- Fact Sheet: The Biden-Harris Administration Highlights Investments in Rural America, Invites Public Nominations for Rural Innovators Initiative
- Rural Victims of Intimate-Partner Violence Need More Resources and Support, Study Finds
- A Tribe in Maine Is Using Opioid Settlement Funds on a Sweat Lodge to Treat Addiction
- Fact Sheet: USDA, HHS Announce New Actions to Reduce Impact and Spread of H5N1
- Call for Experts: Forum on Aging, Disability, and Independence
- Bill to Expand Definition of 'Village' Qualifying for Water Funds Passes Alaska House
- Child Care Workers Caught in Middle of Michigan's Broken Child Care System
- Few Options Available for Substance Abuse Treatment in the Big Bend
- In Rural Texas, ERs Are Facing a Growing Mental Health Crisis
- Ways and Means Members Put Forth Solutions to Strengthen Telehealth Access and Improve Health Care for Rural Communities
- Sage Memorial Hospital in Navajo Nation Constructs New Facility to Improve Health Care
- How the State, Tribes and Federal Government Are Working to Curb SD's Syphilis Epidemic
- Rural Children Struggle to Access Hospital Services, Say Researchers
- RPHARM Program Fulfills Need for Rural Pharmacists
- A Pilot Program in Rural Vermont Hopes to Build a Blueprint for Substance Abuse Recovery
Take A Look at the Latest Suicide Data and the Changes Over the Last Decade
The Kaiser Family Foundation examines newly released provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showing a record high of 49,369 suicide deaths in 2022. Rates were highest among American Indian and Alaska Native people, males, and people who live in rural areas. Suicide by firearm is identified as the primary driver of the increase – up by 8 percent from 2020 and another 3 percent in 2022, while deaths from other suicide methods remained more stable.
Here You Can Find An Analysis of Newly-Released Federal Data on Hospital Ownership
The Office for Evaluation at the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services analyzed data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The report covers all U.S. hospitals enrolled in Medicare with data on hospital type, rural/urban location, organizational structure, and types of ownership – organizational and hospital chains, and individual owners.
A Heat-Related EMS Activation Surveillance Dashboard Has Been Released
An interactive map shows county-level Emergency Medical Services (EMS) activations related to heat illness. Selecting the Disparity Explorer tab shows patient data related to EMS response time, rate of EMS activation, number of deaths, and EMS transportation for patients at the urban, suburban, rural, and frontier levels. Updated weekly, the dashboard is sponsored by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Office of Climate Change and Health Equity at the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.
In a Maternity Desert, a New Kind of Home Visitation Program Brings Care to At-Risk Mothers
The latest feature article in the Rural Health Information Hub’s Rural Monitor features Project Swaddle, a community paramedic program that provides education, support, and medical care to pregnant and postpartum patients in rural Indiana.
Here You Can Read the Rural/urban Differences in Rates of Screening Pregnant/Postpartum People for Intimate Partner Violence
More than 200,000 self-reported experiences of perinatal intimate partner violence (IPV) were analyzed. FORHP-funded researchers conclude IPV is more common among rural birthing people, who are less likely to be screened for abuse compared with their urban peers.
A Consensus Panel Approach to Estimating the Start-Up and Annual Service Costs for Rural Ambulance Agencies
This brief from the Maine Rural Health Research Center serves to fill the information void on the costs of running ambulance services for three population-based service tiers and establishes a minimum access standard for ambulances servicing a 25-minute travel time radius from the ambulance station. The model enables policymakers and community stakeholders to develop strategic plans for the financing and provision of ambulance services.
Here You Can Explore A Rural Accountable Care Organization’s Journey
The FORHP-supported Rural Health Value team recently released a new Rural Innovative Profile on the South East Rural Physicians Alliance Accountable Care Organization. A physician-led ACO that includes 16 physician-owned clinics in Nebraska has been leveraging healthcare payment and delivery models to provide high-quality, comprehensive, coordinated, and patient-centered care at a lower cost.
Association of State and Territorial Health Officials Release a Video for Maintaining Patient Access to Care in Rural America
The Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) provide a recording of their hour-long webinar that discusses federal priorities and policy efforts related to rural health care.
PA Data Center Provides Census Bureau Updates and More
2023 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs)
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released the Revised Delineations of Metropolitan Statistical Areas, Micropolitan Statistical Areas, and Combined Statistical Areas, and Guidance on Uses of the Delineations of These Areas. Click here to view the bulletin.
The OMB Bulletin uses OMB’s 2020 Standards for Delineating Core Based Statistical Areas. It is also the first delineation to use the 2020 Decennial Census, American Community Survey, and Census Population Estimates Program data.
2030 Census
Planning for the 2030 Census – the 25th in U.S. history – is underway. To develop the operational design, the U.S. Census Bureau will factor in past census experiences, your feedback, and new research. They will also consider evolving technologies and the changing world around us. The Census Bureau also released an updated timeline showing the lead-up to the 2030 Census. Click here to learn more.
New Report on Aging Veterans
A new report released by the U.S. Census Bureau shows U.S. veterans 65 years or older were less likely to be at risk of experiencing social isolation than other older adults. The report, Aging Veterans: America’s Veteran Population in Later Life, examines characteristics of the nation’s 8.1 million veterans ages 65 or older in 2021.
New Policy Brief Analyzes Medicare Advantage Participation Across Geographies
New from the RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
Distributional Analysis of Variation in Medicare Advantage Participation Within and Between Metropolitan, Micropolitan, and Noncore Counties
Dan Shane, PhD; Ufuoma Ejughemre, MD, MSc; Fred Ullrich, BA; Keith Mueller, PhD
This policy brief uses county-level information from 2017-2022 on population and MA plans to analyze relative MA participation rates by geographic classification. We use Urban Influence Codes to split counties into metropolitan, micropolitan, and noncore categories. Within each geographic classification, we order counties into quintiles by MA penetration rate (MA enrollees / Medicare-eligible enrollees) with the lowest 20% of county penetration rates comprising the first quintile. We find consistent growth in the median number of plans and median enrollment across all geographic classifications and all quintiles between 2017 and 2022, with slightly higher growth in micropolitan and noncore counties. We also find that growth rates were consistently higher in the lowest quintiles (lowest penetration rates) in each geographic classification. However, the absolute differences in median number of plans and median enrollment between these lowest-ranked counties and higher ranking counties in MA participation remained the same.
Key Findings
- From 2017 through 2022, growth (measured as percent increase) in the number of MA plans and MA enrollment rates was higher in noncore and micropolitan counties than in metropolitan counties, but metropolitan enrollment rates remained higher than nonmetropolitan enrollment rates. The median number of MA plans in metropolitan counties is higher than that in micropolitan counties which is higher than the median number of plans in noncore counties.
- Within each rural-urban classification, percent growth in MA penetration rates, plans, and enrollment has been highest in counties with the lowest participation rates in 2017.
Population size is closely tied to higher participation rates both within and across geographic classifications, with the important caveat that micropolitan and noncore counties with higher MA participation exceed rates that population only would suggest.
Click here to read the full report.