This study from the Maine Rural Health Research Center compared rural and urban opioid-related visits (ORVs) to the emergency departments and the outcomes of these visits. One finding was that rural ORVs were more likely than those in urban areas to be by patients 65 and older and to involve concurrent use of benzodiazepines.
Trends in Nursing Home Closures in Nonmetropolitan and Metropolitan Counties in the United States, 2008-2018
This paper from the RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis documents trends over time and compares the characteristics of open and closed nursing homes in metropolitan and nonmetropolitan counties. It also identifies counties without any nursing homes and describes the population characteristics in these places.
Mapping Climate Risks by County and Community
The American Communities Project is a nonpartisan nonprofit that uses a range of data, from consumer surveys to polling, to categorize 15 types of counties across the U.S. This report assesses risk for extreme rainfall, drought, and heat stress in each county and describes the impact on public health.
AARP/RAND Corporation on Mobility for Older Adults
The RAND Corporation is a non-partisan, nonprofit organization that researches and analyzes public policy. In this collaboration with the AARP, researchers consider the challenges in rural areas as they examine how the use of automated vehicles and shared mobility options such as car-sharing and ride-hailing may benefit or harm older adults.
Indigenous Community Leadership in Response to COVID-19
The nonprofit Native Americans in Philanthropy analyzes philanthropic donations to response efforts led by, or partnered with, Indigenous people between March and October of 2020. Read more here.
CDC: Care Outcomes Among African Americans Diagnosed with HIV
In the February 19th Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that rural Black persons received a higher percentage of late-stage diagnosis than those in urban and metropolitan areas during 2018. Linkage to care within one month of diagnosis was similar across geographic areas, but viral suppression within six months of diagnosis was highest in metropolitan areas.
CDC: Telehealth Use in Health Centers During the Pandemic
Using data from 245 health centers that completed a voluntary weekly Health Center COVID-19 Survey, researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reviewed trends in telehealth use, including by U.S. Census region and urban/rural classifications, during a 20-week period. Study results underscore the need to sustain expanded telehealth use among health centers and to continue to address barriers to telehealth adoption, particularly in the South and rural geographies. Find more information here.
Pennsylvanians Are Experiencing Hunger at Highest Levels Since Onset of Pandemic
At the end of 2020, more than 12% of Pennsylvania households were experiencing hunger — the highest rate since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to researchers in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences. Their report confirms anecdotal and media reports and highlights the role that community resources, such as food pantries and free school lunches, are playing in the state.
“We’ve seen the media accounts of exceptionally long lines at food banks and wanted to get a better understanding of the magnitude of the problem,” said Stephan Goetz, professor of agricultural and regional economics and director of the Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development (NERCRD).
“Our synthesis suggests that while the state’s rate of food insufficiency tends to be lower than the nation’s as a whole, it is still a significant and growing problem,” he said. “More than one in 10 households in Pennsylvania sometimes or often didn’t have enough food to eat last year, and food insufficiency status has grown worse for all but the wealthiest Pennsylvanians since the beginning of the pandemic.”
Goetz and his colleagues examined data from the U.S. Census Household Pulse Survey, a survey administered in three phases beginning in 2020 to a randomly selected representative sample of U.S. households. The goal of the survey is to better understand the social and economic effects that the coronavirus pandemic has had on households across the country.
Survey respondents answer questions about their employment status, food and housing security, education disruptions, and physical and mental well-being. When responding to questions about food sufficiency and availability, they base their answers on the previous seven days.
Focusing on Pennsylvania, the researchers analyzed the survey data to assess the most recent levels of household food security, how food security has changed over the course of the pandemic, and how households in different income brackets have experienced the crisis. They also assessed how families have adapted to food insufficiency by accessing free food. They released their findings this week in a new report titled “Pennsylvania Food Insufficiency Reached New High at the End of 2020.”
The report shows that food insufficiency in Pennsylvania is closely linked to the state’s unemployment rate. During weeks when unemployment claims are at their highest in the state, reports of food insufficiency also are relatively high, or rising. For policymakers, this underscores the close connection between income from working and food security of individuals. Community safety nets, such as free school lunches and food pantries, play a significant role in meeting household food needs.
“Our synthesis shows an increasingly dire food insecurity situation for many households in Pennsylvania and beyond,” Goetz said. “As the pandemic drags on, it is likely to become an even more serious problem as families deplete their savings and are forced to choose between paying for food or paying for other necessities.”
The report is part of an ongoing series of briefs and reports authored by NERCRD researchers, focusing on the coronavirus pandemic in the context of direct farm sales, the fruit and vegetable industry, consumer spending and sourcing, network science, and regional science.
The center also has available the data included in the report for other states in the northeastern U.S.
MACPAC: Medicaid’s Role in Health Care for AI/AN
The Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC) is a nonpartisan agency in the legislative branch that analyzes policy and makes recommendations to federal and state-level policymakers. In this report, MACPAC provides an overview of the federal government’s role in providing health care to American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN), including the structure of the Indian Health Service and the special Medicaid rules and protections that apply to AI/AN beneficiaries and Indian health providers.
CDC: Trends in Drug and Synthetic Opioid Overdose Deaths
In the February 12 issue of its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report an increase in overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids other than methadone, cocaine, and psychostimulants. During the period studied, 2013 – 2019, synthetic opioid deaths largely consisted of illicitly manufactured fentanyl. In 2019, a total of 70,630 drug overdose deaths occurred, an increase of 4.3 percent over deaths in 2018.