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Rural Health
Resources by Type: Document

Health Reform and Changes in Health Insurance Coverage in 2017
Examines changes in healthcare coverage over three time periods: before the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) major coverage expansions took effect in 2014; during the Obama Administration after the expansion began in 2014; and during the Trump Administration in 2017 in rural and urban populations in the U.S. Includes rural statistics on healthcare coverage changes from 2013-2017.
Author(s): Benjamin D. Sommers, Kathryn L. Clark, Arnold M. Epstein
Date: 03/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
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What's MAT Got to Do with It? Medication-Assisted Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder in Rural America
Provides an overview of medication-assisted treatment (MAT), an evidence-based treatment for opioid use disorder, with information on the science behind the disorder and how three MAT medications work. Highlights rural health organizations providing MAT treatment.
Author(s): Kay Miller Temple
Date: 03/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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MedPAC Report to the Congress: Medicare Payment Policy, 2018
Annual review of Medicare payment policies, with recommendations to Congress. Includes discussion on Medicare payment policies directly affecting rural providers and beneficiaries. Addresses Medicare Part D, Medicare Advantage, telehealth, payment incentive programs, and payment adequacy for healthcare facilities and services.
Additional links: Chapter 14 Online-Only Appendixes: The Medicare Prescription Drug Program (Part D): Status Report (March 2018 Report, Revised June 25, 2018), Chapter 16 Online-Only Appendixes: Mandated Report: Telehealth Services and the Medicare Program (March 2018 report), Errata Sheet: Table 9-7, Page 255 (March 2018 Report, Revised May 30, 2018)
Date: 03/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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Report to Congress on Medicaid and CHIP, March 2018
Reports on three aspects of Medicaid: managed care, telehealth, and Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) payments. Chapter 2 discusses how the use of telehealth services can help patients access healthcare services in rural and frontier areas. Chapter 3 includes the third annual report on DSH payments, which provide support to safety-net hospitals to help offset uncompensated care costs for Medicaid and uninsured patients. Table 3-2 identifies DSH spending for urban and rural hospitals and for Critical Access Hospitals.
Date: 03/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission
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Achieving Rural Health Equity and Well-Being: Proceedings of a Workshop
Proceedings of a workshop designed to explore impacts of economic issues, immigration, and racial inequities in healthcare in rural communities and to learn about asset-based approaches to addressing these challenges. Features statistics including average life expectancy at birth from 1969-2009 with breakdowns by metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas, U.S. maps showing levels of poverty and employment, and a chart showing numbers of rural hospital closures from 2005-2017.
Additional links: Read Online
Date: 03/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Health and Medicine Division (HMD), National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
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Medicare Accountable Care Organization Growth in Rural America, 2014-2016
Data report comparing accountable care organization (ACO) growth in metropolitan and nonmetropolitan counties. Features statistics including numbers of ACOs with attributed beneficiaries, beneficiaries attributed to an ACO per county, growth in percentage of fee-for-service beneficiaries, and growth in percentage of beneficiaries attributed to ACOs, with breakdowns by metropolitan and nonmetropolitan counties.
Author(s): A. Clinton MacKinney, Fred Ullrich, Keith Mueller
Date: 03/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
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Opioid Overdoses Treated in Emergency Departments
Describes trends in opioid overdose emergency department (ED) visits and discusses what the federal government, health departments, EDs, and healthcare providers can do. Includes links to related CDC resources.
Date: 03/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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Residential Settings and Healthcare Use of the Rural "Oldest-Old" Medicare Population
Results of a study using Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey data to profile rural and urban Medicare beneficiaries ages 85+ in terms of their demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, residential settings, health and functional status, and healthcare use. Features statistics on these topics with breakdowns by rural and urban location.
Author(s): Nathan Paluso, Zachariah Croll, Deborah Thayer, Jean A. Talbot, Andrew F. Coburn
Date: 03/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Maine Rural Health Research Center
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Hospital Compare Quality Measure Results for CAHs, 2016
Examines Hospital Compare inpatient and outpatient process of care and structural measures among Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) in 2016. Includes data on reporting rates and performance for specific quality measures, and state-by-state comparison of CAH reporting rates for inpatient and outpatient measures.
Author(s): Megan Lahr, Alex Evenson, Tongtan Chantarat, Michelle Casey
Date: 03/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Flex Monitoring Team
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2017 Transportation Trends Topic Spotlight: Rural Travel Training
Presents a report on rural travel training programs. Discusses the challenges and opportunities rural elderly and people with disabilities face in navigating their communities. Features several examples of programs exhibiting best practices.
Date: 03/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Aging and Disability Transportation Center
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