Skip to main content
Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Healthcare business and finance

Using Telehealth to Support Opioid Use Disorder Treatment
Provides an issue brief on how telehealth can increase access to medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid use disorder (OUD). Addresses how telehealth is used, implemented, and reimbursed, highlighting the implications for MAT.
Date: 11/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation
view details
Private Health Insurance in Georgia
Describes trends in private health insurance coverage in Georgia. Addresses the demographics of who is covered, cost, and whether it is purchased individually or obtained through an employer. Highlights differences between rural and urban areas.
Date: 11/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Georgia Health Policy Center
view details
The Rural Hospital and Health System Affiliation Landscape - A Brief Review
Describes choices available to rural hospitals and health systems when considering affiliations with urban-based hospitals, examines motivations for these affiliations, and presents a list of some affiliation structures with examples. Features statistics showing trends in hospital system affiliation by census region from 2007-2016, with breakdowns by metropolitan and nonmetropolitan hospitals and nonmetropolitan Critical Access Hospitals.
Author(s): Onyinye Oyeka, Fred Ullrich, A. Clinton MacKinney, Joseph Lupica, Keith J. Mueller
Date: 11/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Rural Policy Research Institute
view details
Sources of Supplemental Coverage Among Medicare Beneficiaries in 2016
Examines sources of supplemental coverage for traditional Medicare beneficiaries with breakdowns by race/ethnicity, income, rural location, and more.
Author(s): Juliette Cubanski, Anthony Damico, Tricia Neuman, Gretchen Jacobson
Date: 11/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: KFF
view details
Significant Vulnerabilities Exist in the Hospital Wage Index System for Medicare Payments
Reports on 41 examinations of wage data of individual acute care hospitals from 2004 to 2017 to describe significant vulnerabilities observed in the wage index system for Medicare payments. Includes discussion on the rural floor wage index and the effects it has on wage index accuracy. Offers recommendations to reform the hospital wage index system.
Date: 11/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Office of Inspector General (HHS)
view details
Update: Rural/Urban Disparities in Pneumococcal Vaccine Service Delivery Among the Fee-for-Service Medicare Population, 2012-2015
Updated report on a study to identify disparities in vaccine provision to people ages 65 and over, and to assess the impact of pharmacies as alternate site providers in rural areas. Revised version specifically assesses the uptake of the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, in response to the revised vaccination recommendations issued in 2014. Includes statistics on pneumococcal vaccine services provided by fee-for-service pharmacies and primary care providers, with breakdowns by rural and urban frequency, and state-level maps with rate of service delivery per eligible population, using 2014 and 2015 data.
Author(s): Joseph C. Vanghelof, Aric Schadler, Patricia R. Freeman, Jeffery C. Talbert
Date: 11/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Rural and Underserved Health Research Center
view details
Why Are the Health Insurance Marketplaces Thriving in Some States but Struggling in Others?
Analyzes the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's HIX Compare dataset and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners' 2010 Supplemental Health Care Exhibit Report to identify factors explaining differences in issuers' participation in state insurance marketplaces. Features statistics including the number of insurers participating in states in 2017, with breakdowns by mean state population and rural population as percent of total state population.
Author(s): Jon R. Gabel, Heidi Whitmore, Sam Stromberg, Matthew Green
Date: 11/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Commonwealth Fund
view details
Changes to the Merit-based Incentive Payment System Pertinent to Small and Rural Practices, 2018
Describes the importance of legislative changes to the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System that occurred as part of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018. Includes an appendix comparing the original framework for the system with changes for 2018/2019.
Author(s): Abiodun Salako, A. Clinton MacKinney, Fred Ullrich, Keith Mueller
Date: 11/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
view details
Are Marketplace Premiums Higher in Rural than in Urban Areas?
Examines monthly health insurance premium differences among 499 rural and urban premium rating regions for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) compliant nongroup marketplaces in the U.S. Includes state-by-state data for average monthly premium costs in rural and urban areas during 2016 and 2017.
Author(s): Erik Wengle, Linda J Blumberg, John Holahan
Date: 11/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Urban Institute
view details
Information on Medicare Telehealth
Report to Congress, as mandated by the 21st Century Cures Act, examining how Medicare patients are using telehealth, particularly in rural areas, with breakdowns by race/ethnicity, age group, and primary diagnoses including mental health issues. Includes an analysis of Medicare claims data regarding high volume services that could be delivered through telehealth, an overview of telehealth models funded by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, and state-level breakdowns of Medicare telehealth data. Discusses who may benefit from telehealth expansion and barriers to expansion.
Date: 11/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
view details