This article examines high and extreme poverty areas by rural and urban county designation. It includes a map showing rural high poverty and extreme poverty counties and urban high poverty counties. It discusses the geographic concentration of extreme poverty in regions with above-average populations of racial minorities, highlighting 6 counties in South Dakota with a large Native American population and 4 counties in Mississippi with historically high poverty rates among African Americans. Read more here.
A Best Practices Approach to Treating Maternal Hemorrhage
This report provides an overview of how Titus Regional Medical Center in Mount Pleasant, Texas, developed and implemented protocols to improve maternal hemorrhage outcomes. It discusses the impact and lessons learned from implementing the protocols as well, as future maternal health improvement goals at the medical center. Read more here.
Antibiotic Resistance: Additional Federal Actions Needed to Better Determine Magnitude and Reduce Impact
This report explores four challenges that federal agencies face in addressing antibiotic resistance. It provides eight recommendations for federal agencies to strengthen their efforts to combat antibiotic resistance. It includes references to antibiotic stewardship guidance and programs for Critical Access Hospitals throughout. Read more here. Find the full report here.
Public Health Response to the Initiation and Spread of Pandemic COVID-19 in the United States, February 24–April 21, 2020
This report identifies factors that contributed to the spread of COVID-19 in early 2020. It discusses transmission due to travel, large gatherings (including a funeral in rural Georgia), high-risk workplaces such as rural meatpacking facilities, densely populated areas, and unrecognized transmission related to limited testing and asymptomatic and presymptomatic spread. Read more here.
How will the COVID-19 Recession Impact People with Disabilities in Rural America?
This fact sheet discusses ways in which rural people with disabilities are especially vulnerable to the COVID-19 recession. It analyzes data from the 2015 and 2016 Survey of Household Economics and Decision-making and the American Time Use Survey 2017-18 Leave and Job Flexibilities Module. It features statistics on numbers of people with disabilities who have emergency funds, paid sick leave, and jobs that can be done from home, with breakdowns by rural or metropolitan location. Read more here.
COVID-19: Protecting Your Vulnerable Patients with Proactive Outreach
This article discusses ways to protect at-risk patients with proactive outreach during the pandemic. It emphasizes the importance of active outreach and ways to engage patients in new care options, and it examines special circumstances concerning telehealth and annual wellness visits. Read more here.
COVID-19 in Rural America – Is There Cause for Concern?
This issue brief compares the incidence of COVID-19 cases and deaths in metropolitan and nonmetropolitan counties in the United States. It features statistics including numbers of cases and deaths in the top 5 metro and nonmetro counties as of April 27, 2020, and average COVID-19 cases and deaths per 100,000 people and rates of increase in deaths, with breakdowns by metro and nonmetro counties. Read more here.
COVID-19 Among Workers in Meat and Poultry Processing Facilities ― 19 States, April 2020
This report examines COVID-19 cases among workers in 115 meat and poultry processing facilities reported by 19 states. It discusses factors potentially affecting risk for infection, including difficulties with workplace physical distancing and hygiene and crowded living and transportation conditions. It also includes recommended changes to address these issues. Read more here.
Health Care Professional Workforce Composition Before and After Rural Hospital Closure
Researchers at the RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis used National Provider Identifier data to examine changes in the local health care workforce prior to, and following, the closure of hospitals in 85 rural communities between 2010 and 2019. (Note: a hospital closure can mean a complete closure with no remaining health care services or a converted closure in which the former hospital site provides only non-inpatient services but remains open, e.g., becomes a freestanding emergency department.)
HRSA Releases Oral Health Workforce Projections for 2017–2030
HRSA has released their health workforce projections for dentists and dental hygienists in the U.S., 2017–2030. These projections inform policy decisions about workforce education, training, and delivery of care. Will there be an increase in the number of dentists in the U.S. by 2030? Will there be a decrease in the demand for full time dental hygienists?