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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Rural-urban differences

MedPAC Report to the Congress: Increasing the Value of Medicare
Examines issues affecting the Medicare program and makes recommendations to the Congress. Topics covered include care coordination, pricing accuracy in the hospice and physician payment systems, quality measures in home health, gathering data on outpatient therapy, Medicare Advantage, the Part D prescription drug program, and cost-effectiveness analysis.
Date: 06/2006
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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Mode of Travel and Actual Distance Traveled For Medical or Dental Care By Rural and Urban Residents
Discusses the cost and difficulty associated with travel for medical or dental care, which may serve as a barrier for rural populations.
Additional links: Fact Sheet
Author(s): Janice C. Probst, Sarah B. Laditka, Jong-Yi Wang, Andy Johnson
Date: 05/2006
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Rural and Minority Health Research Center (formerly the South Carolina Rural Health Research Center)
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Information Gaps on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Population: A Background Paper
Presents the relevant issues regarding the mental health information needs of deaf and hard of hearing populations, particularly in rural America.
Date: 05/2006
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education
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Performance of Rural and Urban Home Health Agencies in Improving Patient Outcomes: Final Report
Describes the results of a study to determine whether rural and urban home care agencies differ in terms of patient care outcomes, and to ascertain whether there are agency characteristics that are associated with better or worse outcomes.
Author(s): Janet P. Sutton
Date: 05/2006
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis
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General Hospitals: Operational and Clinical Changes Largely Unaffected by Presence of Competing Specialty Hospitals
Provides information on the competitive response of general hospitals to specialty hospitals. Addresses rural general hospitals response compared to urban general hospitals.
Additional links: Full Report
Date: 05/2006
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Government Accountability Office
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Medicare Hospital Pharmaceuticals: Survey Shows Price Variations and Highlights Data Collection Lessons and Outpatient Rate-Setting Challenges for CMS
Analyzes Medicare specified covered outpatient drugs (SCOD) price variation across hospitals. Includes information on prices paid by rural hospitals compared to urban hospitals.
Additional links: Full Report
Date: 04/2006
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Government Accountability Office
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Shortages of Medical Personnel at Community Health Centers: Implications for Planned Expansion
Discusses staffing shortages at Community Health Centers (CHCs) in rural and urban locations and how these workforce shortages may impact efforts to expand the CHC program.
Author(s): Roger A. Rosenblatt, C. Holly A. Andrilla, Thomas Curtin, L. Gary Hart
Citation: JAMA: Journal of the American Medical Association, 295(9), 1042-1049
Date: 03/2006
Type: Document
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Hospital Quality Data: CMS Needs More Rigorous Methods to Ensure Reliability of Publicly Released Data
Describes how the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) collects hospital quality measures and ways the process could be improved to better ensure the accuracy of the data. Discusses how rural and urban hospital accuracy scores compare.
Additional links: Full Report
Date: 02/2006
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Government Accountability Office
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Rural Residents More Likely to be Underinsured
Compares health insurance coverage for rural and urban residents, with data on the underinsured, out-of-pocket costs, prescription drug coverage, and underinsurance among those who are self-employed.
Date: 2006
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Maine Rural Health Research Center
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Geographic and Demographic Dimensions of the Adoption of a Health Workforce Innovation: Physician Assistants in the United States, 1967-2000
Analyzes the evolution of the physician assistant profession. Details the changes in demographics, distribution in rural and urban locations, and training for 1967-2000.
Author(s): Eric H. Larson, Gary Hart
Date: 12/2005
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: UW Center for Health Workforce Studies
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