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Rural Health
Resources by Type: Document

Paving the Way to Equity: A Progress Report (2015-2021)
Provides an overview of the 2015 Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Equity Plan for Improving Quality in Medicare and its Path to Equity, an organizing framework to achieve health equity. Discusses ways CMS has demonstrated progress in increasing understanding and awareness of disparities, developing and disseminating solutions to health equity, and implementing sustainable actions to achieve health equity. Considers emerging opportunities to build on this progress toward health equity. Includes information on rural disparities throughout.
Date: 01/2021
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
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Effect of Behavioral Therapy With In-Clinic or Telephone Group Visits vs In-Clinic Individual Visits on Weight Loss Among Patients With Obesity in Rural Clinical Practice
Examines the difference in weight loss improvements between in-clinic group or telephone visits and in-clinic individual visits. Utilizes data from 1,407 participants visiting 36 primary care practices in the rural Midwestern U.S. and includes descriptive statistics broken down by age, sex, rurality, weight and body mass index, race and ethnicity, and education, among others.
Author(s): Christie A. Befort, Jeffrey J. VanWormer, Cyrus Desouza
Citation: JAMA, 325(4), 363-372
Date: 01/2021
Type: Document
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Community Social Determinants and Health Outcomes Drive Availability of Patient-Centered Medical Homes
Examines the geographic distribution of patient-centered medical homes and whether they appear in communities with greater disease burdens and social vulnerability. Analyzes spatial clusters of mental and physical health surveys, health behaviors, and premature mortality and compares these metrics with medical home saturation and sociodemographic characteristics, including rurality.
Author(s): Nathaniel Bell, Rebecca Wilkerson, Kathy Mayfield-Smith, Ana Lopez-De Fede
Citation: Health & Place, 67, 102439
Date: 01/2021
Type: Document
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Understanding Challenges to Well-Being among Latina FarmWorkers in Rural Idaho Using in an Interdisciplinary, Mixed-Methods Approach
Identifies social, cultural, and workplace-related risk factors impacting well-being in the public and private spheres of 70 female farmworkers in southwestern Idaho. Focuses on 6 themes specific to rural geography and farmworker populations, including long working hours, pesticide exposure, lack of enforcement of regulatory protections, food security, childcare responsibilities, and social isolation.
Author(s): Cynthia L. Curl, Lisa Meierotto, Rebecca L. Som Castellano
Citation: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(1), 169
Date: 01/2021
Type: Document
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The Essential Role of Family Physicians in Providing Cesarean Sections in Rural Communities
Policy brief describing percentages of family physicians (FPs) providing obstetric services and cesarean deliveries as the primary surgeon, using data from the 2017 and 2018 American Board of Family Medicine's Family Medicine Certification Examination registration questionnaire for FPs seeking to continue their certification. Features statistics with breakdowns by urban, micropolitan, large rural, and small rural locations.
Author(s): Sebastian T. Tong, Aimee R. Eden, Zachary J. Morgan, Andrew W. Bazemore, Lars E. Peterson
Citation: Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, 34(1), 10-11
Date: 01/2021
Type: Document
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January 2021 MACPAC Meeting Transcript
Transcript from the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission's (MACPAC) January 2021 meeting. Covers the review of draft chapters and recommendations regarding postpartum coverage, estate recovery, automatic countercyclical financing adjustment, design considerations for creating a new unified program for dually eligible beneficiaries, and housing supports for individuals with substance use disorder, among other things. Also details a MACPAC study on non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT), which includes a discussion of NEMT in rural areas.
Date: 01/2021
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission
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January 2021 MedPAC Meeting Transcript
Transcript from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission's (MedPAC) January 2021 meeting. Features a discussion on the expansion of telehealth in Medicare. Also covers payment adequacy and updates for hospital inpatient and outpatient services and the mandated report expanding the post-acute care transfer policy to hospice, physician and other health professional services, ambulatory surgical center services, outpatient dialysis services, hospice services, skilled nursing facility services, home health agency services, inpatient rehabilitation facility services, long-term care hospital services, and CMMI's development and implementation of alternative payment models.
Date: 01/2021
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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Structural Racism, Racial Inequities and Urban–Rural Differences in Infant Mortality in the US
Examines linked live birth/infant death data between 2013–2017 from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) to determine overall and race-specific associations between 3 county-level structural racism indicators, infant mortality, and rural/urban differences.
Author(s): Dovile Vilda, Rachel Hardeman, Lauren Dyer, Katherine P. Theall, Maeve Wallace
Citation: Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 75(8), 788-793
Date: 01/2021
Type: Document
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Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Rural America
Highlights a study on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on rural America. Explores outcomes in the areas of physical and mental health, household income, and overall well-being. Discusses shifts in employment and their impact on personal and local economies.
Author(s): J. Tom Mueller, Kathryn McConnell, Paul Berne Burow, et al.
Citation: PNAS, 118(1), 2019378118
Date: 01/2021
Type: Document
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A Randomized Controlled Trial Measuring Effects of Extra Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Benefits on Child Food Security in Low-Income Families in Rural Kentucky
Results of a study to determine whether the Ticket to Healthy Food (TTHF) program would reduce child food insecurity among rural, low-income Kentucky households. Features statistics on 1,623 TTHF households, including demographics and food security status before and after the intervention.
Author(s): Gregory J. Chojnacki, Andrew G. Gothro, Philip M. Gleason, Sarah G. Forrestal
Citation: Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 121(1), Supplement, S9-S21
Date: 01/2021
Type: Document
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