This week, the National Council for Mental Wellbeing released a new report highlighting the role of Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHCs) in addressing mental health and substance disorders over the last year. This information features data on CCBHC and FQHC partnerships. Approximately 2.1 million people seek care from CCBHCs around the country.
631 Rural Hospitals at Risk of Closure, by State
Across the U.S., a total of 631 rural hospitals — or about 30 percent of all rural hospitals — are at risk of closing in the immediate or near future due to persistent financial losses on patient services, inadequate revenues to cover expenses, and low financial reserves, according to a report from the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform.
More than 200 of the rural hospitals in the report are identified as being at immediate risk of closure. These hospitals were losing money on patient services before the COVID-19 pandemic, and they did not have sufficient resources to cover those losses, according to the report. Click here to view the numbers and percentage of rural hospitals by state at risk as of October 2022, based on the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform analysis.
Rural Adults have Lower Rates of Employer Sponsored Health Insurance in Pennsylvania
The Penn State Rural Health Disparities Lab in the Department of Biobehavioral Health has released a report showing rates of employer-sponsored health insurance in rural Pennsylvania. Employer sponsored health insurance (ESHI) is typically subsidized by employers, which can reduce the overall cost for employees. Using data from the American Community Survey, we found that working-age adults living in rural areas in Pennsylvania are less likely to have ESHI than those in urban areas. Across all rural-urban categories, females were least likely to have ESHI. The lower rates in rural areas may reflect fewer job opportunities with established ESHI plans. These findings raise concerns about access to the benefits of ESHI in rural contexts, especially for females. Author: Melanie Dececco, RHO Undergraduate Research Assistant
American Institute of Public Health Releases Dental Workforce Report
The American Institute of Public Health (AIDPH) released a research brief, “The Financial and Policy Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on U.S. Dental Care Workers.”
The brief evaluates trends and differences of the dental health care workforce before and after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and assesses the impact of dental health care worker shortages by state and geographic region. Executive Director Helen Hawkey and Dr. Sean Boynes are among the authors. An interactive dashboard is being developed to map the changes among dental health care workers.
New! Rural Health System Value-Based Care Innovators Roundtable: Strategies and Insights Released
The Rural Health Value team recently released a new Innovators Roundtable Report:
- Rural Health System Value-Based Care Innovators Roundtable: Strategies and Insights
This report describes interviews with five health systems supporting value-based care in their rural affiliates. Interview topics included organizational structure, governance and decision-making, operations, data and communication, contracts, and social determinants of health. The report includes common health system tensions and opportunities as they facilitate rural affiliate success in value-based care.
Related resources on the Rural Health Value website:
- Catalog of Value Based Initiatives for Rural Providers – One-page summaries describe rural-relevant, value-based programs currently or recently implemented by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), primarily by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and its Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMMI).
- How to Design Value‐Based Care Models for Rural Participant Success: A Summit Findings Report – Based on the input from a two-day virtual summit of rural participants in value-based care models and programs, this report summarizes themes and actionable recommendations that can be used by those designing and supporting value-based care models to improve the viability, relevance, and likelihood of rural health care organization participation and success.
- Understanding the Social Determinants of Health: A Guide for Rural Health Care Leaders – Provides rural health care leaders and teams with foundational knowledge, strategies, and resources to understand the impact of social determinants of health (SDOH) on patients and communities and to recognize local needs and opportunities for action.
Contact information:
Clint MacKinney, MD, MS, Co-Principal Investigator, clint-mackinney@uiowa.edu
GAO: Availability of Hospital-Based Obstetric Care in Rural Areas
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a new report to Congress on access to obstetric care in rural communities. GAO found that the number of rural hospitals providing obstetric services declined from 2004 through 2018. By 2018 more than half of the rural counties lacked OB services. OB closures were focused in rural counties that were sparsely populated, had a majority of Black residents, and were considered low-income. GAO interviewed stakeholders to identify the most important factors affecting the availability of OB care and the efforts federal agencies, states, and others could take to increase the availability of services.
Pennsylvania State Data Center Releases Latest Brief Highlights Hispanic Heritage Month
The latest brief from the Pennsylvania State Data Center looks at Pennsylvania’s Hispanic and Latino population, specifically indicators related to business ownership and employment. Read more at https://pasdc.hbg.psu.edu/Data/Research-Briefs
Updates from the Census Bureau
Global Diversity Awareness Month
Click here to read more on how the Census Bureau celebrates diversity and advances equity.
Road to the 2030 Census
It’s already that time again. Click here to see the Bureau’s preliminary timeline for the 2030 Census.
2022 Economic Census Mailings Begin
Click here to read more about the preparations being undertaken for the 2022 Economic Census.
2019 Nonemployer Statistics (NES) by Industry
Click here to see the latest NES data. Nonemployer Statistics (NES) is an annual series that provides subnational economic data for businesses that have no paid employees and are subject to federal income tax.
Report Finds Potential Medicare Dental Benefit Savings
The CareQuest Institute released a new report analyzing Medicare beneficiary data. Medicare does not include dental benefits, and dental coverage varies within Medicare Advantage plans. The report analysis concludes, adding dental coverage to Medicare has the potential to save the health care system billions of dollars per year in care for patients with diabetes and/or heart disease alone.
Find Out More About NIH Funding for Addiction Research
In September, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced plans for research in rural and remote populations for effective non-opioid interventions for chronic pain management. The NIH’s Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) initiative to speed scientific solutions to the national opioid public health crisis, is intending to commit $5.7M in FY2023 to this effort, which will result in five to six awards. The funding opportunity requires partnerships with health care systems or organizations and community partners and encourages links to key rural partners such as State Offices of Rural Health, State Rural Health Associations, and Area Health Education Centers. On Monday, October 24 at 12.00 pm ET, NIH will hold a one-hour technical assistance webinar for applicants.
Losing Access to Maternity Care
A new report from the March of Dimes finds that more than a third of U.S. counties (36 percent) have no obstetric providers, hospitals, or birth centers. These areas are largely rural areas in the Midwest and South, with a greater impact on women of color: one in 4 Native American babies, and 1 in 6 Black babies, were born in areas with limited or no access to maternity care services. The report says that roughly 900 women died of pregnancy-related causes in 2020, adding that nearly two-thirds of such deaths are preventable.