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Rural Health Information Hub

Substance Use and Misuse in Rural Areas – Resources

Selected recent or important resources focusing on Substance Use and Misuse in Rural Areas.

Opioid Use Disorder: Rural Policy Brief
Policy brief focused on preventing rural opioid overdoses and reducing overdose deaths in rural areas. Identifies policy options and strategies including evidence-based prescribing methods, medication-assisted treatment (MAT), and overdose reversing medication. Includes three brief case studies.
Type: Website
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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Drug Overdose Deaths in Appalachia
Interactive map highlights drug overdose deaths in Appalachia by county. Features demographic information such as race/ethnicity, educational attainment, and disability status, as well as economic factors such as poverty rate, unemployment rate, and accident-prone employment, among others. Choose the Appalachian Overdose Mapping Tool button when prompted to choose a tool.
Type: Map/Mapping System
Sponsoring organizations: Appalachian Regional Commission, NORC at the University of Chicago
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Opioid Misuse in Rural America
Features information and resources pertaining to opioid misuse in rural communities. Includes USDA programs and examples of best practices.
Type: Website
Sponsoring organization: U.S. Department of Agriculture
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Trends in Opioid-Related Hospitalizations
Presents data on opioid-related hospitalizations for 2009-2014 and 2016. Includes national and state-level data by patient location for metropolitan and rural areas.
Type: Website
Sponsoring organization: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
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U.S. Opioid Dispensing Rate Maps
A collection of maps showing retail opioid dispensing rates from 2019-2022 at the county and state level.
Type: Map/Mapping System
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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HCUP Fast Stats - Opioid-Related Hospital Use
Provides access to data on opioid-related inpatient stays and emergency department (ED) visits over a range of years. Data is available at the national and state level. To access rural data, select the Trend Graph or Trend Table view and select Patient location under Characteristics. Inpatient or ED data can be selected under Hospital Settings.
Type: Website
Sponsoring organization: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
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Rural Prevention and Treatment of Substance Use Disorders Toolkit
Resources and best practices to help rural communities develop substance use disorder prevention and treatment programs. Identifies program models and examples, and discusses implementation, evaluation, sustainability, and dissemination of program results.
Type: Website
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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County-Level Drug Overdose Mortality in the United States, 2003-2020
Collection of data visualizations showing drug overdose rates at the national, state, and county levels. Includes urban-rural trends by state with data for metropolitan, micropolitan, and noncore areas.
Type: Map/Mapping System
Sponsoring organization: National Center for Health Statistics
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Medicare Part D Opioid Prescribing Mapping Tool
Interactive mapping tool identifies opioid prescription rates at the state, county, and zip code level for de-identified Medicare Part D claims in 2022. Also offers rural/urban opioid prescribing data, changes in prescribing rates in 1 year and 5 year increments, and hot spots and outliers in long-acting opioid prescribing.
Type: Map/Mapping System
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
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SAMHSA's Tribal Training and Technical Assistance Center
Provides culturally relevant and evidence-based training and technical assistance on mental health and substance use disorders, and suicide prevention to federally recognized tribes, other American Indian/Alaska Native communities, SAMHSA tribal grantees and other organizations that serve Indian Country.
Type: Website
Sponsoring organization: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
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Additional resources are available related to this guide. See the full list of resources by topic for:


Last Updated: 10/22/2024