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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Health workforce

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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AHRQ Summit to Address Emergency Department Boarding: Technical Report
Report from an October 2024 Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) summit to discuss emergency department boarding. Examines some of emergency physicians' biggest concerns and highlights possible solutions to address boarding head-on, including enhancing measurement and standards, re-aligning hospital incentives, and increasing support to empower emergency physicians to do their jobs effectively. Includes sections on rural patients and rural areas.
Author(s): Robin M. Weinick, Sean Bruna, Rachael M. Boicourt, Sean S. Michael, Laura L. Sessums
Date: 01/2025
Sponsoring organization: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
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Nursing at an Inflection Point: Creating Systems of Care that Support and Value the Contributions of Nurses: 20th Annual Report to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Congress
Presents policy and programmatic recommendations to address valuing the impact of nursing care on patient outcomes, strengthening academic-practice partnerships, removing practice barriers for advanced practice registered nursing, and supporting the infusion of technology of nursing education and practice. Includes rural references throughout.
Date: 01/2025
Sponsoring organization: National Advisory Council on Nurse Education and Practice
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A Perinatal Psychiatry Access Program to Address Rural and Medically Underserved Populations Using Telemedicine
Examines the Moms IMPACTT (Improving Access to Perinatal Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Care Through Telehealth and Tele-mentoring) program in South Carolina, which aims to address perinatal mental health and substance use issues through healthcare partnerships and telemedicine. Provides details and impact of the program, including outreach and engagement with rural and underserved communities.
Author(s): Courtney King, Marie Hayes, Lizmarie Maldonado, et al.
Citation: BMC Women's Health, 25, 30
Date: 01/2025
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North Dakota Healthcare Dashboard
Provides an overview of the current health workforce and demographic distribution throughout the state of North Dakota. Presents data in the form of graphs and maps. Allows users to select for rural, metropolitan, and micropolitan areas.
Date: 01/2025
Sponsoring organization: University of North Dakota School of Medicine & Health Sciences
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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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Eighth Biennial Report 2025: Health Issues for the State of North Dakota
Updates the previous seven editions of this report with a comprehensive examination of healthcare workforce licensure data related to number of licensed professionals, locations, specialties, and demographics in rural and urban North Dakota. Includes three new chapters on indigenous health, women's and children's health, and the community impacts of the School of Medicine and Health Sciences.
Additional links: Executive Summary
Date: 01/2025
Sponsoring organization: University of North Dakota School of Medicine & Health Sciences
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Rural Oral Health Seminar Toolkit
Toolkit highlights resources and best practices for dental schools looking to create a rural oral health seminar. Discusses the importance of providing a rural-focused seminar for dental students and how rural experience and exposure can aid in recruitment of oral health professionals to rural areas with dental health professional shortage designations. Provides examples and best practices for constructing the seminar.
Date: 01/2025
Sponsoring organization: National Rural Health Association
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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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Mobile Health Clinics in a Rural Setting: A Cost Analysis and Time Motion Study of La Clínica in Oregon, United States
Evaluates provider time allocation and retrospective economic cost of nurse practitioner (NP) and community health worker (CHW) services through La Clínica, a Mobile Health Clinic (MHC) intervention in rural Oregon. Discusses populations served by La Clínica, including people experiencing homelessness, Native Americans, and migrant and seasonal farmworkers. Provides data on program costs and NP and CHW time use by task type and population subgroup.
Author(s): Abigail Higgins, Middy Tilghman, Tracy Kuo Lin
Citation: BMC Health Services Research, 25, 97
Date: 01/2025
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