The nonprofit Commonwealth Fund includes considerations for rural areas in this report that breaks down factors affecting licensed providers, clinical supporters, community care workers, and frontline workers.

  Researchers interviewed primary care physicians in rural Pennsylvania to get their views on barriers to care, including cost and insurance, geographic dispersion, and provider shortages/burnout.

This study from the Southwest Rural Health Research Center is a companion piece to the Healthy People 2030 initiative with a focus on the health priorities of rural people.

The Government Accountability Office discusses challenges rural communities face related to healthcare access, such as limited healthcare providers, travel distance and transportation issues, insurance coverage, and access to broadband.

Research in this section is provided by the HRSA/FORHP-supported Rural Health Research Gateway.  Sign up to receive alerts when new publications become available. 

 Among new policy briefs posted by the Rural Health Research & Policy Centers:  COVID-19 pandemic impact on Rural Health Clinic’s operations, and a look at barriers to rural obstetric training for family physicians.

  A brief video from the U.S. Census Bureau gives a step-by-step demonstration of how to find this data for urban and rural areas.

Researchers found that occupations with a high risk of mental health problems are those with workers who: 1) have high physical or psychological job demands yet little control over work processes; 2) limited support at work; 3) limited ability to use their skills or discretion in how they do so; 4) low or inconsistent income; or 5) low occupational prestige.  It’s estimated that about 19 million Americans have a major depressive episode in a given year and that mental health disorders cost employers nearly $200 billion in 2018.  See the Funding section below for a new federal program aimed at improving job quality in specific sectors of the economy.

In order to spend funding received through the national settlement and other opioid-related settlements, states have developed legislative and legal frameworks that distribute funds and decision-making authorities between the state government, local governments, and/or special abatement funds or trusts. States are in different stages in the process of receiving money, deciding how to spend it, implementing funded programs, and reporting on spending and outcomes. However, 17 states have now approved and published their plans for a first year of spending, which often include priority areas or approved uses for funds. A smaller subset of states have awarded settlement funds to specific abatement programs. Many of these plans were published in the final months of 2022 or first months of 2023 as part of annual reports on settlement spending activity.

This issue brief provides an overview of published statewide opioid settlement spending plans and appropriations made to date and highlights initial priorities and investments outlined in these plans.

Check out our data webpage for recent Pennsylvania KIDS COUNT® Data Center updates!

We have updated information from the 2020 Census release this past week for our population and housing indicators and the most recent information on births from the state Department of Health!