Rural Health
Resources by Type: Document

Understanding Rural Health Departments: Do They Have Unique Accreditation Needs?
Discusses how governance, organizational size, and other factors impact rural local health departments' ability to pursue voluntary accreditation.
Author(s): Kay Miller Temple
Citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 12/2019
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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It's Possible: Voluntary Accreditation for Rural Public Health Departments
Provides an overview of the public health department accreditation process. Discusses service differences between rural and urban public health departments. Offers advice for rural departments pursuing accreditation.
Author(s): Kay Miller Temple
Citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 12/2019
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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Making Community Health Workers (CHWs) Fundamental: New Research Strengthens the Case for State Policymakers to Include CHWs in Care Delivery Teams
Summarizes key findings from previous Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) funded studies in 9 states on Community Health Workers (CHWs) interventions and their effect on diverse ethnic, racial, socioeconomic and geographic backgrounds, including rural. Offers evidence-based recommendations to help state policymakers integrate CHWs into healthcare delivery teams to improve health outcomes and reduce the cost of healthcare for individuals and populations.
Author(s): Denisse Sanchez, Sinsi Hernández-Cancio, Eliot Fishman
Date: 12/2019
Sponsoring organization: Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute
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The Value Initiative Members in Action: Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center - Lebanon, N.H
Describes how the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center partners with rural and community hospitals to provide telehealth specialty care services across northern New England through the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Connected Care program. Discusses clinical outcomes and patient satisfaction with the telehealth programs. Examines how telehealth services impact staffing and services offered in small and rural hospitals.
Date: 12/2019
Sponsoring organization: American Hospital Association
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Evaluation of the Initiative to Reduce Avoidable Hospitalizations among Nursing Facility Residents-Payment Reform
Third annual report evaluating a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) Innovation payment model intended to reduce avoidable hospitalizations for long-term care nursing facility residents by offering incentives for the provision of in-house care to eligible residents, rather than a transfer to a hospital for treatment. Presents details on the effect of the payment model on Medicare expenditures in the participating states: Alabama, Missouri, Indiana, Nevada, New York, and Pennsylvania. Discusses the implication of the payment model in rural facilities.
Date: 12/2019
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
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Hospitalizations for Inflammatory Bowel Disease Among Medicare Fee-for-Service Beneficiaries — United States, 1999–2017
Reports on hospitalization for Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis among Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries, with data by location of patient residence for urban and rural areas. Includes information on hospitalization rates, surgery rates, readmission rates, mortality, and length of stay.
Author(s): Fang Xu, Anne G. Wheaton, Yong Liu, Hua Lu, Kurt J. Greenlund
Citation: MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report), 68(49), 1134-1138
Date: 12/2019
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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Issue Brief: Integrated Behavioral Health is High-value Care
Highlights the advantages of behavioral health integration. Addresses costs and healthcare outcomes and presents several models for integration in healthcare settings.
Date: 12/2019
Sponsoring organization: American Hospital Association
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Rural-Urban Differences in Access to and Attitudes Toward Care for Medicare Beneficiaries
Results of a study using data from the 2016 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey to analyze differences between rural and urban Medicare beneficiaries in terms of travel time to usual provider, access barriers, and attitudes toward seeking care.
Author(s): Carrie Henning-Smith, Ashley M. Hernandez, Megan Lahr
Date: 12/2019
Sponsoring organization: University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center
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Achieving Health Equity in Preventive Services: Evidence Summary
Summarizes research on achieving health equity in preventive services including screening, counseling, medication, and management for cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes in adult patients by identifying the effects of impediments and barriers that create disparities, and the effectiveness of strategies and interventions to reduce them. Study reports barriers that resulted in or explained a disparity in preventive service, and the effectiveness of the clinician-patient relationship, health information technology, and health system intervention. Studies included African American, Hispanic, Korean and Chinese American, and rural and low-income patients.
Additional links: Full Report
Date: 12/2019
Sponsoring organization: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
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State Incentive Programs that Encourage Allied Health Professionals to Provide Care for Rural and Underserved Populations
Policy brief investigating allied health incentive programs at the state level by examining their goals, policies, practices, and available data on their achievement in recruiting and retaining allied health professionals to rural and underserved areas. Nearly 70 programs were surveyed and documented that provided financial support or training opportunities for 39 different types of allied health professionals and students in return for a service commitment.
Author(s): Malaika R. Schwartz, Davis G. Patterson, Rachelle L. McCarty
Date: 12/2019
Sponsoring organization: UW Center for Health Workforce Studies
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