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Rural Health Information Hub

Washington Resources

Washington Program Trains Dental Super-Generalists to Serve Rural Communities
Features the University of Washington School of Dentistry's Regional Initiatives in Dental Education (RIDE) program. Describes how the program is structured to create a "super-generalist" able to meet oral health needs in rural and underserved areas. Discusses the program's success placing graduates in rural locations.
Author(s): Kay Miller Temple
Date: 03/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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Assessing the Impact of Washington State's Oral Health Workforce on Patient Access to Care
Examines the oral health workforce and access to oral care in Washington state. Includes information on workforce demographics, rural and urban distribution of oral health providers, and difficulty recruiting dental hygienists and assistants in rural areas. Provides recommendations, policy changes, and potential solutions offered by oral health workforce interviewees.
Additional links: Policy Brief
Author(s): Davis G. Patterson, C. Holly A. Andrilla, Malaika R. Schwartz, Lisa Hager, Susan M. Skillman
Date: 11/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: UW Center for Health Workforce Studies
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Promising Practice: Advisory Group in Washington State Works to Bring Palliative Care to Rural Patients
Describes the Palliative Care Rural Health Integration Advisory Team (PC-RHIAT) initiated by the Washington State Office of Rural Health (WA SORH), which aims to bring palliative care to rural patients through the use of telehealth and community engagement. The WA SORH facilitates this process by bringing experts in palliative care, rural health and telehealth, together with hospitals, clinics, and community team members to develop an action plan based in the rural community and within their healthcare organizations.
Author(s): Beth Blevins
Date: 06/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health
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Behavioral Health Treatment Needs and Outcomes for Washington Counties
Provides county-level behavioral health data for Medicaid enrollees in Washington. Includes data breakdowns for those covered under Medicaid expansion, adults with disabilities, and by race/ethnicity and age group. Covers mental health, substance abuse, co-occurring disorders, criminal justice involvement, emergency department use, homelessness, and more.
Date: 03/2017
Type: Website
Sponsoring organization: Washington State Department of Social and Health Services
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Assessing Differences in the Availability of Opioid Addiction Therapy Options: Rural Versus Urban and American Indian Reservation Versus Non-Reservation
Examines differences in the number of opioid agonist therapy (OAT) facilities and physicians with Drug Addiction Treatment Act (DATA) waivers in the state of Washington. Includes rural versus urban and tribal land versus non-tribal land comparisons.
Author(s): Katherine A. Hirchak, Sean M. Murphy
Citation: Journal of Rural Health, 33(1), 102-109
Date: 01/2017
Type: Document
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New Partner Recruitment to Rural Versus Urban Ob-Gyn Practices: A Survey of Practicing Ob-Gyns
Discusses the results of a survey of obstetrics and gynecology practices in rural and urban areas located in 5 Northwestern states to examine their recruitment efforts. Information and data about their background, practice setting, partner recruitment, and retention was collected and analyzed, with comparisons noted between rural, suburban, and urban providers.
Author(s): Michael F. Fialkow, Carrie M. Snead, Jay Schulkin
Citation: Health Services Research and Managerial Epidemiology, 2017(4)
Date: 2017
Type: Document
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Evaluation of Policy Options for Increasing the Availability of Primary Care Services in Rural Washington State
Analyzes policy options that the Washington state legislature has considered to address a perceived shortage of primary care physicians in rural Washington. Provides background on the rural primary care workforce within the state and projects the impacts each policy option would have through 2025. Policy options considered include: opening a new medical school at Washington State University (WSU), increasing the number of residency positions in the state, increasing loan repayment incentives to encourage rural practice, increasing Medicaid payment rates for rural physicians, and encouraging the use of alternative primary care models.
Additional links: Summary and Key Findings
Author(s): Mark W. Friedberg, Grant R. Martsolf, Chapin White, et al.
Date: 11/2016
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: RAND Corporation
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Working in Rural Health
A video describing the benefits of working as a healthcare provider in a rural location, including testimonials from providers working in rural Washington. Length: 4:25
Date: 07/2016
Type: Video/Multimedia
Sponsoring organization: Washington State Department of Health
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Washington State Suicide Prevention Plan
Outlines a statewide suicide prevention plan for rural and urban individuals, families, and communities in Washington based on the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention. Describes strategies to prevent suicide and make treatment and support services more accessible. Includes statistics on suicide rates by age, race, and rural or urban location.
Date: 01/2016
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Washington State Department of Health
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Columbia Gorge Region, Oregon and Washington: 2016 RWJF Culture of Health Prize Winner
Describes how the communities within the Columbia Gorge region took a collaborative approach by developing a 15-member community advisory committee that included Medicaid recipients and Latino residents. Top concerns addressed by this committee were food, housing, jobs and transportation, along with improved access to dental and mental health, and better coordination among social services and healthcare providers. Projects included expanding the use and training of community health workers (CHWs) to assist Latino residents when navigating programs outside of healthcare and the development of a fruit and vegetable prescription program to support increased intake of healthy foods. A collective impact specialist was hired to help solve community problems through collaborative efforts, and to find grants and other sources of funding to support their projects. Columbia Gorge Region is a recipient of the 2016 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Culture of Health Prize.
Date: 2016
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
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Additional resources are available. See a full list of Washington Resources.


Last Updated: 11/12/2024