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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Community health workers

How Community Health Workers Are Impacting Rural Communities
Describes ways in which communities can use funding to build community health worker programs in order to reduce health disparities. Highlights the University of Kansas Medical Center's Local Health Equity Action Teams initiative in 10 counties, 6 of which are rural.
Author(s): Shelby Rowell
Date: 04/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Association of State and Territorial Health Officials
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Role of Rural Libraries in Promoting Digital Health Literacy
Webinar highlighting a rural library's efforts to increase digital health literacy and healthcare access in rural Texas. Discusses telehealth, broadband access inequities and digital literacy, transportation issues, aging in place, community health workers working in libraries, emergency response, circulating medical equipment, and summer meals for students. Transcript available by clicking the dots above the video description, then selecting Show transcript.
Date: 03/2023
Type: Video/Multimedia
Sponsoring organization: Network of the National Library of Medicine
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Obstetric Readiness in Rural Communities Lacking Hospital Labor and Delivery Units
Policy brief discussing the current rural maternal healthcare workforce and their capacity to manage obstetric emergencies during pregnancy, labor, and delivery. Offers recommendations to promote obstetric readiness for emergency care in rural hospitals without obstetric units and support for community-based, emergency department-adjacent health workers.
Author(s): Eneka Lamb, Madeline Merwin, Quinyatta Mumford, et al.
Date: 02/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Rural Health Association
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Access to Oral Health Workforce Report: Part II
Evaluates and discusses patient access to oral healthcare in Pennsylvania. Provides demographic and well-being information, and analysis of variables affecting workforce outcomes and access to care. Features statistics with breakdowns by urban and rural areas.
Additional links: Executive Summary
Author(s): Sean G. Boynes, Helen Hawkey, Kelly A. Braun, et al.
Date: 01/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Pennsylvania Coalition for Oral Health
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State Policies for Expanding Medicaid Coverage of Community Health Worker (CHW) Services
Discusses state Medicaid coverage policies regarding Community Health Workers (CHWs) in place as of July 1, 2022, and planned for fiscal year 2023. Covers CHW coverage initiatives implemented or planned through Medicaid state plan amendments, Section 1115 demonstration authority, and as part of a Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) model.
Date: 01/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: KFF
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The Health Equity & Access for Rural Dually Eligible Individuals (HEARD) Toolkit: Raising Rural Voices from New Mexico, North Dakota, and Tennessee to Create Action
Provides an overview on the access barriers and health disparities of Medicaid and Medicare dually eligible individuals residing in rural areas. Presents research and stakeholder feedback from New Mexico, North Dakota, and Tennessee to provide information to policymakers. Discusses topics such as community planning related to equity and infrastructure, workforce capacity and community health workers (CHWs), and social determinants of health.
Author(s): Ellen Breslin, Samantha Di Paola, Susan McGeehan, Rebecca Kellenberg, Andrea Maresca
Date: 01/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Health Management Associates
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Texas Promotor(a) or Community Health Worker Training and Certification Program: 2022 Annual Report
Describes the Promotora or Community Health Worker (CHW) Training and Certification Program in Texas, including the number of certified community health workers, instructors, certificate graduates, and renewals. Includes the number of certified community health workers by county and the location of CHW training programs in the state.
Author(s): Beatrice Smith, Frank Luera
Date: 2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Texas Health and Human Services
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2022 Behavioral Health Workforce Assessment: A Report of the Behavioral Health Workforce Advisory Committee
Details the results of a study analyzing the occupations, roles, size, distribution, career pathways, demand, policy, and practice issues for the behavioral health workforce in the state of Washington. Includes recommendations to address workforce-related barriers and improve access to behavioral healthcare, and provides rural specific information.
Date: 12/2022
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: UW Center for Health Workforce Studies, Washington State Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board
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Michigan's Roadmap to Healthy Communities Phase II: 2022-2024
Expands on Phase I of a plan to address the social determinants of health (SDOH) to advance equity, provide social and economic opportunities, and improve health outcomes in Michigan. Focuses on health equity, community information exchange, community health workers (CHWs), chronic disease initiatives, population health, and a partnership with the Michigan Center for Rural Health (MCRH).
Date: 12/2022
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Michigan Department of Health and Human Services
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COVID-19 Stakeholder Experiences in the Commonwealth of Kentucky - 2022
Results of surveys taken from October-December 2021 by 145 Kentucky school leaders, community health workers and their clients, rural community members, and healthcare providers. Includes statistics on satisfaction with telehealth, testing locations and vaccines, barriers faced during stay-at-home orders, and impact of COVID on medical care.
Date: 11/2022
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: University of Kentucky Center of Excellence in Rural Health
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