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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Statistics and data

Listening to the Community: Identifying Obesity Prevention Strategies for Rural Preschool-Aged Children
Reports results from 4 workshops on obesity prevention initiatives for preschool-aged children in 2 rural North Carolina and Indiana counties. Provides data and discussion on participants' preferred intervention strategies and community settings, with additional discussion of implementation challenges and options for immediate interventions which could be implemented with limited funding.
Author(s): Katherine Jochim Pope, Alexandra F. Lightfoot, Lisa Macon Harrison, et al.
Citation: Frontiers in Public Health, 12
Date: 05/2024
Type: Document
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Food Deserts and Hypertension Prevalence in the Central Valley
Policy brief analyzing the association between food deserts and hypertension by census tract in San Joaquin Valley, California. Includes color-coded census tract maps. Mentions high incidence of hypertension and food deserts in rural areas.
Author(s): G. Mendoza, E. Alcala
Date: 05/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Central Valley Health Policy Institute
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The Implications of Using Maternity Care Deserts to Measure Progress in Access to Obstetric Care: A Mixed-Integer Optimization Analysis
Compares geographic access to critical care obstetric (CCO) services in Georgia via a county-level maternal care desert model versus a model of census blocks further than 50 miles from CCO services. Uses each model to estimate how expansion of facilities would affect access to care, and also to estimate race and ethnicity, insurance status, age, and poverty rate of reproductive-aged women with limited access to care using 2017 American Community Survey data.
Author(s): Meghan E. Meredith, Lauren N. Steimle, Stephanie M. Radke
Citation: BMC Health Services Research, 24, 682
Date: 05/2024
Type: Document
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Sentinel Enhanced Dengue Surveillance System — Puerto Rico, 2012–2022
Highlights the results of viral Dengue surveillance in Puerto Rico from May, 2012 to December, 2022. Details and tracks the various forms of illnesses that Dengue presents as. Discusses other diseases caught via the surveillance, such as Zika, COVID-19, and other respiratory viruses.
Author(s): Zachary J. Madewell, Alfonso C. Hernandez-Romieu, Joshua M. Wong, et al.
Citation: MMWR Surveillance Summaries, 73(3), 1-29
Date: 05/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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Pandemic-Era Trends in Telehealth Use among Americans with Private Health Insurance
Brief analyzing telehealth use between 2019 and 2021 for people younger than 65 with private health insurance. Discusses the impact of COVID-19 on telehealth use. Analyzes data by various factors such as age, rurality, access, broadband availability, and more. Discusses policy implications related to broadband access, mental healthcare provider shortages, costs, access, and equity. Includes both nationwide and state-by-state rural and urban comparisons.
Author(s): Beth Carter, Olivia Dean, Alex Hartzman, Luis Arzaluz, Aiden Wynia
Date: 05/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: AARP Public Policy Institute
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CMS Bundled Payments for Care Improvement Advanced Model: Fifth Annual Evaluation Report
Fifth annual report of the Bundled Payments for Care Improvement Advanced (BPCI Advanced) Model, which tests whether linking payments for a clinical episode of care can reduce Medicare expenditures while maintaining or improving the quality of care. Explores the impact of BPCI Advanced on episode payments, utilization, and quality of care, as well as estimates of Medicare program savings in Model Year 4. Describes changes to the model that were implemented in Model Year 4 and how BPCI Advanced relates to Medicare Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). Analyzes BPCI Advanced outcomes for beneficiaries from populations that have been historically underserved. Includes rural references throughout.
Additional links: Appendices, Executive Summary, Findings at a Glance
Author(s): The Lewin Group, Abt Associates, GDIT, Telligen
Date: 05/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
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Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children Nutrition Assessment and Tailoring Study (WIC NATS)
Provides an overview of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and how local WIC agencies and clinic sites assess their breastfeeding and nutrition services to improve participant retention and service delivery. Includes two reports: a pre-pandemic nutrition assessment report at the state and local levels and a remote versus in-person report focused on assessment processes. Includes data from state agencies as well as 369 local WIC agencies, with differences between rural versus urban agencies discussed.
Additional links: Final Report Part 1, Final Report Part 2, Summary
Author(s): M. Gabay, A.A. Gola, M. Gearing, et al.
Date: 05/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: USDA Food and Nutrition Service
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VA Health Care: Additional Assessments of Mileage Reimbursement Data and Veterans' Travel Costs Needed
Provides an overview of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Veterans Health Administration's (VHA) mileage reimbursement benefit that reimburses eligible veterans for the use of personal vehicles to attend VHA-approved care. Explores the extent to which the benefit helps defray travel costs by describing the distance a veteran would have to travel to receive a non-zero reimbursement across a variety of conditions. Presents VHA data on veterans' use of the benefit from fiscal years 2010 through 2023, as well as fuel costs incurred and mileage reimbursement for hypothetical trips to 3 VA health systems by rurality. Offers recommendations to the VA and VHA on the collection and assessment of veterans' use of the mileage reimbursement benefit and how travel costs vary by subpopulations, such as rural veterans.
Additional links: Full Report
Date: 05/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Government Accountability Office
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Early Estimates of Motor Vehicle Traffic Fatalities And Fatality Rate by Sub-Categories in 2023
Presents projections of traffic fatalities and the fatality rate per 100 million vehicle miles traveled in 2023. Breaks down data by month, age, sex, and by rural versus urban roads, among other measures. Compares 2022 fatality data to 2023 rates by month for a number of indicators, including rural areas.
Date: 05/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
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Traffic Safety Facts, 2022 Data: Alcohol-Impaired Driving
National data on traffic crashes involving alcohol-impaired drivers. Features statistics with breakdowns including road conditions, month, time of day, state, and rural or urban location.
Date: 05/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
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