- Weathering the Storm Together: Community Resiliency Hubs Hold the Promise of Local Self-Sufficiency and Supportive Mutual Aid
- Virginia Tech Researchers Bring Rural Families into the Nation's Largest Study of Early Brain and Child Development
- Expanding Access to Cancer Care for Rural Veterans
- VA: Veterans Rural Health Advisory Committee, Notice of Meeting
- Scaling Rural Wellness with Clever Collaboration
- Stroudwater Associates Enhances Rural Healthcare Dashboard with New Data to Support State Rural Transformation Grant Applications
- Harvest Season Is Here: Busy Times Call for Increased Focus on Safety and Health
- HHS Dispatches More Than 70 Public Health Service Officers to Strengthen Care in Tribal Communities
- Wisconsin Rural Hospitals Team up to Form Network
- CMS Launches Landmark $50 Billion Rural Health Transformation Program
- American Heart Association Provides Blood Pressure Kits at Southeast Arkansas Regional Libraries to Support Rural Health
- Broadening Access to Minimally Invasive Surgery Could Narrow Rural-Urban Health Gaps
- Instead of Selling, Some Rural Hospitals Band Together To Survive
- Help Line Gives Pediatricians Crucial Mental Health Information to Help Kids, Families
- Rural Health: A Strategic Opportunity for Governors
2026 Pre-K for Pennsylvania Maps and Fact Sheets Now Available
Each year, Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children (PPC) creates interactive maps for the Pre-K for PA campaign, and our 2026 maps and corresponding fact sheets are now available. Data on pre-k is available at the statewide, county, school district, and legislative district levels. The maps highlight the unmet need for high-quality, publicly funded pre-k at each geographic level, including data points such as the eligible child populations, high-quality, publicly funded enrollment, and the number of high-quality pre-k locations.
Statewide, of the 138,613 eligible children ages 3 and 4 living in Pennsylvania, only 48% have access to high-quality pre-kindergarten. With workforce challenges in the sector, an additional 7,152 pre-k educators are needed to serve the remaining eligible children.
For meaningful progress toward building an affordable, high-quality pre-k system that benefits children and families, the Pre-K for PA is asking the General Assembly for the following investments in the Fiscal Year 2026-2027 budget:
- $2 million increase for the Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program.
- $7.5 million increase for Pre-K Counts.
Prevalence of Selected Chronic Conditions Among Adults Age 45+: United States, 2024
A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides data on the prevalence of heart disease, cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and stroke among adults age 45 and older by level of rurality, using data from the CDC’s 2024 National Health Interview Survey.Â
Report: Trends Among Medicare Special Needs Plan Enrollment in Metropolitan, Nonmetropolitan Areas
Special Needs Plans (SNPs) are Medicare Advantage (MA) plans that provide benefits and services to people with specific conditions, health care needs, or who also have Medicaid.
This brief examines recent trends in MA SNP enrollment by type and geographic variation across metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas.Â
Updated Topic Guides Available at the RHIhub
With support from HRSA’s Federal Office of Rural Health Policy, the Rural Health Information Hub (RHIhub) has been updating their Topic Guides that bring together key resources and information in one spot.
Newly updated this week: Social Determinants of Health for Rural People, and Conducting Rural Health Research, Needs Assessments, and Program Evaluations.
Sign Up to Receive Updates and Information on Pennsylvania’s RHTP
Join the Pennsylvania Department of Health Service (DHS) Rural Health Transformation Plan (RHTP) Listserv to get periodic updates on Pennsylvania’s planning, progress, and opportunities. The RHTP will be a coordinated regional approach with longstanding regional economic development organizations that will serve as cross-sector conveners to drive economic strategies and carry out the implementation.
Subscribe here. For additional questions, utilize the RHTP Inquiry Form.
Common Cancers Examined in Metropolitan and Non-metropolitan Counties
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a new United States Cancer Statistics report examining cancer incidence and death rates in the U.S. from 2018–2022. Deaths for each of the common cancer types were higher in non-metropolitan (rural) counties than in metropolitan counties. The report includes a data visualization tool that allows you to filter the data by age and sex as well as rurality.Â
Usual Source of Care Identified for Rural Medicare Fee-for-Service Beneficiaries in 2021
Having a regular place to go for health care—often called a usual source of care (USC)—is important because it helps people get timely and consistent medical attention. This brief describes where rural Medicare Fee-for-Service (FFS) beneficiaries received their routine care in 2021 and which groups were most likely to lack a regular care source. It also looks at how access differs across rural areas and regions of the country. Understanding these patterns is important for policymakers working to strengthen rural health care systems and reduce gaps in access.
Key Findings:
A USC is typically defined as a health care provider or facility that patients visit for consistent and ongoing primary care. This study found:
- Overall, 89.1 percent of rural Medicare FFS beneficiaries had a USC, 10.9 percent did not. Most beneficiaries used private provider offices as their USC, followed by Rural Health Clinics (RHCs), Federally Qualified Health Centers, Prospective Payment System hospitals, and Critical Access Hospitals.
- Beneficiaries more likely to lack a USC included males and those under age 65 who qualify based on disability.
- Beneficiaries using private provider offices were predominantly from large rural areas, while RHC use grew with increasing rurality.
- Regional patterns varied: the South had the highest use of private provider offices; the Midwest had the greatest reliance on RHCs; and the West had the highest percentage without a USC.
Brief Compares Management of Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors by Rural and Urban Primary Care
Despite the beneficial impact on health of preventive screening for cardiovascular disease (CVD), screening rates remain low. This brief compares management of CVD risk factors between rural and urban primary care practices, using quality measures, in a large national registry.
Key Findings:
- From 2016 to 2020, blood pressure control and intervention for tobacco use improved in primary care practices.
- For both quality measures, rural practices had similar rates of performance and improvement as urban practices.
- Large and small rural primary care practices provide comparable quality of care to urban practices on these key measures of cardiovascular risk.
Census Bureau Highlights Measures for Black History Month
The Census Bureau released statistics related to “Measuring Black Enterprise” and more for Black History Month. Click here to read the release.
Pennsylvania Highlights
We highlight Black or African American Pennsylvanians across measures of educational achievement, veteran status, and select economic indicators using the 2024 ACS 1-Year Estimates [Source].
Population
The Black or African American alone population in PA in 2024: 1,378,148
Education (individuals age 25+: 909,975)
- 7% with a high school degree/equivalent or higher
- 1% with a bachelor’s degree or higher
- 1% with a graduate/professional degree
Veterans
Black or African American alone, civilian veterans: 53,560
Employment (individuals age 16+: 1,093,315)
- 8% in the civilian labor force
- 6% employed
Class of Worker (civilian employed population age 16+: 640,606)
- 5% private
- 4% government
- 1% self-employed
Occupations (civilian employed population age 16+: 640,606)
- 3% in management, business, science, and arts
- 9% in service
- 6% in sales and office
- 6% in production, transportation, and material moving
- 6% in natural resources, construction, and maintenance
Income
Per capita income: $29,561
Survey Shows Rural-Urban Differences in Barriers to Care and Utilization of Preventive Care
Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey data were used to examine barriers to care, such as out-of-pocket costs, and utilization measures, such as flu shots and cholesterol tests, comparing rural and urban Medicare Advantage enrollees, rural and urban traditional Medicare enrollees, and rural traditional and Medicare Advantage enrollees.
See Rural-Urban Differences in Barriers to Care and Utilization of Preventive Care Among Traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage Beneficiaries.