Rural Health Disparities – Resources

LGBTQIA+ Health in Rural America
Policy brief discussing LGBTQIA+ health and healthcare in rural areas. Explores limitations to address LGBTQIA+ health in rural communities, policy considerations, and policy recommendations to improve community-level disparities in LGBTQIA+ healthcare.
Author(s): Beth O'Connor, Kaitlin Phelon, Bryan Price, et al.
Date: 03/2022
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Rural Health Association
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Rural Children's Health and Health Care
Examines differences in child health conditions by rural and urban residency. Explores differences in use of preventative dental and medical services by poverty rate, adverse childhood experiences, overweight and obesity, food insecurity, and physical activity.
Date: 02/2022
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Maternal and Child Health Bureau
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Structural Factors That Impact Rural Life Expectancy
Policy position paper focused on challenges to improving life expectancy in rural areas. Offers policy recommendations to address health outcomes in rural populations.
Author(s): Bryan Price, Elizabeth Ruen, Wade Swenson
Date: 02/2022
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Rural Health Association
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Quantifying Rural Disparity in Healthcare Utilization in the United States: Analysis of a Large Midwestern Healthcare System
Analyzes patient utilization of rural versus urban outpatient clinics. Explores electronic health record data from 474,674 adult patients from June 2018 to March 2019 across variables such as age, gender, race, ethnicity, smoking status, and health status. Includes statistics and discussion of clinic utilization in relation to rural healthcare disparities.
Author(s): Akua Nuako, Jingxia Liu, Giang Pham, et al.
Citation: PLoS ONE, 17(2)
Date: 02/2022
Type: Document
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The Problem Of The Color Line: Spatial Access To Hospital Services For Minoritized Racial And Ethnic Groups
Study examining inequities in access to healthcare by race and geography, covering distances to hospital services for minoritized ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (ZTCAs). Discusses factors that lead to disparities in access for rural minority communities, including policy, rural hospital closures, and safety-net program issues.
Additional links: Story Map: The Problem Of The Color Line
Author(s): Jan M. Eberth, Peiyin Hung, Gabriel A. Benavidez, et al.
Citation: Health Affairs, 41(2), 237-246
Date: 02/2022
Type: Document
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Self-Rated Physical Health Among Working-Aged Adults Along the Rural-Urban Continuum — United States, 2021
Reports on differences in self-rated physical health among adults aged 18-64 in large urban, medium/small urban, metro-adjacent rural, and remote rural counties.
Author(s): Danielle C. Rhubart, Shannon M. Monnat
Citation: MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report), 71(5), 161-166
Date: 02/2022
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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Does Primary Care Availability Mediate the Relationship Between Rurality and Lower Life Expectancy in the United States?
Analyzes if the availability of primary care providers (PCPs) is a factor in life expectancy outcomes in rural areas. Utilizes county-level statistics for the years 2010, 2015, and 2017 to see if rural counties with higher PCP density trended toward higher life expectancy. Includes descriptive statistics that show rural versus urban comparisons for life expectancy, race/ethnicity, education level, income, insurance and employment status, rate of elderly residents, and access to/cost of medical care.
Author(s): Arjun Sharma, Sanjay Basu
Citation: Journal of Primary Care & Community Health, 13
Date: 2022
Type: Document
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Trends in Racial, Ethnic, Sex, and Rural-Urban Inequities in Health Care in Medicare Advantage: 2009-2018
Presents an analysis of historical trends in inequities by race and ethnicity, sex, and rural-urban residence among Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare Advantage (MA) plans nationwide. Uses patient experience and clinical care measures to examine how inequities in healthcare have changed between 2009 and 2018, how scores for each beneficiary group have changed over time, and which inequities remained in 2018.
Date: 12/2021
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, RAND Corporation
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2019 National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report: Chartbook on Rural Health Care
Summarizes trends in healthcare quality and disparities for rural populations. Includes quality measures for access to healthcare, patient safety, person-centered care, care coordination, effective treatment, healthy living, and affordability.
Author(s): Barbara Barton, Romsai Tony Boonyasai, Cecilia Hahn
Date: 11/2021
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
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NIH Rural Health Seminar: Structural-Level Determinants of Rural Health Disparities
Recording of a seminar that examines structural-level determinants of rural health disparities, including sociocultural and economic determinants, physical environmental determinants, and research, evaluation, measurement, and policy methods and implications.
Additional links: Seminar Agenda, Speaker Biographies
Date: 11/2021
Type: Video/Multimedia
Sponsoring organizations: National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, National Institutes of Health
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