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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Health disparities

A Public Health Lens on Rural Health
Presents an overview of an American Journal of Public Health issue that explores rural health matters within the framework of public health. Summarizes topics covered in the articles, including rural/urban disparities, shifts in funding sources for local health departments, implementation of telemedicine and mobile clinics, opioid use disorder, and more.
Author(s): Paul Erwin, Wendy Braund
Citation: American Journal of Public Health, 110(9), 1275-1276
Date: 09/2020
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Telehealth Availability in US Hospitals in the Face of the COVID‐19 Pandemic
Highlights a study on hospital readiness and capability to provide healthcare services via telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic. Discusses the factors that affect telehealth capability and compares hospitals in rural and urban areas and by census region.
Author(s): Neeraj A. Puro, Scott Feyereisen
Citation: Journal of Rural Health, 36(4), 577-583
Date: 09/2020
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A Volunteer Program in Maine to Transport Community Members to Health Care Appointments
Highlights a non-emergency volunteer transportation program in rural Maine. Outlines the goals and structure of the program and provides data about the number of trips and miles covered by year over the course of the program's existence.
Author(s): Sarah Levin Martin, James Wood, Steven Soule
Citation: Preventing Chronic Disease, 17
Date: 08/2020
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Oral Health Value-Based Care - The Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) Story
Explores the role Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) play in providing oral healthcare through integration and how FQHCs used technology and flexible workforce modeling to provide care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Analyzes data from the IBM Watson MarketScan Multi-State Database, the Health Resources and Services Administration Uniform Data System, and a survey of participants of the safety net technical assistance program to evaluate health outcomes and service provision of FQHC patients versus non-FQHC patients. Discusses how value-based payment models can effect health outcomes and how FQHCs used telehealth to reach rural and underserved populations during the pandemic.
Date: 08/2020
Sponsoring organizations: CareQuest Institute for Oral Health, National Association of Community Health Centers
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Recruitment Best Practices of a Cardiovascular Risk Reduction Randomised Control Trial in Rural Alaska Native Communities
Describes the research methods of the Healthy and Empowering Alaskan Lives Towards Healthy Hearts (HEALTHH) project, which recruited participants from the 16 communities that make up the rural Norton Sound region of Alaska to study smoking behavior and chronic disease prevention efforts among Alaska Native populations. Explores special considerations for research involving remote tribal communities and analyzes data related to recruitment best practices, staffing issues, and barriers to enrolling study participants.
Author(s): Mariah Knox, Jordan Skan, Neal L. Benowitz, Matthew Schnellbaecher, Judith J. Prochaska
Citation: International Journal of Circumpolar Health, 79(1), 1806639
Date: 08/2020
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Strategies for the Delivery of Behavioral Health Crisis Services in Rural and Frontier Areas of the U.S.
Report highlights the challenges of providing behavioral health crisis services to rural and frontier communities. Details the barriers to crisis service delivery such as lack of transportation, travel distance, and broadband access, among others. Includes a discussion on the effect of COVID-19 pandemic rural crisis service delivery.
Author(s): Kristin A. Neylon
Date: 08/2020
Sponsoring organization: National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors
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Arizona's American Indian Trauma Report 2020
Identifies the disproportionate impact of trauma on Native Americans in Arizona in order to target interventions to improve injury prevention programs and reduce traumatic injuries. Identifies patient demographics, trauma risk factors such as alcohol or drug use, injury characteristics, access to care, and mortality rates.
Date: 08/2020
Sponsoring organization: Arizona Department of Health Services
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America at a Glance: Social Isolation and Loneliness During the First Wave of COVID-19
Explores how COVID-19 and related stay-at-home orders contributed to feelings of social isolation and loneliness among people with disabilities. Compares feelings of social isolation and loneliness among urban and rural groups before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Discusses the possible impact of technological accommodations on these feelings.
Date: 08/2020
Sponsoring organizations: Research and Training Center on Disability in Rural Communities, University of Montana: Rural Institute for Inclusive Communities
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Rural–Urban Disparities in Access to Medicaid-Contracted Pharmacies in Washington State, 2017
Uses 2017 data to explore the relationship between rurality and Medicaid-contracted pharmacy access in Washington State. Includes rural/urban comparisons on zip-code characteristics, such as age, Medicaid-insured, and poverty.
Author(s): Janessa Graves, Demetrius Abshire, Megan Undeberg, Laura Forman, Solmaz Amiri
Citation: Preventing Chronic Disease, 17
Date: 08/2020
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COVID-19 Among American Indian and Alaska Native Persons — 23 States, January 31–July 3, 2020
Examines the cumulative incidence in 23 states of laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 among American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) people, compared with rates from other groups. Discusses possible causes for the elevated incidence of COVID-19 in AI/AN populations.
Author(s): Sarah M. Hatcher, Christine Agnew-Brune, Mark Anderson, et al.
Citation: MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report), 69(34), 1166-1169
Date: 08/2020
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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