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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Healthcare business and finance

How Does Hawai'i's Economic Geography Affect Its Healthcare Industry?
Reports on geographic factors influencing healthcare economics in Hawai'i, including discussion of geographic decentralization, productivity, workforce recruitment, reimbursement and payment, and more. Highlights barriers to healthcare access and service availability in rural, isolated, and remote communities.
Author(s): Steven Bond-Smith, Daniela Bond-Smith
Date: 04/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: The Economic Research Organization at the University of Hawai'i (UHERO)
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Forces of Change: 2023 Survey Results
Presents results from a 2023 survey of 532 local health departments (LHDs). Provides data on LHD staffing and budgets, billing practices, community health workers, programs and partnerships focused on social determinants of health and violence prevention, data modernization, and outbreak analytics. Includes comparisons of small, medium, and large LHDs.
Author(s): Margaret C. Cunningham, Krishna Patel, Chloe Garofalini, Kellie Hall, Timothy C. McCall
Date: 04/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Association of County and City Health Officials
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Annual Insurance Update 2024: Health Insurance in Kansas
Reports on health insurance coverage across Kansas and nationwide, including 2009-2022 trends in coverage. Presents 2021 county-level data on uninsured rates by age group and urban/rural classification, as well as Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) enrollment by county.
Author(s): Angela S Wu, Kaci Cink, Cynthia Snyder, Wen-Chieh Lin
Date: 04/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Kansas Health Institute
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North Carolina Medicaid Expansion: A Rural Perspective
Reports on expanded Medicaid coverage in rural North Carolina using state-level monthly enrollment data. Compares expansion enrollment in rural, suburban, and urban counties, and evaluates whether enrollment is associated with poverty at the county level.
Author(s): Dalton Bailey
Date: 04/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: North Carolina Rural Center
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Reconsidering and Measuring Patient Access in Medicaid
Discusses ways to measure patient access and coverage of those enrolled in Medicaid, focusing on their insurance plan quality, reimbursement rates, and clinician networks. Considers policy impacts on rural areas.
Author(s): Benjamin D. Sommers, Renuka Tipirneni
Citation: JAMA Health Forum, 5(4)
Date: 04/2024
Type: Document
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April 2024 MedPAC Meeting Transcript
Transcript from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission's (MedPAC) April 2024 meeting. Covers telehealth in Medicare, alternative approaches to lowering Medicare payments for select conditions in inpatient rehabilitation facilities, approaches for updating the Medicare physician fee schedule, initial findings from an analysis of Medicare Part B payment rates and 340B ceiling prices, and more. Includes discussion of telehealth in rural areas and data on telehealth use in Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) between 2020 and 2022.
Additional links: Telehealth in Medicare: Status Report - Presentation Slides
Date: 04/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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Using the Updated Financial Distress Index to Describe Relative Risk of Hospital Financial Distress
Describes the relative risk of rural hospitals and selected urban hospitals experiencing financial distress in 2023. Provides an overview of an updated Financial Distress Index (FDI), which incorporates variables reflecting changes to operational environments since the publication of the 2017 FDI to predict and analyze financial distress and risk of rural hospital closure. Presents data on the characteristics of hospitals by relative risk of financial distress in 2023 and the number of hospitals in each state across in category of relative risk of financial distress.
Author(s): Tyler Malone, George Pink, Kristie Thompson, Mark Holmes
Date: 04/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: North Carolina Rural Health Research Program
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Survey Emphasizes Scale and Significance of the RHC Program
Summarizes results of a 2024 national survey of 930 Rural Health Clinics. Presents data on the average payer mix, use and attitude toward telehealth services, Medicare Advantage (MA) contract structures, and MA reimbursement relative to traditional Medicare reimbursement, and more.
Additional links: NARHC 2024 Policy Survey Results
Date: 04/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Association of Rural Health Clinics
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Transforming Oral Health Care in North Carolina
Makes recommendations for improving oral health access, supporting oral care workforce and providers, and promoting oral health quality and equity in North Carolina. Discusses oral health in rural and underserved areas throughout, including coverage of workforce distribution, dental safety net, and access barriers.
Date: 04/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: North Carolina Institute of Medicine
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Rural Hospitals' Perspectives On Health System Affiliation
Brief exploring hospital affiliation with consideration for rural contexts. Discusses impacts on costs of services, quality of care, and system finances. Offers recommended steps when choosing to affiliate and metrics for evaluating success.
Author(s): Joel M. James, Keith J. Mueller, Dan M. Shane
Date: 04/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Rural Policy Research Institute Rural Health Panel
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