Skip to main content
Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Health information technology

2024-2030 Federal Health IT Strategic Plan
A guide for federal health information technology (HIT) activities. Outlines four goals and related objectives focused on promoting health and wellness, enhancing the delivery and experience of care, and accelerating research and innovation. Describes how the federal government will use the plan to prioritize resources within federal agencies, align and coordinate federal HIT initiatives, signal priorities to the private sector, and benchmark and assess the progress of federal HIT initiatives.
Date: 09/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy/Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
view details
Designing Survey-Based Mobile Interfaces for Rural Patients With Cancer Using Apple's ResearchKit and CareKit: Usability Study
Examines the usability of mobile health (mHealth) interfaces for patients with cancer in rural settings, utilizing a survey of 30 current or postsurgery patients. Provides data on app use habits, familiarity with mHealth, and responses to specific mobile user interfaces. Discusses approaches to facilitating mHealth access among patients with limited digital literacy.
Author(s): Alyssa Donawa, Christian Powell, Rong Wang, et al.
Citation: JMIR Formative Research, 8, e57801
Date: 09/2024
Type: Document
view details
2024 Public Health Informatics Profile: An Assessment of Informatics Capacity among Local Health Departments
Results of a national survey of local health departments (LHDs) on public health informatics challenges and opportunities. Provides data on informatics workforce, informatics infrastructure and use, data modernization, data systems and interoperability, and artificial intelligence (AI). Includes comparisons of small, medium, and large LHDs throughout.
Author(s): Krishna Patel, Meghan Shea, Gelila Tamrat, et al.
Date: 08/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Association of County and City Health Officials
view details
Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS): 2024 MIPS Promoting Interoperability Performance Category Hardship Exception Application Guide
Provides guidance on how clinicians can apply for a MIPS hardship exception. Highlights guidance for having your MIPS Promoting Interoperability performance category reweighted to 0% in cases of insufficient internet connectivity, decertified electronic health record technology, or other circumstances out of the clinicians control.
Date: 08/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
view details
2024 National Telehealth Conference Summary Report
Offers a summary of the 2024 Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) National Telehealth Conference by conference session. Covers increasing access to tele-behavioral healthcare through interstate licensure, expanding access to telehealth services for underserved and low-income communities, and federal efforts for telehealth policy and innovation. Appendices include conference materials and resources.
Additional links: 2024 National Telehealth Conference Session Recordings
Date: 07/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Health Resources and Services Administration
view details
Patterns of Digital Health Access and Use among US Adults: A Latent Class Analysis
Evaluates patterns of access and use of digital technology for health purposes via a latent class analysis of 2017-2020 Health Information National Trends Survey data. See Table 3 for data on people dwelling in metropolitan, non-metropolitan urban, and rural areas.
Author(s): Phillip C. Hegeman, Daniel T. Vader, Kristyn Kamke, Sherine El-Toukhy
Citation: BMC Digital Health, 2, 42
Date: 07/2024
Type: Document
view details
TEFCA Awareness and Planned Participation Among U.S. Hospitals: 2023
Evaluates survey data to determine non-federal acute care hospitals' awareness of and participation in the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA). Includes comparisons by rural and urban status as well as for Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) and non-CAHs, among other factors.
Author(s): Wei Chang, Meghan Hufstader Gabriel, Jordan Everson
Date: 07/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy/Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
view details
Screening for Health-Related Social Needs: A Comparison of CAHs and Non-CAHs
Provides an overview of health-related social needs (HRSN) and social determinants of health (SDOH) and the impacts of screening for and collecting data on HRSN and SDOH. Analyzes 2022 American Hospital Association Annual Survey and Information Technology Supplement data to describe the collection of HRSN data among Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs). Compares the specific HRSNs assessed and programs to address HRSNs among CAHs and non-CAH hospitals. Presents data on the collection of HRSN data by CAHs by health system membership and electronic health record vendor. Describes the use of HRSN data by CAHs that routinely collect and do not routinely collect this data.
Author(s): Madeleine Pick, Carson Crane, Megan Lahr, Robert Barclay
Date: 07/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Flex Monitoring Team
view details
Rural Health Leaders Overcoming Challenges with Alan Morgan, Kathy Kuepers and Steve Tenhouse
Podcast episode featuring two Critical Access Hospital (CAH) executives discussing factors that influence a rural health organization's growth and vitality, replacement facility projects, and building trust and stakeholder engagement. Also highlights a national partnership addressing rural hospital cybersecurity involving the White House, Google, Microsoft, the American Hospital Association, and the National Rural Health Association.
Date: 06/2024
Type: Audio
Sponsoring organization: Impact! Communications, Inc.
view details
Understanding the Rise of Ransomware Attacks on Rural Hospitals
Explores trends in ransomware attacks on rural hospitals between 2016 and 2021 by analyzing data from the Tracking Healthcare Ransomware Events and Traits (THREAT) database. Describes the types of rural hospitals that experienced ransomware attacks during this period. Compares the frequency of hospitals' operational disruptions during attacks by urban and rural location.
Author(s): Hannah T. Neprash, Claire C. McGlave, Katie Rydberg, Carrie Henning-Smith
Date: 06/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center
view details