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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Telehealth

#RuralHealthChat: Digital Equity and the Health of Rural Americans
#RuralHealthChat discusses the role of digital equity in healthcare and the barriers to accessing digital tools faced by rural communities. Features experts from the National Rural Health Association, the American Telemedicine Association, and the USDA Rural Development Innovation Center, among others.
Date: 11/2021
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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Using CPT Charges as an Economic Proxy for Telehealth and Non-telehealth Emergency Department Utilization
Explores the characteristics of a dataset comprising rural hospitals' reported Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes and associated charges for a sample of telehealth and non-telehealth emergency department (ED) visits. Features statistics including number of ED cases and controls selected by diagnosis, and demographics on select ED samples with breakdowns by 4 CPT codes.
Author(s): Marcia M. Ward, Knute D. Carter, Fred Ullrich, Kimberly A. S. Merchant
Date: 11/2021
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Rural Telehealth Research Center
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Improving Methadone Access for Rural Communities in the USA: Lessons Learned from Covid-19 Adaptations and International Models of Care
Explores the effect of changes to methadone treatment protocols for opioid use disorder in response to the COVID-19 pandemic on access to treatment in rural areas. Discusses telehealth, dispensing schedules, and distribution models before and during the pandemic.
Author(s): Jamey J Lister, Holly H Lister
Citation: Rural and Remote Health, 21(4)
Date: 11/2021
Type: Document
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Supporting Telehealth and Technology-Assisted Services for People Who Use Drugs: A Resource Guide
Offers policy, training, and planning resources for Substance Use Disorder treatment providers, harm reduction organizations, and others looking to implement telehealth and technology-assisted services to improve the health and wellness of people who use drugs. Discusses participant barriers to accessing technology, including rural-specific challenges, and describes rural initiatives among other case studies.
Date: 11/2021
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Council for Mental Wellbeing
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MACPAC Response to Senate Finance Committee Request for Information on Behavioral Health
Summarizes the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission's (MACPAC) ongoing analysis of behavioral health in Medicaid and CHIP and offers policy recommendations. Discusses the behavioral health workforce; behavioral healthcare service delivery and access; mental health parity; telehealth; and improving access for children and youth. Includes rural references and considerations throughout.
Date: 11/2021
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission
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FQHC and RHC Best Practices for Telehealth in Response to COVID-19
Offers best practices for Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) and Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) for telehealth expansion in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, drawing from 131 expert interviews from facilities in 22 states and the District of Columbia. Highlights key points related to continuing telehealth use, training and instruction, and technology investments.
Date: 11/2021
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: California Telehealth Resource Center
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How States Use ARPA Funds to Support Telehealth, Technology and Data Infrastructure
Interactive map displaying how states used a one-time increase in the federal medical assistance program (FMAP) for Medicaid home and community-based services (HCBS) through March 31, 2022, to support telehealth service delivery, technology-based innovations, and data infrastructure building opportunities.
Date: 11/2021
Type: Website
Sponsoring organization: National Academy for State Health Policy
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Critical Access Hospitals' Initial Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Use of Federal Funding and Regulatory Flexibilities
Explores how Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) used federal relief funding and regulatory waivers to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic through August 2020. Summarizes results of a survey of CAH executives in eight states. Discusses the sources of federal funding CAHs received and the types of regulatory waivers and flexibilities these CAHs used.
Author(s): Ira Moscovice, Madeleine Pick, Megan Lahr, Nathan Bean, Keelia Silvis
Date: 11/2021
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Flex Monitoring Team
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Trends in Outpatient Telemedicine Utilization Among Rural Medicare Beneficiaries, 2010 to 2019
Examines the growth of telehealth utilization among rural Medicare beneficiaries between 2010-2019. Compares telehealth use across beneficiaries with a severe mental illness diagnosis, other mental health diagnoses, and with no mental health diagnoses. Describes trends for mental health versus non-mental health visits and across clinician specialties. Presents data on rural Medicare beneficiary characteristics with and without a telemedicine visit in 2019, including age, race and ethnicity, sex, U.S. Census division, and more.
Author(s): Michael L. Barnett, Haiden A. Huskamp, Alisa B. Bush, et al.
Citation: JAMA Health Forum, 2(10), e213282
Date: 10/2021
Type: Document
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Reimagining Public Health Infrastructure and the Health Workforce for the 21st Century: Twentieth Annual Report to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Congress
Offers policy recommendations regarding activities related to healthcare workforce education and training. Recommendations cover training the healthcare workforce in telehealth, public trust around health initiatives, core competencies and performance measures linked to the Quintuple Aim, and age-friendly ecosystems. Includes rural references throughout.
Date: 10/2021
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Advisory Committee on Interdisciplinary Community-Based Linkages
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