Skip to main content
Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Primary care

Emerging Strategies to Ensure Access to Health Care Services: Virtual Care Strategies
Discusses opportunities to use telehealth to improve healthcare access and delivery to vulnerable rural and urban communities. Includes recommendations from the American Hospital Association Task Force on Ensuring Access in Vulnerable Communities and details the benefits of telehealth services and potential policy solutions such as reimbursement, interaction of state and federal laws, broadband access, and federal research.
Date: 11/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: American Hospital Association
view details
Prescription Opioid Misuse among Rural Community Pharmacy Patients: Pilot Study for Screening and Implications for Future Practice and Research
Examines rural and urban community pharmacy patients in Pennsylvania to describe and compare patterns of opioid medication misuse. Identifies demographic and risk factors associated with rural and urban opioid medication misuse. Includes demographic statistics by rural and urban areas, such as education, employment status, and misuse behaviors. Offers recommendations to address opioid medication misuse.
Author(s): Gerald T. Cochran, Rafael J. Engel, Valerie J. Hruschak, Ralph E. Tarter
Citation: Journal of Pharmacy Practice, 30(5), 498-505
Date: 10/2017
Type: Document
view details
Trends in Primary Care Provision to Medicare Beneficiaries by Physicians, Nurse Practitioners, or Physician Assistants: 2008-2014
Examines trends in elderly patients receiving primary care from physicians alone, physicians with nurse practitioners (NPs) and/or physician assistants (PAs), and NPs/PAs without physicians. Considered these models for delivering primary care to Medicare patients with multiple chronic conditions and Medicare patients in rural and health professional shortage areas (HPSAs).
Author(s): Ying Xue, James S. Goodwin, Deepak Adhikari, Mukaila A. Raji, Yong-Fang Kuo
Citation: Journal of Primary Care and Community Health, 8(4), 256-263
Date: 10/2017
Type: Document
view details
Barriers and Solutions to the Single Accreditation System: A Survey Study of AOA Family Medicine Residency Program Directors
Results of a survey designed to assess attitudes, confidence, and progress of American Osteopathic Association family medicine residencies during the transition to a Single Accreditation System (SAS). Discusses concerns about the effects of SAS on the primary care workforce in rural settings.
Author(s): Julie Petersen Marcinek, Megan Coffman, Zachary Levin, Winston Liaw, Andrew Bazemore
Date: 10/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Robert Graham Center
view details
Implementing Medication-Assisted Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder in Rural Primary Care: Environmental Scan Volume 1
Details challenges and barriers to implementing medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid use disorder (OUD) in a primary care setting, such as healthcare policy, workforce, and financing, among others. Includes 250 tools and resources to help overcome barriers and support implementation MAT in rural areas.
Additional links: Volume 2: Tools and Resources
Author(s): Garrett E. Moran, Caroline M. Snyder, Rebecca F. Noftsinger, Joshua K. Noda
Date: 10/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
view details
Tackling the Opioid Crisis in a Rural Community
Discusses a partnership between a rural hospital physician and the director of a community counseling center to establish a medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid addiction in rural Maine. Presents the program's support structure, as well as the advantages of having an integrated treatment approach.
Date: 09/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: American Hospital Association
view details
Rural Curricular Guidelines Based on Practice Scope of Recent Residency Graduates Practicing in Small Communities
Study using data from surveys self-administered between 2007-2014, exploring scope of practice of 586 recent graduates practicing in rural areas. Features statistics on demographics and various types of clinical activities, with breakdowns by small, medium, or large practice community size.
Author(s): Joe M. Skariah, Carl Rasmussen, Joyce Hollander-Rodriguez, et al.
Citation: Family Medicine, 49(8), 594-599
Date: 09/2017
Type: Document
view details
Responding to Health and Social Needs of Aging Latinos in New-growth Communities: A Qualitative Study
A study examining the health and social needs of elderly Latinos in rural eastern North Carolina conducted by an interprofessional team - the Aging Latino Research Team (ALRT) - composed of health and social service providers, Latino leaders, and university faculty.
Author(s): Kim Larson, Holly F. Mathews, Essie Torres, C. Suzanne Lea
Citation: BMC Health Services Research, 17, 601
Date: 08/2017
Type: Document
view details
Research Highlight: VHA-Indian Health Service Collaborations Reveal Opportunities to Improve Rural Health Care
Describes results of the expansion of the Veterans Administration Home Based Primary Care program to rural areas and to American Indian reservations, beginning in 2009.
Author(s): B. Josea Kramer, Debra Saliba
Date: 08/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: VA Health Services Research & Development Service
view details
Improving Rural Oral Health: Six States' Response to the United States Department of Health and Human Services Oral Health Strategic Framework
Findings brief describing how Colorado, Iowa, New Mexico, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina have responded to the Department of Health and Human Services' 2014-2017 goals for advancing oral health in America, with emphasis on programs available to children. Features statistics including number of dental insurance companies, number of public health dental clinics or Federally Qualified Health Centers providing oral health services, and number of full-time and part-time dentists and dental hygienists at these facilities in each of the six states.
Author(s): Amy B. Martin, Janice C. Probst, Karen M. Jones
Date: 08/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Rural and Minority Health Research Center (formerly the South Carolina Rural Health Research Center)
view details