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Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Health workforce

Health Care Access for Infants and Toddlers in Rural Areas
Research brief describing how rural children are more likely to face a unique combination of challenges that negatively impact their health and development, such as fewer healthcare providers, barriers to accessing care, and higher rates of poverty. Includes rural/urban comparisons for each state, with information on the percentage of infants and toddlers lacking health insurance, receiving recommended vaccinations, attending a preventive medical appointment, and more.
Author(s): Jessie Laurore, Gayane Baziyants, Sarah Daily
Date: 07/2020
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Child Trends
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Rural Healthcare Surge Readiness
Resources for rural healthcare systems preparing for and responding to a COVID-19 surge. Includes resources for emergency medical services, inpatient and hospital care, ambulatory care, and long-term care settings. Addresses a wide range of topics including healthcare operations, space, supplies, funding, and more.
Date: 07/2020
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: COVID-19 Healthcare Resilience Working Group
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Advance Care Planning: New Realities in Times of COVID-19
Examines the challenges of advance care planning, planning for decision-making in times of medical crisis, due to COVID-19. Shares insights from clinicians and others involved in helping rural patients.
Author(s): Kay Miller Temple
Citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 07/2020
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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Left Out: Barriers to Health Equity for Rural and Underserved Communities
Summarizes responses to a Request for Information from the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee's Rural and Underserved Communities Health Task Force. Describes factors contributing to healthcare challenges in rural areas, including demographics, social and structural determinants of health, insurance coverage, access to care, and workforce shortages. Highlights promising models of healthcare delivery in rural areas. Includes state-by-state health equity maps.
Additional links: State and Territory Health Equity Maps, Summary
Date: 07/2020
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: House Ways and Means Committee
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Pennsylvania Hospital Transitions HRSA-Funded Program to Online Services and Addresses COVID-19 Stress
Features Butler Memorial Hospital and how it adapted to the COVID-19 pandemic. Highlights the switch to online delivery for a chronic disease project funded by a HRSA Rural Health Care Services Outreach grant. Also describes initiatives to address healthcare workforce stress, help patients use tablets to visit with loved ones, and distribute healthy food to the community.
Author(s): Allee Mead
Citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 07/2020
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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Innovative Health Care Provider Roles
Discusses healthcare provider types that might have the potential to benefit rural communities including community health workers, community paramedics, patient advocates, health coaches, and dental therapists.
Date: 07/2020
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Value
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Pennsylvania Mental Health Care Workforce Shortage: Challenges and Solutions: A Staff Study
Provides a discussion of mental healthcare workforce occupations and examines the factors that led to shortages in these fields. Describes how telemedicine can be used to extend the mental healthcare workforce in rural Pennsylvania and determines how state government entities can encourage more people to enter and remain in the mental healthcare workforce. Makes recommendations including increasing the number of psychiatric residencies in rural areas and designating more Rural Health Clinics. Includes a county-level map of Mental Health Professional Shortage Areas.
Author(s): Grant Rosul, Stephen J. Kramer, Wendy L. Baker
Date: 06/2020
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Joint State Government Commission, General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
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Developing a Science Outreach Program and Promoting "PhUn" All Year with Rural K-12 Students
Discusses a university-led health science outreach effort in rural northern Michigan that implemented national physiology and biomechanics educational programming in K-12 schools. Addresses the importance of science and health science programming in rural areas due to limited exposure to career options and the need for rural students to consider health careers to offset healthcare shortages. Provides an overview of the outreach program with lessons learned.
Author(s): Jana L. Hendrickson, Thomas K. Bye, Benjamin A. Cockfield, Kathryn R. Carter, Steven J. Elmer
Citation: Advances in Physiology Education, 44(2), 212-216
Date: 06/2020
Type: Document
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National Health Services Corps (NHSC) New Site Application Webinar for Rural Health Clinics
Recording of a June 30, 2020 webinar providing an overview of the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) new site application process. Discusses the benefits of the NHSC program for outpatient facilities that provide primary care medical, dental, and/or mental and behavioral health services, site eligibility requirements, and how to apply as a new site. Part of the Rural Health Clinic Technical Assistance Series.
Additional links: Presentation Slides, Transcript
Date: 06/2020
Type: Video/Multimedia
Sponsoring organization: National Association of Rural Health Clinics
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Improving Rural Health: State Policy Options for Increasing Access to Care
Discusses strategies from state legislatures and other stakeholders to increase access to healthcare in rural areas. Focuses on policies and policy options for state legislatures in three areas: improving health insurance coverage, safeguarding rural health facilities, and changing rural healthcare delivery. Features examples from Colorado, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
Author(s): Jack Pitsor
Date: 06/2020
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Conference of State Legislatures
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