Explores the differences in opioid prescribing patterns of nurse practitioners and primary care physicians in both rural and urban areas. Also compares physical therapy referrals by location and clinician type.
Patterns of Hospital Bypass and Inpatient Care‐Seeking by Rural Residents
Analyzes state inpatient data from 2014-2016 across 16 states to determine how inpatient hospital bypass behavior – rural residents utilizing a hospital other than their local hospital – is motivated by patient and hospital characteristics. Compares hospital characteristics, including Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs), by rural bypass level and compares patient demographics by rural bypass status.
Confronting Rural America’s Health Care Crisis
Offers policy recommendations to stabilize the rural healthcare infrastructure and ensuring local access to care. Discusses strategies to provide financial relief to rural providers, preserve obstetric services, expand telehealth services, and address workforce shortages.
Responding to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Toolkit for Emotional Coping for Healthcare Staff (TECHS): Putting it into Practice
Listen to a webinar introducing a toolkit for the benefit of frontline healthcare workers and psychosocial professionals helping to support healthcare workers who may be experiencing traumatic stress. Adapted from an intervention used for parents of children with cancer. Transcript available by clicking the three dots above the Subscribe button. Sponsoring organization: Center for Pediatric Traumatic Stress
Federally Qualified Health Centers & Rural Health Clinics Acting as Distant Site Providers in Medicare
Provides answers to common questions regarding guidance from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services allowing FQHCs and RHCs to serve as telehealth distant site providers during a public health emergency. Includes information on reimbursement for telehealth services and billing for virtual communication services.
COVID-19: Health Care in Rural America
A podcast focusing on how rural areas are taking action in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Looks at public health responses, volunteer activities, the effects of social distancing, and healthcare workforce issues. Features Alana Knudson, co-director of the Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis, and physician Dr. James Hotz.
COVID-19 Cases in Rural Persistent Poverty Counties
A map comparing the number of COVID-19 cases in rural persistent poverty counties between March 16, 2020, when the CDC issued national social distancing guidelines, and April 16, 2020. Based on data collected by the New York Times.
Cash-Strapped and Volunteer-Dependent, Rural EMS Providers Scramble to Keep Responders Safe
When COVID-19 arrived in a rural Wisconsin county, local EMS providers increased their use of personal protective equipment (PPE) to stay safe, but replenishing those supplies has proven difficult. Highlights efforts to keep paramedics safe, such as ordering gear from auto suppliers and limiting interaction with patients.
Coronavirus Pandemic Threatens to Take Crushing Toll on Rural Areas, Data Show
Summarizes an analysis of every U.S. county’s preparedness level, revealing that rural areas are less prepared to handle the coronavirus pandemic. The dashboard scores are based on measurements such as nearby critical care capacity and underlying demographics of the community. Describes how existing disparities in underserved populations may also put them at a higher risk.
Livestream Conversation Offers First-Hand Accounts of Broadband Challenges During Coronavirus Pandemic
Summarizes the first Daily Yonder/National Rural Assembly Livestream Conversation on rural broadband, featuring leaders from a school district in Central Texas, a hospital in a Washington tribal community, a community nonprofit in Mississippi, and groups serving rural youth in Vermont. Includes a recording of the webinar, discusses challenges to rural broadband access and highlights how they are responding to COVID-19.