Rural Health
News by Topic: Mortality
Nov 28, 2023 - Announcement of funding for research to improve maternal morbidity and mortality outcomes. Funded studies include populations experiencing maternal health inequities, including rural residents.
Source: Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute
Nov 16, 2023 - Highlights the harm reduction strategy one Wisconsin tribe has implemented to reduce mortality from the opioid crisis. Discusses stigma, the high rates of overdose deaths for native people in Wisconsin, and the potential for harm reduction to lead to effective treatment. Describes their successes as a model for other Indigenous communities as well as harm reduction in general.
Source: STAT News
Nov 9, 2023 - Highlights the impact of a naloxone vending machine in a rural Vermont community. Describes the trend to offer naloxone not just through vending machines but also through awareness programming throughout rural America.
Source: The Daily Yonder
Nov 6, 2023 - Highlights a decrease in the infant mortality rate in South Carolina, but notes that disparities still remain. Discusses maternal healthcare shortages and closure of labor and delivery departments, noting that more women will give birth in settings such as rural health clinics where staff may not be trained to handle emergency birth situations.
Source: News 19
Oct 30, 2023 - A fellowship to train family medicine physicians in obstetrics has been established in Mississippi, a state with a shortage of maternal healthcare in rural areas and high maternal and infant mortality rates. Discusses the history of maternal healthcare licensure and liability insurance, leading to the shortage of physicians offering obstetrics services.
Source: Mississippi Today
Oct 25, 2023 - Discusses challenges with accessing mammograms for women in rural areas. States that distance to healthcare services, insurance status, time away from work, and childcare are contributors to the challenges. Notes that rural women have worse breast cancer survival outcomes than urban women due to late diagnosis.
Source: Successful Farming
Oct 23, 2023 - Summarizes a presentation on research finding disparities in some hospital-related outcomes for Black and rural patients. Rural residents are more likely to get infections and Black rural patients are at the highest risk for ICU admission and death. Notes that further research is needed to better understand these disparities.
Source: Healio
HHS: National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics
Federal Register
Oct 16, 2023 - The National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics (NCVHS) will hold a virtual public meeting November 29-30, 2023. Agenda items include briefings from U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) officials, as well as time for NCVHS members to discuss and consider current and proposed activities outlined in the NCVHS 2023–24 workplan and several health data policy topics, including healthcare standards development and cybersecurity. NCVHS is also requesting information on addressing the potential use of ICD–11 for morbidity coding in the U.S. Includes questions to serve as a guide for information NCVHS will find particularly helpful. Comments are due by January 12, 2024.
Source: Federal Register
Oct 12, 2023 - The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) will hold a virtual public meeting of the Advisory Committee on Infant and Maternal Mortality (ACIMM) on December 5-6, 2023. Agenda items are being finalized but may include an update on recommendations to improve birth outcomes among American Indian and Alaska Native mothers and infants; updates on the federal Healthy Start program; Committee workgroup discussions on rural health/systems issues, social determinants of health, and preconception/interconception care and reproductive health; federal updates; and Committee operations. The webinar link and log-in information will be available at the ACIMM website before the meeting. Requests for public comment should be sent via email to SACIM@hrsa.gov.
Source: Federal Register