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Rural Veterans and Access to Healthcare – Resources

Selected recent or important resources focusing on Rural Veterans and Access to Healthcare.

Reducing Rural Veteran Suicides: Navigating Geospatial and Community Contexts for Scaling up a National Veterans Affairs Program
Details the development of planning maps to facilitate the recruitment of rural veterans into a community-based suicide prevention program. Aims to identify the percentages of rural veterans enrolled in the Veterans Health Administration, of veterans in the total population, and of suicide mortality for each county mapped.
Author(s): Carlee J. Kreisel, Lauren K. Wilson, Alexandra L. Schneider, et al.
Citation: Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 51(2), 344-351
Date: 04/2021
Type: Document
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Rural Suicide Prevention: Reviewing the Evidence and Gaps
Cyberseminar discusses current state of suicide prevention for rural veterans. Highlights data, risk and protective factors, and current and potential prevention practices. Details knowledge gaps and makes recommendations for researchers.
Additional links: Audio Recording, Presentation Slides
Author(s): Nate Mohatt
Date: 04/2021
Type: Video/Multimedia
Sponsoring organization: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
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VA Health Care: Efforts Needed to Ensure Effective Use and Appropriate Staffing of Suicide Prevention Teams
Report evaluates the Veterans Health Administration's (VHA's) utilization of suicide prevention teams to prevent suicides among veterans. Evaluation makes recommendations for elevating benchmarks of the program and improving team staffing.
Additional links: Full Report
Date: 04/2021
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Government Accountability Office
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Factors Affecting Adoption of Coordinated Anxiety Learning and Management (CALM) in Veterans' Affairs Community-Based Outpatient Clinics
Explores the efficacy of a training program designed to educate rural providers on evidence-based psychotherapies (EBPs) in VHA affiliated clinics. Details the barriers and facilitators of the program in rural areas and features the perspectives of providers who participated in the program.
Author(s): Anthony H. Ecker, Traci H. Abraham, Lindsey A. Martin, et al.
Citation: Journal of Rural Health, 37(2), 447-455
Date: 03/2021
Type: Document
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Behavioral Health Care in the Military Health System: Access and Quality for Remote Service Members
Explores the role geographic location plays in access to behavioral healthcare for service members through the Military Health System (MHS). Highlights the challenges of rural service members to access care for depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and substance use disorder through MHS. Breaks down data by age, race, gender, and remote versus non-remote location, among other measures.
Additional links: Full Report
Author(s): Kimberly A. Hepner, Ryan Andrew Brown, Carol P. Roth, et al.
Date: 03/2021
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: RAND Corporation
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Video Telehealth Expands Care for Veterans with Multiple Sclerosis
Features a report on promising practices in providing access to care for rural veterans with multiple sclerosis (MS) via video-based telehealth. Details the traditional barriers to care for MS patients in rural areas and how the video telehealth model can help patients overcome them.
Date: 02/2021
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Veterans Health Administration's Office of Rural Health
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Increasing Rural Patient Access Using Clinical Pharmacy Specialist Providers: Successful Practice Integration Within the Department of Veterans Affairs
Highlights a study on the efficacy of the Veterans Affairs' clinical pharmacy specialist program in improving rural access to care. Evaluates outcomes in primary care, mental health, and pain management.
Author(s): Julie A Groppi, Heather Ourth, Michael Tran, et al.
Citation: American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, 78(8), 712-719
Date: 02/2021
Type: Document
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Telehealth in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Rural Veteran and Military Beneficiaries
Presents a study on the use of telehealth to provide mental healthcare to rural veterans during the COVID-19 pandemic. Discusses the Veterans Health Administration and the Defense Health Agency's use of telehealth and telemental health and their effectiveness in treating rural veterans.
Author(s): Robert D. Shura, Timothy W. Brearly, Larry A. Tupler
Citation: Journal of Rural Health, 37(1), 200-204
Date: 01/2021
Type: Document
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Flattening the Curve by Getting Ahead of It: How the VA Healthcare System Is Leveraging Telehealth to Provide Continued Access to Care for Rural Veterans
Describes the Veterans Health Administration's efforts to use telehealth to provide behavioral health services to rural veterans affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Author(s): Ursula S. Myers, Anna Birks, Anouk L. Grubaugh, R. Neal Axon
Citation: Journal of Rural Health, 37(1), 194-196
Date: 01/2021
Type: Document
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Virtual Care QUERI Program: Improve Access to Care for Rural Veterans
Presents information on the VA's Virtual Care QUERI Program, which provides mental healthcare for rural veterans via telehealth services at home or through community-based outpatient clinics (CBOCs). Highlights program information, implementation strategies, and potential impacts.
Date: 2021
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration
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Last Updated: 9/16/2024