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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Community and economic development

Advancing Rural Health: Illinois Small and Rural Hospitals
Discusses the overall impact of the 86 small and rural hospitals in Illinois. Includes data on hospital utilization, patient demographics, economic impacts, associated community engagement and healthcare services, workforce and specialty care issues, and more. Provides county-level maps on obstetric services and location of small and rural hospitals.
Date: 06/2022
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Illinois Health and Hospital Association
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Measure Up: Principles for Measuring Rural and Native Nation Development Progress
Discusses outcomes measurement for rural and tribal community and economic development initiatives. Offers strategies and principles for measurement, case studies, and resources to support rural communities and stakeholders navigate funding program requirements.
Additional links: Annotated List of Resources for Measuring Rural Development Progress, Executive Summary
Date: 06/2022
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Aspen Institute
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Advancing Health Equity in Rural America
Report examining rural health equity, covering rural economic and demographic data, disparities by rurality, race/ethnicity, and class, and examples of initiatives that aim to increase health equity in rural communities. Offers recommendations for increasing health equity through economic and policy actions.
Additional links: Executive Summary
Author(s): Paula Braveman, Julia Acker, Elaine Arkin, Katrina Badger, Nicole Holm
Date: 06/2022
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
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What (And Who) Counts? Defining Rural Development Success
Collection of 4 field perspective pieces on centering rural people in planning community development and allocating resources. Discusses inclusive rural economic development, community-driven assessment, rural assets and power, and building community networks.
Date: 06/2022
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Aspen Institute
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Delivery of High-Speed Broadband Services in Unserved and Underserved Areas of the Commonwealth (Pennsylvania)
Provides an update on the role of broadband in education, telehealth, agriculture, and community and economic development; barriers to development; funding resources; developments in Pennsylvania state and local initiatives; and efforts to identify unserved and underserved Pennsylvania communities. Discusses the creation of the Pennsylvania Broadband Authority and the impact of new federal funding on broadband expansion and development in Pennsylvania.
Author(s): Yvonne Llewellyn Hursh, Lydia Hack, Allison N. Kobzowicz, Bryan W. DeWalt, Wendy L. Baker
Date: 06/2022
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Joint State Government Commission, General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
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Community Impact and Benefit Activities of Critical Access, Other Rural, and Urban Hospitals, 2020
Examines the economic and healthcare benefit of Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) on rural communities. Looks at services provided, the economic health of CAHs, and the effect this has on their communities broadly. Includes comparisons of community benefit and patient care services indicators provided by CAHs and other rural and urban hospitals.
Author(s): Zachariah Croll, John Gale
Date: 06/2022
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Flex Monitoring Team
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Northern Border Regional Commission State and Region Chartbooks: A Health-Focused Landscape Analysis
Webinar describing a project compiling the most recent publicly available data related to health and healthcare access at the county and state level for Maine, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont. Discusses healthcare professional shortage areas and highlights counties with worse health outcomes than other counties in the region. Features statistics on demographics with breakdowns by rural location, socioeconomic characteristics, access to care, health outcomes and behaviors, community safety, death rates and top causes of death, internet access, insurance coverage, telehealth policies, scope of practice for various provider types, and maps showing Heath Professional Shortage Areas and locations of Rural Health Clinics, Federally Qualified Health Centers, and Critical Access Hospitals.
Additional links: Presentation Slides, Transcript
Author(s): Katherine Ahrens
Date: 06/2022
Type: Video/Multimedia
Sponsoring organizations: Maine Rural Health Research Center, Rural Health Research Gateway
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Transportation Equity for Older Adults
Explores equity concerns regarding transportation for older adults. Presents a framework for communities to assess how the transportation needs of older adults are being met. Discusses potential solutions to improve transportation equity in communities. Highlights challenges to accessible transportation in rural areas.
Author(s): Laura Fraade-Blanar, Ryan Best, Regina A. Shih
Date: 06/2022
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: RAND Corporation
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A Playbook for New Rural Healthcare Partnership Models of Investment
Provides information for healthcare organizations looking to collaborate with local community and economic stakeholders to improve the health of their citizens. Includes case studies of multisector partnerships in rural areas that focus on upstream interventions, such as strengthening economic support, supporting local control, strengthening infrastructure to support healthcare access, and increasing resources.
Author(s): Ruth Thomas-Squance, Ashley Hernandez, Colleen Flynn, et al.
Date: 05/2022
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Build Healthy Places Network
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Better Results: What Does it Take to Build Capacity in Rural and Native Nations Communities?
Blog post discussing technical assistance and organizational capacity to support rural and tribal economic and community development based on insights from the Thrive Rural Open Field session. Covers strategies related to building community trust, developing community-centered strategies for capacity building, and technical assistance that includes collaboration with communities. Offers links to additional information and funding resources.
Author(s): Clifford Devin Deaton
Date: 05/2022
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Aspen Institute
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