- Rural Children Struggle to Access Hospital Services, Say Researchers
- Outlining the Intersection between Health Care and Missing and Murdered Indigenous People
- Biden-Harris Administration Announces Critical More Than $1.5 Billion State and Tribal Opioid Response Funding Opportunities
- RPHARM Program Fulfills Need for Rural Pharmacists
- Farmers Don't Do Mental Health
- A Pilot Program in Rural Vermont Hopes to Build a Blueprint for Substance Abuse Recovery
- Rural Telehealth Extension Reintroduced in Congress
- Students From Across the State Emphasized the Need for Mental Health Resources in Rural Alaska During a Conference
- The South Was the Center of Rural Population Growth Last Year
- How HHS SUD Confidentiality Regulations Will Impact Rural Providers
- VA Announces Expansion of "Close to Me" Cancer Program as Part of the Cancer Moonshot, Bringing Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment Closer to Thousands of Veterans
- Navajo Psychiatrist Bridges Gaps Between Native American Culture and Behavioral Health Care
- Biden-Harris Administration Releases National Strategy for Suicide Prevention and First-Ever Federal Action Plan
- Biden Administration Sets Higher Staffing Mandates. Most Nursing Homes Don't Meet Them.
- Rural Communities Face Primary Care Physician Shortage
NASHP Proposes State Strategies for Rural Behavioral Health
This brief from the National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP) considers strategies drawn from states that participated in NASHP’s Policy Academy on Rural Mental Health Crisis Services.
Read About States’ Best Practices for Rural Economies and Health Care
Commentary from the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices summarizes themes and key takeaways from two virtual roundtables focused on equitable economic development and equitable healthcare for rural communities.
Read the Guide to Capital Resources for Rural Communities Here!
The National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health will continue to update this list of community development resources from national, federal, regional, and philanthropic organizations.
New Report on Use of Electronic Health Information Exchange Has Been Released
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) interviewed federal and state officials and reviewed survey data from providers to learn how the use of electronic health information exchange changed since the enactment of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act in 2009. GAO found that the use of electronic exchange among hospitals and physicians increased in recent years but use among small and rural hospitals was lower than that of other hospitals. This finding may be because small and rural providers are less likely to have the financial and technical resources to participate in electronic exchange—such as adequate IT staff and sufficient access to broadband internet.
Read About The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Program in a Rural Context
In a project supported by the federal Administration for Children and Families, researchers gathered administrative data and conducted interviews with human services providers at 11 rural sites in Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina. The resulting brief provides a series of lessons learned and practitioners’ recommendations for the use of federal funding through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program, also known as TANF. For almost 30 years, TANF has provided an annual block grant to states that gives them flexibility to design state-based programs for low-income families with children. In interviews, TANF program staff and members of community partner organizations described various caseload management approaches, service delivery models, and adaptations for their rural contexts.
Recent Study Released Regarding Care Coordination Between Rural Primary Care and Telemedicine for OUD
The study tested a care coordination model in six rural primary care sites during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, from July 2020 to January 2021. Each clinic tracked patients with opioid use disorder (OUD) as they received medication treatment from an external telemedicine provider.