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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Primary care

Practicing Medicine in Rural America: Listening to Primary Care Physicians
Reports on focus group research and interviews with primary care physicians regarding the challenges of serving rural, low-income patients. Highlights issues related to poverty, healthy food access, mental health, substance abuse, specialty care access, and transportation. Third post in the series "Listening to Primary Care Physicians for Low-Income Patients."
Author(s): Shanoor Seervai
Date: 02/2019
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Commonwealth Fund
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How Primary Care Affects Health Care Costs and Outcomes
Recording of a February 5, 2019, Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions hearing on the impact of primary care on healthcare outcomes and costs. Testimonies include rural-relevant considerations and address direct care primary care practices, employer strategies such as worksite clinics, the impact of Project ECHO, and more.
Additional links: Joshua J. Umbehr Testimony, Katherine Bennett Testimony, Sapna Kripalani Testimony
Date: 02/2019
Type: Video/Multimedia
Sponsoring organization: Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions
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Nebraska Federal Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) Primary Care 2019
County-level map showing locations of Rural Health Clinics, Indian Health Services, community health centers, correctional facilities, and single county primary care HPSAs.
Date: 01/2019
Type: Map/Mapping System
Sponsoring organization: Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services
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Delivery of Preventive Oral Health Services by Rurality: A Cross-Sectional Analysis
Examines the integration of oral health and primary care as a method of increasing access to preventive oral health services for children under age 6 using 2012-2014 Medicaid claims data from 39 states. Includes patient characteristics, such as age, sex, and poverty level, as well as healthcare utilization rates, with breakdowns by metro and nonmetro counties.
Author(s): Caroline K. Geiger, Ashley M. Kranz, Andrew W. Dick, et al.
Citation: Journal of Rural Health, 35(1), 3-11
Date: 01/2019
Type: Document
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California Improvement Network Toolkit: Three Strategies to Help Primary Care Teams Treat Substance Use Disorders
Provides a toolkit to help primary care organizations and teams integrate substance use disorder (SUD) treatment services, including medication-assisted treatment (MAT), based on feedback from California healthcare organizations. Covers barriers to SUD services, as well as strategies and tactics to overcome them. Addresses how small and/or rural practices can access addiction specialists through contracts and telehealth.
Author(s): Crystal Eubanks
Date: 01/2019
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Healthforce Center at UCSF
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Access to Care: Health Centers and Providers in Underserved Communities
Recording of a January 29, 2019, Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions hearing on the importance of community health centers and National Health Service Corps providers in helping to address issues of access to primary care for rural and urban underserved communities.
Additional links: Andrea Anderson Testimony, Dennis Freeman, Cherokee Health Systems Testimony, John B. Waits, Cahaba Medical Care FQHC Testimony
Date: 01/2019
Type: Video/Multimedia
Sponsoring organization: Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions
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Strengthening Healthcare Along the Gulf Coast: The Gulf Region Health Outreach Program's Primary Care Capacity Project
Reports on the Primary Care Capacity Project, which expanded primary care access to Gulf Coast counties through community health centers as part of the Deepwater Horizon settlement. Addresses initiatives targeting expanded access for rural areas, a pilot Community-Centered Health Home (CCHH) model intended to address social determinants of health through community collaborations, and more.
Date: 01/2019
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Louisiana Public Health Institute
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Opioid Prescribing Rates in Nonmetropolitan and Metropolitan Counties Among Primary Care Providers Using an Electronic Health Record System — United States, 2014–2017
Examines opioid prescribing rates among primary care providers for six urban-rural classification categories of counties, before and after the March 2016 release of CDC's Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain.
Author(s): Macarena C. García, Charles M. Heilig, Scott H. Lee, et al.
Citation: MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report), 68(2), 25-30
Date: 01/2019
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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Identification of Barriers, Facilitators and System-Based Implementation Strategies to Increase Teleophthalmology Use for Diabetic Eye Screening in a Rural US Primary Care Clinic: A Qualitative Study
Examines transcripts from interviews with patients and providers at a rural primary care clinic to determine factors that either promote or prevent teleopthalmology use for diabetic eye screening.
Author(s): Yao Liu, Nicholas Zupan, Rebecca Swearingen, et al.
Citation: BMJ Open, 9(2), e022594
Date: 2019
Type: Document
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An Implementation and Impact Evaluation of From Coverage to Care
Analysis of the use in rural and urban areas of Coverage to Care (C2C) online and print resources, developed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Office of Minority Health (CMS OMH), for healthcare professionals and consumers. C2C resources offer tools for providers to promote and improve access to care and support consumer engagement. C2C also helps consumers understand the value of health insurance coverage and of working with a provider to prevent and achieve health. Data is derived from CMS, Census Bureau Zip Code Tabulation Area (USCB-ZCTA), American Community Survey (ACS), Kaiser Health, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), and Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project State Emergency Department Databases (HCUP-SEDD).
Author(s): Thomas W. Concannon, Laurie T. Martin, Kathryn E. Bouskill, et al.
Date: 2019
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: RAND Corporation
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