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Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Health
Resources by State: Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania Rural Health Plan, 2025-2030
Highlights healthcare challenges in rural Pennsylvania, acknowledges strengths, and promotes recommendations to address disparities. Features demographics and sections on social determinants of health, agricultural safety and farmworker health, aging, disabilities, homelessness, veterans, Pennsylvania's healthcare delivery system, broadband access, and telehealth.
Date: 07/2025
Sponsoring organization: Pennsylvania Rural Health Association
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Paula Chatterjee on Rural Hospital Finances Under Pennsylvania's Health Model
A podcast episode that discusses the Pennsylvania Rural Health Model and its impact on rural hospital finances.
Author(s): Rob Lott, Paula Chatterjee
Date: 07/2025
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Association of a State-Wide Alternative Payment Model for Rural Hospitals with Bypass for Elective Surgeries
Examines the impact of the payment model, Pennsylvania Rural Health Model (PARHM), on rural hospital bypass for elective surgeries. Utilizes 2016-2022 all-payer visit-level inpatient discharge data to measure 175,138 surgeries in Pennsylvania, with data on risk level of elective surgery, hospital type, payer type, and more.
Author(s): Donald S. Bourne, Zhaojun Sun, Bruce L. Jacobs, et al.
Citation: Health Services Research, 60(3), e14442
Date: 06/2025
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Pharmacy Deserts in Rural Pennsylvania
Describes the landscape of pharmacies and pharmacists in Pennsylvania as of May 2025 and examines the projected impact of Rite Aid pharmacy closures. Features statistics on numbers of pharmacies and pharmacists, with breakdowns by urban and rural areas, and county-level maps showing areas within a 5-mile radius of all pharmacies and all non-Rite Aid pharmacies, with shadings showing urban and rural areas.
Date: 06/2025
Sponsoring organization: Center for Rural Pennsylvania
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Geographic and Sociodemographic Factors and Receipt of Metabolic Disease Specialty Care
Examines geographic and sociodemographic factors that impact access to specialty metabolic care in rural areas. Utilizes data from 9,546 adults with chronic health conditions in Pennsylvania and provides data on receipt of endocrinology and cardiology care according to patient demographics, neighborhood characteristics, and location of urban, large rural town, or small rural town. Includes maps showing driving distance to care centers.
Author(s): Margaret F. Zupa, Scott D. Rothenberger, Jessica G. Bauer, et al.
Citation: JAMA Network Open, 8(5)
Date: 05/2025
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Reported Rural Drug Overdoses Decline 40 Percent in One Year (Pennsylvania)
Compares rates of drug overdoses in 2023 and 2024 in rural and urban areas of Pennsylvania. Features statistics on reported drug overdose rates per 100,000 during these years, percent of rural and urban residents receiving naloxone in 2023 and 2024, demographic information on rural overdose victims, and a county-level map showing percent change in reported overdoses by county.
Date: 05/2025
Sponsoring organization: Center for Rural Pennsylvania
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Access to Maternity Care in Pennsylvania: Labor and Delivery Services
Fact sheet providing an overview of access to maternity care in rural Pennsylvania. Features county-level maps showing locations of hospitals with a labor and delivery unit as of 2025, and locations of general acute care hospitals, with shadings showing counties with no labor and delivery unit and those with at least one unit. Includes statistics on numbers of OB/GYNs and certified nurse midwives per 10,000 females of childbearing age, with breakdowns by urban and rural areas.
Date: 05/2025
Sponsoring organization: Center for Rural Pennsylvania
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Controlled Substance Prescribing Patterns Among Fatal Overdose Decedents with an Opioid, Stimulant, or Both Contributing to Death — Pennsylvania, 2017–2022
Reports on deaths involving opioids without stimulants, deaths involving stimulants without opioids, and deaths involving both opioids and stimulants in Pennsylvania between 2017 and 2022. Includes data for rural and urban areas. Discusses the role of opioid prescribing on overdose deaths.
Author(s): Stephanie Hayden, Stanley M. Murzynski, Ashley Bolton, Carrie Thomas Goetz
Citation: MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report), 74(12), 205-209
Date: 04/2025
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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Rural Pennsylvania Shows Slight Population Decline but Attracts Out-of-State Residents
Presents detailed population trends at the county level for Pennsylvania and the rest of the United States. Features county-level maps showing percent change in population by Pennsylvania county from 2020 to 2024, change in net domestic and international migration, and statistics on domestic and international migration in urban and rural areas of Pennsylvania in these years.
Date: 03/2025
Sponsoring organization: Center for Rural Pennsylvania
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Special Report on the Financial Health of Pennsylvania Rural Hospitals, Fiscal Year 2023
Focuses on Pennsylvania general acute care hospitals located in rural counties. Features statistics on changes from FY 2020 to FY 2023, including closures, operating margins, utilization, uncompensated care, and negative or positive growth, with breakdowns by rural and urban areas.
Date: 02/2025
Sponsoring organization: Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council
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