This website is being reviewed for updates. Some information is offline. We apologize for any inconvenience.
Skip to main content
Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Human services

Identifying Risks to the Well-Being of Rural Young Children and Families
Discusses social risks experienced by rural children and families and how the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated impacts to schools in rural areas. Focuses on child care and broadband access, child maltreatment, and healthcare and social service needs.
Author(s): Sara L. Hartman
Citation: The Journal of the National Association of State Boards of Education, 21(1), 33-37
Date: 01/2021
view details
A Just Recovery for Rural Equity in Wisconsin
Provides information for advancing health equity, with respect to the impact of COVID-19, for rural populations in Wisconsin. Discusses topics fundamental to supporting rural health equity, including: healthcare access, broadband and infrastructure, food and agriculture, job security, and availability of social services. Identifies proven policies and practices that can be implemented at the local and state level.
Date: 01/2021
Sponsoring organization: University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute
view details
Opportunities in Medicaid and CHIP to Address Social Determinants of Health (SDOH)
Describes services and supports that can be covered by Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Programs (CHIP) to address social determinants of health (SDOH). Discusses federal authorities and other opportunities that states can utilize to address SDOH through Medicaid and CHIP, including through Rural Health Clinics (RHC) and Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC). Appendix B highlights examples of services and supports and the corresponding federal authorities that could be used to cover each.
Date: 01/2021
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
view details
Modernizing Demand-Responsive Transportation for the Age of New Mobility
Provides an overview of demand-responsive transportation (DRT) and its role in supporting people with disabilities, older adults, people with lower incomes, and rural residents. Explores how a new data specification, the transactional data specification (TDS), can be used to modernize DRT services. Presents case studies of systems adopting TDS, including ITNAmerica, a national transportation network serving older adults in rural communities, and a pilot program in rural Oregon. Offers recommendations to policymakers and stakeholders to promote wide-scale adoption of TDS by DRT providers.
Author(s): Jana Lynott
Date: 12/2020
Sponsoring organization: AARP Public Policy Institute
view details
Federal Funding for Rural Health: Supporting Planning and Development Around a Regional Transportation Need
Features Rides to Health and Wealth, a regional transportation program in eastern Missouri helping improve rural healthcare access and other health-related transportation needs. Includes discussion of how the program planning and development continued during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Author(s): Kay Miller Temple
Citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 12/2020
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
view details
Access in Appalachia Concept and Methodologies: Final Report
Provides an overview of the accessibility needs to goods and services - food, healthcare, broadband, education, as well as, customer, labor, and supplier markets - for the people and businesses of Appalachia. Looks at the current research on rural accessibility and economic development. Outlines methods for measuring accessibility, offers an analyses approach using accessibility metrics, and discusses other considerations in long range accessibility planning.
Date: 11/2020
Sponsoring organizations: Appalachian Regional Commission, EBP US, Inc.
view details
Accountable Health Communities Model - Two Rural Participants' Experiences
Describes how two health systems, Ballard Health and Rocky Mountain Health Plan, implemented the Accountable Health Communities Model to address health-related social needs of rural Medicare, Medicaid, and dual-eligible beneficiaries. Discusses challenges each system faced while implementing the model.
Date: 11/2020
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Value
view details
Assessment of North Dakota Mobility Options, Transit Needs, and Characteristics of Users
Examines existing transit and passenger mobility services in North Dakota to identify transportation gaps and funding requirements for rural and urban areas across the state. Provides county-level data and maps on population estimates, mobility needs index scores, demographics, number of workers without access to a vehicle, and more. Includes demographic information on rural transit riders, data for rural transit providers, and other rural-specific information.
Author(s): Jeremy Mattson, Dilip Mistry, Jill Hough
Date: 09/2020
Sponsoring organization: Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute
view details
A Volunteer Program in Maine to Transport Community Members to Health Care Appointments
Highlights a non-emergency volunteer transportation program in rural Maine. Outlines the goals and structure of the program and provides data about the number of trips and miles covered by year over the course of the program's existence.
Author(s): Sarah Levin Martin, James Wood, Steven Soule
Citation: Preventing Chronic Disease, 17
Date: 08/2020
view details
Strategies for Rural Communities for Addressing Substance Misuse among Families Involved with the Child Welfare System
Describes nine programs across seven states that have addressed challenges to serving child welfare-involved parents with substance use issues through mentoring, case management, providing access to treatment and affordable housing, and other support services. Discusses considerations for expanding and replicating these programs in rural communities.
Additional links: Research Summary
Author(s): Jung Kim, Elizabeth Clary, Christina Ribar, Sarah Palmer, Elizabeth Weigensberg
Date: 07/2020
Sponsoring organizations: HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Mathematica
view details