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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Policy

Redesigning the Medicare Program: An Opportunity to Improve Rural Health Care Systems?
Presents a framework for use by those interested in the future of healthcare services in rural areas, to help to shape proposals to redesign the Medicare program. Identifies rural principles that should guide any Medicare redesign effort.
Author(s): Andrew F. Coburn, Charles W. Fluharty, J. Patrick Hart, et al.
Date: 08/2000
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Rural Policy Research Institute Rural Health Panel
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National Advisory Committee on Rural Health & Human Services Meeting Minutes, Checotah, Oklahoma, June 4-6, 2000
Minutes from a National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services meeting addressing the following topics: a Federal Office of Rural Health Policy update, the State Planning Grant Program, Medicare reform, health disparities, and the economic impact of the healthcare system.
Date: 06/2000
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services
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Calculating and Using the Area Wage Index of the Medicare Inpatient Hospital Prospective Payment System
Explains how the area wage index (AWI) was developed to adjust Medicare payments to hospitals based on average hospital wages in an area. Identifies the major unresolved issues related to its calculation and use in the year 2000.
Author(s): Anthony Wellever
Citation: RUPRI Rural Policy Brief, 5(5)
Date: 06/2000
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Rural Policy Research Institute Rural Health Panel
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National Advisory Committee on Rural Health & Human Services Meeting Minutes, Washington DC, February 6-9, 2000
Minutes from a National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services meeting addressing the following topics: U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs and rural health, the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, public health and hospital capital, Indian Health Services contracting and compacting, and Medicare payment in rural areas.
Date: 02/2000
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services
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Rural Public Health: Issues and Considerations
Report to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Overview of the rural public health infrastructure. Addresses public health leadership, workforce preparedness, support for safety net providers, the impact of managed care, telecommunications, and funding for rural public health.
Date: 02/2000
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services
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Rural Health in the United States
A comprehensive review of the health status and healthcare resources of the rural areas of the United States. Updates the book, "Health Care in Rural America", published by the Office of Technology Assessment in 1990. Preview available via Google Books.
Author(s): Thomas C. Ricketts, III (editor)
Date: 1999
Type: Document
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Definitions of Rural: A Handbook for Health Policy Makers and Researchers
Describes the two major methods of defining rurality, the Office of Management and Budget metropolitan-nonmetropolitan classification of counties and the U.S. Census Bureau classification of areas and population, as well as major variations on those methods.
Author(s): Thomas C. Ricketts, Karen D. Johnson-Webb, Patricia Taylor
Date: 06/1998
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: North Carolina Rural Health Research Program
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Frontier: A New Definition
Discusses the definition of frontier, based on population density, distance to the closest market for services, and travel time. Also describes the process by which this definition was developed. Includes a matrix that can be used to determine frontier status.
Date: 04/1998
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Center for Frontier Communities
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Physician Distribution and Health Care Challenges in Rural and Inner-City Areas
In-depth review of the geographic maldistribution of physicians. Discusses issues that impact rural physician supply. Includes policy recommendations to improve the geographic distribution of physicians and address rural physician shortages.
Date: 02/1998
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Council on Graduate Medical Education
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Pacific Partnerships for Health: Charting a New Course
Provides an overview of health care services in the U.S. Associated Pacific Basin and discusses the U.S. role in the region's health care delivery systems.
Additional links: Read Online
Date: 1998
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Health and Medicine Division (HMD), National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
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