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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Veterans

Geography, Rurality, and Community Distress: Deaths Due to Suicide, Alcohol-Use, and Drug-Use among Colorado Veterans
Explores the connection between distressed communities and mortality disparities in the Colorado veteran population. Utilizes 2009-2020 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research (WONDER) to examine suicide, alcohol, and drug related mortalities, with demographic data broken down by sex, age, race/ethnicity, marital status, distressed community index (DCI), and frontier, rural, or urban location. Includes county-level maps showing DCI and rurality.
Author(s): Talia L. Spark, Colleen E. Reid, Rachel Sayko Adams, et al.
Citation: Injury Epidemiology, 10, 8
Date: 02/2023
Type: Document
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Rural Population Health in the United States: A Chartbook
Presents rural population health data by Census region and state, with some data by sex, race, and ethnicity. Includes U.S. maps showing county-level data as well as a variety of charts, including rural-urban disparity charts, state summary charts, and more. Topics addressed include access to care, health outcomes and risks, mortality, social determinants of health, and socioeconomic data.
Author(s): Randy Randolph, Sharita Thomas, Mark Holmes, et al.
Date: 02/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: North Carolina Rural Health Research Program
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Perceived Benefits of Geriatric Specialty Telemedicine among Rural Patients and Caregivers
Explores the perceived benefits of a Veterans Health Administration (VHA) geriatric specialty telemedicine service (GRECC Connect), which connects geriatric interdisciplinary teams in urban areas with older veterans in rural areas through videoconferencing platforms. Summarizes results of interviews 30 rural older adults enrolled in the VHA and their caregivers about the content and quality of their GRECC Connect visits.
Author(s): Eileen M. Dryden, Meaghan A. Kennedy, Jennifer Conti, et al.
Citation: Health Services Research, 58(Suppl 1), 26-35
Date: 02/2023
Type: Document
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A Novel Gap Staffing Metric for Primary Care in the Veterans Health Administration and Implications for Rural and Urban Clinics
Highlights a study on the metric for primary care provider staffing used by the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) from 2017-2021. Explores the staffing gaps in rural versus urban areas based on the VHA's staffing metric.
Author(s): Amy M. J. O'Shea, Bjarni Haraldsson, Ariana F. Shahnazi, et al.
Citation: Journal of Ambulatory Care Management 46(1), 25-33
Date: 01/2023
Type: Document
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Grit but Not Help-Seeking Was Associated with Food Insecurity among Low Income, At-Risk Rural Veterans
Examines psychological attributes such as grit and help-seeking behaviors and their association to food security among rural veterans in southern Illinois. Analyzes data from 177 veterans who utilized food pantries in 2021 for associations between psychological traits and resource usage. Discusses educational interventions that have the potential to increase well-being for rural veterans.
Author(s): Yue Qin, Douglas A. Sneddon, Shelley MacDermid Wadsworth, et al.
Citation: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(3), 2500
Date: 01/2023
Type: Document
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Spatial Analysis of Access to Psychiatrists for US Military Personnel and Their Families
Examines the location and capacity of psychiatrists within a 30-minute driving time of TRICARE beneficiaries. Explores how geographic access to psychiatrists affects veteran TRICARE beneficiaries in rural and low-income communities. Breaks down community data by region, rural or urban status, and economic makeup, among other measures.
Author(s): Marigee Bacolod, Jennifer Heissel, Yu-Chu Shen
Citation: JAMA Network Open, 6(1), e2249314
Date: 01/2023
Type: Document
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Improving Access to High-Quality Mental Health Care for Veterans: Proceedings of a Workshop
Presents a workshop focusing on mental healthcare access for veterans. Discusses some of the challenges the VA faces in delivering mental healthcare to veterans, particularly those in rural and low-income communities. Explores methods to improve mental health access and highlights best practices.
Author(s): Board on Health Care Services
Date: 2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Health and Medicine Division (HMD), National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
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Disparities in Virtual Cardiology Visits Among Veterans Health Administration Patients During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Presents the results of a study to determine how the COVID-19 pandemic, during the first year, influenced the digital divide for patients using virtual and video-based care in Veterans Health Administration (VA) cardiology clinics across the U.S. Study examined sociodemographic and clinical characteristics, drive time to care, geographic location – rural and urban – and encounter type to determine changes in access to care by video, phone, and face-to-face.
Author(s): Rebecca L Tisdale, Jacqueline Ferguson, James Van Campen, et al.
Citation: JAMIA Open, 5(4)
Date: 12/2022
Type: Document
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VA Training Program Contributions: Evaluation of Indianapolis Veterans' Affairs Medical Center Training Contributions to the State of Indiana
Provides information and data on health professionals trained at Veterans' Affairs (VA) facilities. Discuses VA investments, impacts on the Indiana health workforce, and the geographic distribution of VA health professional trainees (HPTs), including population to physician ratios.
Author(s): Courtney Medlock, Mykayla Tobin, Hannah Maxey, et al.
Date: 11/2022
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Bowen Center for Health Workforce Research and Policy
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Native American Veterans: Ensuring Access to VA Health Care and Benefits
Recording of a hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs discusses access to benefits and healthcare for American Indian and Alaska Native veterans. Features testimonies from representatives for the Indian Health Service, the Veterans Health Administration, the Blackfeet Veterans Alliance, the National Congress of American Indians, the National Indian Health Board, and National Council of Urban Indian Health.
Additional links: Larry Wright Jr. Testimony, Leo Pollock Testimony, Mark Upton Testimony, Nickolaus Lewis Testimony, Roselyn Tso Testimony, Sonya Tetnowski Testimony
Date: 11/2022
Type: Video/Multimedia
Sponsoring organizations: Committee on Veterans' Affairs, U.S. Senate
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