- EOP: Improving Rural Health and Telehealth Access
- HHS Awards Over $101 Million to Combat the Opioid Crisis
- Research Brief: Rural Areas Have Higher Individual Health Insurance Premiums and Fewer Plan Choices
- 'Like a Horror Movie': A Small Border Hospital Battles the Coronavirus
- Trump Administration Proposes to Expand Telehealth Benefits Permanently for Medicare Beneficiaries Beyond the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency and Advances Access to Care in Rural Areas
- President Trump Signs Executive Order on Improving Rural Health and Telehealth Access
- Using Pharmacists to Provide Care in Rural Areas
- Rural Counties Playing Catch-up with 2020 Census Response
- FCC Extends 2.5 GHz Rural Tribal Priority Window
- HHS Extends Application Deadline for Medicaid Providers and Plans to Reopen Portal to Certain Medicare Providers
- Rural and Community Hospitals – Disappearing Before Our Eyes
- Helping America's "Forgotten Places" Amid a Pandemic
- Study Examines Telehealth, Rural Disparities in Pandemic
- Research Brief: Rural Nurse Practitioners Work with More Autonomy than Urban Nurse Practitioners
- Native Americans Feel Devastated by the Virus Yet Overlooked in the Data
Differences in Select Measures of Health Care Access, Utilization, and Financial Burden by Urbanicity, 2017
Examines healthcare access, utilization, and financial burden among adults aged 18-64 living in large metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), small MSAs, and nonmetro (rural) areas. Includes both unadjusted data and data adjusted to focus on the effects of urbanicity by accounting for potential sociodemographic or health characteristics that might impact access.
Sponsoring organization: National Center for Health Statistics
Date: 12/2019
Read report here: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr134-508.pdf
Characteristics of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Households: Fiscal Year 2018
Presents an overview of the SNAP Program eligibility requirements and benefit levels. Provides detailed tables showing comparisons in rural-urban areas. Reports that 16.2% of SNAP households are in rural and micropolitan areas. Coverage includes October 2017 through September 2018.
Additional links: Summary
Sponsoring organization: USDA Food and Nutrition Service
Date: 11/2019
Read report here: https://fns-prod.azureedge.net/sites/default/files/resource-files/Characteristics2018.pdf
Characteristics of Physician Assistant Students Planning to Work in Primary Care: A National Study
Examines the predictors associated with physician assistants’ (PAs) intention to practice in primary care. Compares the characteristics of enrolled PA students intending to practice in primary care, and more likely to work in rural practice, with enrolled PAs planning to enter other specialties. Data is taken from the 2013-2014 Physician Assistant Education Association’s (PAEA) Matriculating Student Survey (MSS).
Sponsoring organizations: Center for Health Workforce Studies, University of Washington
Date: 10/2019
Read report here: http://depts.washington.edu/fammed/chws/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2019/10/CharPA-Students-PB-201910.pdf
DOT: Rural Opportunities To Use Transportation for Economic Success: Request for Information
Nov 27, 2019 — The Department of Transportation (DOT) is seeking public comment on unmet transportation needs in rural areas to inform their Rural Opportunities to Use Transportation for Economic Success (ROUTES) initiative. The DOT is specifically looking for information on infrastructure needs, barriers to addressing these needs, applicants’ experiences with applying for DOT grant and credit programs, and opportunities to improve DOT services and technical assistance to rural communities related to grant and credit programs. Comments are due within 30 days of this notice.
Source: Federal Register
Commentary Says Rural Hospitals Should Regionalize Adult Care, Like They Do with Maternity and Infant Care
Nov 30, 2019 — Summarizes a commentary published in the Journal for Rural Health that suggests regionalization of adult healthcare to help save rural hospitals. The authors explain how regionalization could allow hospitals to expand some services and develop specialties to improve patient care.
Source: The Rural Blog
Read here: http://irjci.blogspot.com/2019/11/commentary-says-rural-hospitals-should.html
UK Home to New National Center Studying Economic Impacts of Rural Health Care
Dec 2, 2019 — The new Center for Economic Analysis for Rural Health (CEARH), funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health policy, will focus on increasing awareness of the economic benefits of local health systems and their communities. Housed at the University of Kentucky (UK) College of Agriculture, Food, and Environment, CEARH will be a partnership between the UK and Oklahoma State University with the goal of producing research, response, and solutions to pressing issues facing rural communities.
Source: The Lane Report
Health Affairs Releases Issue on Rural Health
Dec 3, 2019 — The December 2019 issue of Health Affairs features articles focusing on different aspects of rural health, including topics like substance abuse, palliative care, access to care, workforce, mortality disparities, and more.
CDC: Priority Topics for the Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF); Request for Information
Dec 3, 2019 — The Center for Disease Control and Prevention is seeking public comment to identify topics of public health importance to inform the Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF) evidence-based recommendations. The CDC will use the information to guide their selection of priority topics for the next five years. Comments are due by January 23, 2020.
Source: Federal Register
2020 Changes for Emergency Department Transfer Communication Measure (EDTC): Resources Now Available
Dec 4, 2019 — The Federal Office of Rural Health Policy announces a revised version of the Emergency Department Transfer Communication (EDTC) measure which will be used starting with Q1 2020 data collection as part of the Medicare Beneficiary Quality Improvement Program (MBQIP). Includes information on live training sessions to help Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) prepare for and understand the revised specifications.
Source: Stratis Health
Angel Flight East’s Rural & Rare Reach Program
Angel Flight East, a free medical flight service, has expanded their focus to include more patients from rural areas through their Rural & Rare Reach program.