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Rural Health Information Hub

Healthcare Access in Rural Communities – Resources

Selected recent or important resources focusing on Healthcare Access in Rural Communities.

Infants Without Health Insurance: Racial/Ethnic and Rural/Urban Disparities in Infant Households' Insurance Coverage
Explores how the uneven expansion of Medicaid affects the racial/ethnic health insurance coverage for infants across rural and urban areas in the U.S. Highlights spatial patterns in health insurance coverage among infants, and examines the probability that an infant will be born without health insurance coverage using 2011-2015 American Community Survey (ACS) data and logistic regression.
Author(s): Scott R. Sanders, Michael R. Cope, Paige N. Park, Wesley Jeffery, Jorden E. Jackson
Citation: PLoS ONE, 15(1)
Date: 01/2020
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Health Care Use and Access among Rural and Urban Nonelderly Adult Medicare Beneficiaries
Highlights healthcare access and utilization by disabled adults under 65 who are enrolled in Medicare. Compares rural and urban participants by demographics and geographic region, among other measures.
Author(s): Erika Ziller, Amanda Burgess, Deborah Thayer
Date: 01/2020
Sponsoring organization: Maine Rural Health Research Center
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Marketplace Premiums and Insurer Participation: 2017-2020
Reports on changes in average lowest silver premiums in the Affordable Care Act health insurance marketplaces from 2017 to 2020 by state. Table 2 includes rural state-level lowest silver premiums by year for selected states, as well as year-over-year percent change.
Author(s): John Holahan, Erik Wengle, Caroline Elmendorf
Date: 01/2020
Sponsoring organizations: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Urban Institute
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Access to Specialty Healthcare in Urban Versus Rural US Populations: A Systematic Literature Review
Surveys research between January 2013 – August 2018 on healthcare access, seeking clear definition and understanding of barriers to specialty care. Draws data from 67 peer-reviewed articles, presenting a conceptual framework based on common themes. Discusses issues of availability, perception, policy, stigma, and other access factors.
Author(s): Melissa E. Cyr, Anna G. Etchin, Barbara J. Guthrie, James C. Benneyan
Citation: BMC Health Services Research, 19, 974
Date: 12/2019
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Challenges in Managing Acute Cardiovascular Diseases and Follow Up Care in Rural Areas: A Narrative Review
Explores the challenges of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) management and follow-up care in rural areas. Details access and workforce issues that make ACS care challenging in rural and remote areas.
Author(s): Sandra C. Thompson, Lee Nedkoff, Judith Katzenellenbogen, et al.
Citation: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(24), 5126
Date: 12/2019
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Differences in Select Measures of Health Care Access, Utilization, and Financial Burden by Urbanicity, 2017
Examines healthcare access, utilization, and financial burden among adults aged 18-64 living in large metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), small MSAs, and nonmetro (rural) areas. Includes both unadjusted data and data adjusted to focus on the effects of urbanicity by accounting for potential sociodemographic or health characteristics that might impact access.
Author(s): Emily P. Terlizzi, Robin A. Cohen
Date: 12/2019
Sponsoring organization: National Center for Health Statistics
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Partnership Integration for Rural Health Resource Access
Describes an interdisciplinary partnership model combining nursing, public health, and gerontology to address the health and social challenges affecting older adults living in rural areas. Offers steps for developing an interdisciplinary partnership and highlights a model utilizing clinical and non-clinical disciplines to improve rural health resource access.
Author(s): Teresa Sharp, Joyce Weil, Audrey Snyder, et al.
Citation: Rural and Remote Health, 19(4), 5335
Date: 11/2019
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Beyond the Numbers: Access to Reproductive Health Care for Low-Income Women in Five Communities
Highlights the key findings, major themes, and the extent of the challenges faced by low-income women in accessing reproductive and sexual healthcare in urban and rural areas. Identifies promising practices developed by providers to address barriers to care and improve access to healthcare.
Author(s): Usha Ranji, Michelle Long, Alina Salganicoff, et al.
Date: 11/2019
Sponsoring organizations: Health Management Associates, KFF
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Enhancing Services for Deaf, Hard of Hearing, and Deafblind Patients in Rural America
Discusses the barriers to care that rural patients who are deaf, hard of hearing, or deafblind face, including lack of accommodations and inadequate clinician training. Features a Michigan clinic with American Sign Language-fluent staff, a New Jersey state division providing deaf sensitivity training, and a Colorado program that brings interpreters to rural communities.
Author(s): Allee Mead
Citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 10/2019
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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Reported Importance and Access to Health Care Providers Who Understand or Share Cultural Characteristics With Their Patients Among Adults, by Race and Ethnicity
Examines the importance and frequency of seeing culturally competent health care providers among U.S. adults, with data by race and ethnicity. Includes metropolitan and nonmetropolitan data for Hispanic, non-Hispanic White, non-Hispanic Black, and other non-Hispanic adults.
Author(s): Emily P. Terlizzi, Eric M. Connor, Carla E. Zelaya, et al.
Date: 10/2019
Sponsoring organization: National Center for Health Statistics
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Last Updated: 3/21/2025