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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Technology for health and human services

Improving Health Care Access in Rural Communities: Obstacles and Opportunities
Presents the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, Subcommittee on Health Care hearing on improving access to high-quality, affordable healthcare in rural communities. Discusses workforce issues, education pipeline, transportation, broadband, school-based health centers, payment models and value-based care, and rural-friendly policies. Features testimonies from representatives of Frances Mahon Deaconess Hospital, Choptank Community Health System, Essentia Health, and the Sheps Center For Health Services Research.
Additional links: Testimony by David Herman, Testimony by Erin Aune, Testimony by Mark Holmes, Testimony by Sara Rich
Date: 05/2023
Type: Video/Multimedia
Sponsoring organization: Senate Committee on Finance, Subcommittee on Health Care
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Health Care Capsule: Accessing Health Care in Rural America
Discusses challenges rural communities face related to healthcare access, such as limited healthcare providers, travel distance and transportation issues, insurance coverage, and access to broadband. Provides policy recommendations from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) to address rural healthcare disparities.
Additional links: Full Report
Date: 05/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Government Accountability Office
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Prioritizing the Expansion of Electronic Medical Record Interoperability Software to Rural Health Care Systems
Policy position paper focused on implementing electronic medical record (EMR) interoperability at rural facilities. Offers policy recommendations to improve rural EMR interoperability.
Author(s): Dennis Boynton, Morgan Block, Madeline Merwin, et al.
Date: 05/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Rural Health Association
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2023 North Carolina Rural Health Snapshot
Presents data on rural North Carolina demographics, health information, and healthcare infrastructure. Offers statistics on issues including food access, income, healthcare coverage, maternal health, behavioral health, housing, internet access, and more.
Date: 04/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: Foundation for Health Leadership & Innovation, North Carolina Rural Health Association
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Health Industry Cybersecurity Practices: Managing Threats and Protecting Patients
Offers cybersecurity guidelines for healthcare organizations to help reduce cybersecurity risks. Outlines the top five cybersecurity threats, and discusses best practices to combat these threats. Technical Volume 1 discusses cybersecurity practices for small healthcare organizations.
Additional links: Technical Volume 1: Cybersecurity Practices for Small Health Care Organizations
Date: 04/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: 405(d) Program, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
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Comparative Effectiveness of 2 Interventions to Increase Breast, Cervical, and Colorectal Cancer Screening Among Women in the Rural US: A Randomized Clinical Trial
Evaluated the effectiveness of remote interventions compared to the standard care protocols for cancer screenings in 963 Indiana and Ohio women between 50 and 74 years old. Discusses cost-effectiveness compared to increased screening odds and the impact on health outcomes, particularly mortality.
Author(s): Victoria L. Champion, Electra D. Paskett, Timothy E. Stump, Erika B. Biederman, Eric Vachon, et al.
Citation: JAMA Network Open, 6(4)
Date: 04/2023
Type: Document
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Augmenting Project ECHO for Opioid Use Disorder with Data-Informed Quality Improvement
Discusses the feasibility of training clinics that are participating in a Project ECHO virtual collaborative to implement quality initiative (QI) projects that mitigate opioid overdose and mortality. Provides results of 5 New Hampshire clinics that joined the training and includes considerations of QI projects and opioid mitigation taking place in rural areas.
Author(s): Owen B. Murray, Marcy Doyle, Bethany M. McLeman, et al.
Citation: Addiction Science & Clinical Practice, 18, 24
Date: 04/2023
Type: Document
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Landscape of the Health Informatics Workforce: Rapid Response Brief
Focuses on the clinical informatics and public health, population health, and social service informatics subdomains of the health informatics workforce. Mentions resource hubs that serve rural communities by providing guidelines, toolkits, screening tools, and other resources. Examines social determinants of health and gives examples of clinical informatics work that can improve access to care for rural and underserved populations. Features statistics on physicians certified in clinical informatics from 2013-2022.
Author(s): Cynthia LeRouge, Shahida Shahrir, Bianca K Frogner
Date: 04/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Center for Health Workforce Studies
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Broadband Speed: FCC Should Improve Its Communication of Advanced Telecommunications Capability Assessments
Examines the extent to which Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has communicated how it reviews, and determines whether to update, the broadband upload and download speed benchmark. Describes how the minimum speed requirements of selected federal and state broadband programs differ from FCC's benchmark and stakeholders' views on the implications of these differences.
Additional links: Full Report
Date: 04/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Government Accountability Office
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Electronic Health Information Exchange: Use Has Increased, but Is Lower for Small and Rural Providers
Explores states' use of Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act funding for health information exchange efforts. Examines the extent to which the use of electronic health information exchange has changed since the enactment of the HITECH Act and federal efforts that aim to address challenges to the electronic exchange of health information. Discusses differences in the electronic exchange of information between small and rural hospitals and larger, non-rural hospitals.
Additional links: Full Report
Date: 04/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Government Accountability Office
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