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Rural Healthcare Workforce – Resources

Selected recent or important resources focusing on Rural Healthcare Workforce.

Treating Rural America: The Last Doctor in Town
3 part documentary discussing challenges with accessing healthcare in rural communities. Part 1, "The Last Doctor in Town," highlights shortages of physicians in rural areas. Part 2, "The New Country Doctors," discusses rural residencies and the role of a rural physician. Part 3, "The Telehealth Solution," discusses the role of telehealth as a possible solution for barriers to care. Captions are available in the video player.
Additional links: The New Country Doctors, The Telehealth Solution
Author(s): Hyacinth Empinado
Date: 2023
Type: Video/Multimedia
Sponsoring organization: STAT
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Supporting and Sustaining the Current and Future Workforce to Care for People with Serious Illness: Proceedings of a Workshop (2023)
Summarizes discussions from an April 2023 public workshop exploring strategies and approaches to address major workforce challenges, including health professional well-being, workforce shortages, workforce training and retention, and advancing the diversity, equity, and inclusion of the workforce. Includes a section on well-being of the clinical workforce in rural areas.
Author(s): Roundtable on Quality Care for People with Serious Illness
Date: 2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Health and Medicine Division (HMD), National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
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Provision of Evaluation and Management Visits by Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants in the USA from 2013 to 2019: Cross-sectional Time Series Study
Evaluated healthcare visits of Medicare patients between 2013 and 2019 to determine trends in proportion of visits by a nurse practitioner or physician assistant versus a physician. Includes analyses of clinical setting, diagnosis, and various patient characteristics including rurality. Discusses workforce shortage impacts on the findings.
Author(s): Sadiq Y. Patel, David Auerbach, Haiden A. Huskamp, et al.
Citation: BMJ, 382, e073933
Date: 2023
Type: Document
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A Population Health Workforce to Meet 21st Century Challenges and Opportunities: Proceedings of a Workshop
Proceedings from a February 28, 2022 workshop exploring challenges faced by public health workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, renewed policymaker attention, and expenditures directed to supporting the public health workforce. Intended to showcase the training, roles of, and setting for population health workers. Includes information focused on tribal communities in chapters 3 and 4.
Author(s): Roundtable on Population Health Improvement
Date: 2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Health and Medicine Division (HMD), National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
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Rural Communities in the United States Face Persistent Disparities in Access to Orthopaedic Surgical Care
Examines trends in the proportion of orthopedic surgeons practicing in rural areas between 2013 to 2018 using data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Physician Compare National Downloadable File (PC-NDF). Identifies the proportion of rural U.S. counties with access to orthopedic surgeons. Describes the characteristics associated with surgeons practicing in a rural setting.
Author(s): Victoria S. Wu, Jenna E. Schmidt, Tarun K. Jella, et al.
Citation: The Iowa Orthopaedic Journal, 431(1), 15-21
Date: 2023
Type: Document
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Hidden Crisis: Pediatric Oral Health In Rural America
Highlights barriers to rural pediatric oral health, along with proposed solutions. Examines Dental Health Professional Shortage Areas, oral health literacy, and needed Medicaid reforms. Features model oral health programs in Washington, Montana, North Dakota, Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska, Louisiana, North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland, and includes profiles of several rural providers.
Author(s): Michael A. Ignelzi, Tegwyn Brickhouse, Erica Caffrey, et al.
Date: 2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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Exploring Remaining Needs and Opportunities for Improvement in Rural Communities: A Focus on Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) Programs
Report explores the distribution and impact of the Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) in rural counties. Details the grant recipient type and location by state and county. Discusses the remaining need for HPOG in rural counties.
Author(s): Emma Ward, Emily Brimsek, James Murdoch, Neel Chakraborti
Date: 12/2022
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: 2M Research, Administration for Children and Families
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State Strategies to Support the Future of the Primary Care Physician and Nursing Workforce
Discusses primary care physician and nursing workforce challenges, including the shortage of these providers in rural and underserved areas. Describes policies and strategies implemented by states to address these challenges. Offers resources for states, health systems, and academic institutions exploring innovative strategies to address healthcare workforce challenges.
Author(s): Elaine Chhean, Anita Cardwell, Lauren Block, Sarah Tocher
Date: 12/2022
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Academy for State Health Policy
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Health Care Access in the Heartland: How to Improve Services in Rural America
Outlines strategies policymakers and community leaders in rural America can use to improve healthcare access and services. Combines data analysis of county demographics and health data with focus groups in Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Tennessee. Provides expert interviews to better understand healthcare access in rural communities.
Author(s): Darren Chapman, Angie Cooper, Elizabeth Dombowsky, et al.
Date: 12/2022
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Heartland Forward
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National Advisory Council on the National Health Service Corps (NACNHSC) Meeting Minutes, November 15-16, 2022
Minutes from the November 15-16, 2022 meeting, including presentations on collaborative care, shortage designation policy, HRSA's geriatrics programs, family caregivers, effects of COVID-19, and National Health Service Corps updates.
Additional links: Agenda, Caring for the Care Collaborator: Building and Sustaining the Competent Team, Health Resources and Services Administration's Geriatrics Programs, Leading In Challenging Times… Creating the Future We Want and Our Communities and Patients Need, Policy Updates, Preparing Clinicians to "R.A.I.S.E." Family Caregivers
Date: 11/2022
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Advisory Council on the National Health Service Corps
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Last Updated: 11/15/2024