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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Health insurance

Examining Rural Hospital Bypass for Outpatient Services
Explores the drivers of rural hospital bypass for outpatient services and the relationship between hospital outpatient services and inpatient utilization. Examines demographic and market characteristics associated with bypass for outpatient services before and after inpatient admissions. Also analyzes how utilization for common outpatient services differs between Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) and rural prospective payment system (PPS) hospitals.
Date: 11/2021
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
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Association of Rural and Critical Access Hospital Status With Patient Outcomes After Emergency Department Visits Among Medicare Beneficiaries
Compares 30-day outcomes for 473,152 Medicare patients after emergency department (ED) visits in rural or urban settings and in Critical Access Hospitals. Features statistics on mortality, ED revisits, hospitalization and transfer patterns by commonly encountered ED conditions, and characteristics of patients and of hospitals studied, with breakdowns by urban or rural location.
Author(s): Margaret Greenwood-Ericksen, Neil Kamdar, Paul Lin, et al.
Citation: JAMA Network Open, 4(11)
Date: 11/2021
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Medicare: Information on the Transition to Alternative Payment Models by Providers in Rural, Health Professional Shortage, or Underserved Areas
Describes the participation of providers in rural and health professional shortage areas in Advanced APMs from 2017 through 2019. Discusses challenges providers in rural, shortage, and underserved areas face in transitioning to APMs, as well as actions CMS takes to help these providers transition to APMs. Includes data by practice and provider type.
Additional links: Full Report
Date: 11/2021
Sponsoring organization: Government Accountability Office
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MBQIP Quality Measures National Annual Report - 2020
Summarizes quality measure reporting rates and performance among Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) in 2020. Presents data on the four Medicare Beneficiary Quality Improvement Project (MBQIP) domains: patient safety/inpatient, outpatient, patient engagement, and care transitions.
Author(s): Megan Lahr, Nathan Bean, Ira Moscovice
Date: 11/2021
Sponsoring organization: Flex Monitoring Team
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MACPAC Response to Senate Finance Committee Request for Information on Behavioral Health
Summarizes the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission's (MACPAC) ongoing analysis of behavioral health in Medicaid and CHIP and offers policy recommendations. Discusses the behavioral health workforce; behavioral healthcare service delivery and access; mental health parity; telehealth; and improving access for children and youth. Includes rural references and considerations throughout.
Date: 11/2021
Sponsoring organization: Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission
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The Impact of Aging Baby Boomers in Rural America
Policy brief discussing the impact of the increasing proportion of the population turning 65 years old on rural communities. Offers policy recommendations for addressing barriers rural older adults face accessing healthcare and social services.
Author(s): Sarah Huling, Elizabeth Crouch, Whitney Zahnd
Date: 11/2021
Sponsoring organization: National Rural Health Association
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How States Use ARPA Funds to Support Telehealth, Technology and Data Infrastructure
Interactive map displaying how states used a one-time increase in the federal medical assistance program (FMAP) for Medicaid home and community-based services (HCBS) through March 31, 2022, to support telehealth service delivery, technology-based innovations, and data infrastructure building opportunities.
Date: 11/2021
Sponsoring organization: National Academy for State Health Policy
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The Tennessee Medicaid Medication Therapy Management Program: Early Stage Contextual Factors and Implementation Outcomes
Shares the results of a study examining a multi-faceted implementation strategy to support a medication therapy management (MTM) pilot program for TennCare, Tennessee's state Medicaid program, at both the organizational and individual levels. Describes contextual factors associated with the pilot program implementation based on the consolidated framework for implementation research (CFIR). Table 3 reports characteristics of organizations participating in the pilot program, including information on study participants located in a rural area.
Author(s): Kenneth C. Hohmeier, Chelsea Renfro, Kea Turner, et al.
Citation: BMC Health Services Research, 21, 1189
Date: 11/2021
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Mapping the Location of Health Centers in Relation to "Maternity Care Deserts": Associations With Utilization of Women's Health Providers and Services
Explores the association between community health centers' (CHC) distance to a maternity care desert (MCD) and use of maternity-related healthcare services. Discusses the effects of rural hospital closures and provider shortages on patients' access to maternity care. Includes a county-level MCD map and county-level and CHC-level statistics related to MCDs.
Author(s): Anne R. Markus, Drishti Pillai
Citation: Medical Care, 59(10), S434-S440
Date: 10/2021
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How North Dakota Uses 1915(i) to Provide Supportive Services to People with Behavioral Health Conditions in Rural Areas
Describes how the North Dakota Department of Human Services utilizes the Medicaid 1915(i) state plan authority to fill gaps in community-based services for beneficiaries with behavioral health conditions. Highlights how the program addresses challenges to delivering services in rural areas.
Author(s): Emily Brostek, Neva Kaye
Date: 10/2021
Sponsoring organization: National Academy for State Health Policy
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