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Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Healthcare business and finance

Nursing Home Closures and Trends: June 2015 - June 2019
Provides an overview of the causes and implications of 500 nursing home closures between June 2015 and June 2019. Examines the geographic distribution of these closures, including states in which closures are concentrated in rural areas. Explores nursing home closures in relation to occupancy rates, quality ratings, tax status, and the impact of Medicaid payment policies. Offers recommendations for policymakers and nursing homes.
Date: 02/2020
Sponsoring organization: LeadingAge
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Impact of Medicaid Work Requirements on Hospital Finances
Explores the potential financial impact of approved or pending Medicaid Section 1115 demonstration waivers that include work requirements on hospitals in 16 states. Provides a fact sheet on each state, including a section comparing the potential impact of Medicaid work requirements on rural hospitals' operating margins to all hospitals in the state.
Date: 02/2020
Sponsoring organization: Commonwealth Fund
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How to Better Support Small Physician-led Accountable Care Organizations: Recent Program Updates, Challenges, and Policy Implications
Describes the strategies of successful small physician-led Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). Discusses how policy changes contribute to the opportunities and challenges for these ACOs. Explores how "ACO Enablers" aid small ACOs in participating in risk-bearing models. Includes a brief discussion of how the ACO Investment Model program supported ACOs in rural and underserved areas with access to capital.
Author(s): Jonathan Gonzalez-Smith, Hannah Crook, Elizabeth Singletary, William Bleser, Robert Saunders
Date: 02/2020
Sponsoring organizations: Duke Margolis Center for Health Policy, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
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An Emerging Model for Community Health Worker-Based Chronic Care Management for Patients With High Health Care Costs in Rural Appalachia
Describes a community health worker-based chronic care management model implemented in rural counties in 3 central Appalachian states. Demonstrates how to engage health insurance companies to support and sustain this model.
Author(s): Richard Crespo, Matthew Christiansen, Kim Tieman, Richard Wittberg
Citation: Preventing Chronic Disease, 17
Date: 02/2020
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Defense Health Care: Plans Needed to Ensure Implementation of Required Elements for TRICARE's Managed Care Support Contracts
Report highlights the Government Accountability Office recommendations for the implementation of changes to the Department of Defense's TRICARE managed support contracts that were required by Congress. Evaluates the specific improvements relating to healthcare delivery and touches on their importance in rural areas.
Additional links: Full Report
Date: 02/2020
Sponsoring organization: Government Accountability Office
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Rural Health Predictions: Q&A with Alan Morgan
An interview with National Rural Health Association (NRHA) CEO Alan Morgan. Focuses on NRHA's work on rural health issues and shares rural health predictions for 2020.
Author(s): Allee Mead
Citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 02/2020
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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Variation in Use of Home Health Care among Fee-for-Service Medicare Beneficiaries by Rural-Urban Status and Geographic Region: Assessing the Potential for Unmet Need
County-level analysis of home health care use by Medicare beneficiaries in 2013. Explores characteristics of beneficiaries and their communities. Features statistics with breakdowns by geographic region and 5 levels of population density.
Author(s): Tracy M. Mroz, Lisa A. Garberson, Jennifer L. Wong, et al.
Date: 02/2020
Sponsoring organization: WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
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Building Partnerships to Improve Health in the Rural South: CareSouth Carolina
Provides an overview of CareSouth Carolina, a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), and its approaches to increase engagement with low-income patients in its service area. Describes the role of community health workers to address social determinants of health. Discusses partnerships with community organizations and the development of an independent practice association with other FQHCs in South Carolina. Includes CareSouth Carolina's performance scorecard and a summary of lessons learned.
Author(s): Martha Hostetter, Sarah Klein
Date: 02/2020
Sponsoring organization: Commonwealth Fund
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Three Large Scale Surveys Highlight the Complexity of Cervical Cancer Under-Screening Among Women 45-65 Years of Age in the United States
Examines cervical cancer screening rates based on data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, the Health Center Patient Survey, and the Health Information National Trends Survey. Discusses demographics, including rural and urban location, and screening rates by age, location, education level, race and ethnicity, and insurance coverage.
Author(s): Diane M. Harper, Melissa Plegue, Kathryn M. Harmes, Masahito Jimbo, Sherri SheinfeldGorin
Citation: Preventative Medicine, 130, 105880
Date: 01/2020
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Infants Without Health Insurance: Racial/Ethnic and Rural/Urban Disparities in Infant Households' Insurance Coverage
Explores how the uneven expansion of Medicaid affects the racial/ethnic health insurance coverage for infants across rural and urban areas in the U.S. Highlights spatial patterns in health insurance coverage among infants, and examines the probability that an infant will be born without health insurance coverage using 2011-2015 American Community Survey (ACS) data and logistic regression.
Author(s): Scott R. Sanders, Michael R. Cope, Paige N. Park, Wesley Jeffery, Jorden E. Jackson
Citation: PLoS ONE, 15(1)
Date: 01/2020
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