardha Chandrupatla
Date: 2025
Sponsoring organization: American Association of Public Health Dentistry (AAPHD)
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Georgia Counties without Primary Care/Core Practitioners Based on 2023-2024 Licensure Renewals and New Licensees
County-level Georgia maps showing counties without any physicians, and without physicians specializing in family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, OB/GYN, general surgery, psychiatry, and emergency medicine. Features statistics on numbers of these physicians with breakdowns by county.
Date: 2025
Sponsoring organization: Georgia Board of Health Care Workforce
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Georgia Physician Workforce Report: Based on 2023-2024 Licensure Renewal Data and New Licensees, Primary Care and Core Specialties
Measures and tracks trends in physician demographics, supply, and distribution, using data from January 2023 to December 2024. Features statistics for all Georgia physicians and those specializing in family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, OB/GYN, general surgery, psychiatry, and emergency medicine, and maps showing counties with no physicians in these specialties as of 2024.
Date: 2025
Sponsoring organization: Georgia Board of Health Care Workforce
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Bridging the Gap: Clinical Preceptors for Physicians and Advanced Practice Registered Nurses in Utah
Report explores the clinical training needs and landscape for physicians and advanced practice registered nurse (APRNs) in Utah. Discusses training capacity and demand across the state and in rural areas. Makes recommendation for the future.
Date: 2025
Sponsoring organization: Utah Health Workforce Information Center
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Georgia Dentist Workforce Report 2025: Based on 2024-2025 Licensure Renewals and New Licensees
An overview of Georgia's dental workforce. Includes statistics on distribution of Georgia dentists by age, sex, work hours per week, specialty, and years of licensure. Features county-level maps showing counties without dentists and concentrations of dentists per 100,000 residents as of 2025.
Author(s): Chet Bhasin, Leanna Greenwood, LePrissa Moore, Briana Harris, G.E. Alan Dever
Date: 2025
Sponsoring organization: Georgia Board of Health Care Workforce
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Georgia Dental Hygienist Workforce Report 2025: Based on 2024-2025 Licensure Renewals and New Licensees
An overview of Georgia's dental hygienist workforce. Includes statistics on distribution of Georgia dental hygienists by age, sex, work hours per week, specialty, and years of licensure. Features county-level maps showing counties without dental hygienists and concentrations of dental hygienists per 100,000 residents as of 2025.
Author(s): Chet Bhasin, Leanna Greenwood, LePrissa Moore, Briana Harris, G.E. Alan Dever
Date: 2025
Sponsoring organization: Georgia Board of Health Care Workforce
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Idaho Hispanic Statewide Healthcare Plan
Identifies themes from 400 focus group participants at the July 2024 Idaho Hispanic/American Indian Healthcare Conference regarding accessibility to healthcare, healthcare workforce, and community engagement. Offers recommendations to policymakers, community organizations, and the healthcare industry. Includes county-level data for distribution of the Hispanic population, Medicaid and Child Health Insurance Program (CHIP) enrollment rate changes, primary care physician distribution, uninsured rates, and poverty rates.
Date: 2025
Sponsoring organization: Idaho Commission on Hispanic Affairs
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2024 Alaska Scorecard: Key Issues Impacting Alaska Mental Health Trust Beneficiaries
Report explores mental health data for the state of Alaska and compares rates to national data and to a state-level baseline. Details data by indicator, such as healthcare access, economic and social well-being, and suicide prevention, among other measures.
Date: 2025
Sponsoring organization: Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority
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Addressing Workforce Challenges Across the Behavioral Health Continuum of Care: Proceedings of a Workshop
Summary of presentations and discussions from a July 2024 public workshop to address workforce needs and challenges related to behavioral healthcare. Includes discussions of telepsychiatry collaborative care to improve rural access and capacity, and recruiting and retaining Native American healthcare providers in behavioral health settings.
Additional links: Read Online
Author(s): Board on Health Care Services
Date: 2025
Sponsoring organization: Health and Medicine Division (HMD), National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
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Trends in and Factors Associated with Family Physician-Performed Screening Colonoscopies in the United States: 2016-2021
Examines factors and trends related to family physician (FP)-performed colonoscopy screenings. Analyzes 2016-2021 insurance claims data from 2,943,900 qualified colonoscopies, with data breakdowns according to patient demographics, accrued charges, region, and urban-rural classification, including large central metro, large fringe metro, medium metro, small metro, micropolitan, and noncore. Discusses the impact of FP-performed colonoscopy screenings for certain populations, including rural.
Author(s): Nicholas Edwardson, David van der Goes, V. Shane Pankratz, et al.
Citation: Journal of Rural Health, 41(1)
Date: 2025
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