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Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Healthcare needs and services

Youth in Crisis: How an Innovative Program is Addressing Pediatric Mental Health
Highlights a New Hampshire pediatric behavioral health training program using the Project ECHO model. Discusses access to care, workforce shortages, benefits of collaboration, and community engagement. Transcript beneath the audio player.
Date: 08/2024
Sponsoring organization: American Hospital Association
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Characteristics of the Current Dental Hygienist Workforce in Washington State
Reports on dental hygienist (DH) supply, distribution, and characteristics in Washington State, utilizing data from a survey of 995 DHs. Provides demographic data including rural versus urban location of residence. Features county-level maps showing DH geographic distribution.
Author(s): Grace A. Guenther, Samantha W. Pollack, Benjamin A. Stubbs, Bianca K. Frogner, Susan M. Skillman
Date: 08/2024
Sponsoring organizations: UW Center for Health Workforce Studies, Washington Oral Health Workforce
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A Scoping Review of Policies to Encourage Breastfeeding, Healthy Eating, and Physical Activity among Rural People and Places in the United States
Scoping review of 122 studies, reports, and theses on breastfeeding, healthy eating, and physical activity policy, systems, and environment change initiatives in rural areas. Analyzes source design, objectives, setting, focus, results, and more. Summarizes research findings and discusses data collection and sharing for rural initiatives.
Author(s): M. Renée Umstattd Meyer, Bailey Houghtaling, Marilyn E. Wende, et al.
Citation: BMC Public Health, 24, 2160
Date: 08/2024
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2024 Public Health Actions to Reduce the Burden of Asthma: Influenza and COVID-19 Vaccination Uptake Among People with Asthma
Analyzes barriers to influenza and COVID-19 vaccination in people with asthma. Utilizes 2022 survey data from 350 people with asthma to provide asthma and vaccination status with breakdowns according to sociodemographic variables, including urban, rural, or suburban location.
Author(s): Hannah Jaffee, Sanaz Eftekhari, Melanie Carver
Citation: Preventing Chronic Disease, 21
Date: 08/2024
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Changes in Rural Pharmacy Presence 2023
Data brief exploring availability of retail pharmacy services in rural areas of the U.S. Provides information on rural communities that have kept, lost, or gained a retail pharmacy between 2018 and 2023. Features statistics on numbers of pharmacies in rural areas in 2018 and 2023, with breakdowns by communities with one pharmacy, two pharmacies, or three or more pharmacies.
Author(s): Fred Ullrich, Keith Mueller
Date: 08/2024
Sponsoring organization: RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
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Notes from the Field: Prevalence of Previous Dengue Virus Infection Among Children and Adolescents Aged 7–16 Years — American Samoa, September–October 2023
Results of a serosurvey of 887 students in American Samoa who were tested for dengue immunoglobulin G. Information on prevalence of previous dengue virus infection among school-age children and adolescents was needed to guide decisions on dengue vaccine implementation.
Author(s): Sandra Kiplagat, Noelle Tavale, Adam Konrote, et al.
Citation: MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report), 73(31), 686-688
Date: 08/2024
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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Community Health Centers' Progress and Challenges in Meeting Patients' Essential Primary Care Needs: Findings from the Commonwealth Fund 2024 National Survey of Federally Qualified Health Centers
Summarizes findings from the 2024 Commonwealth Fund National Survey of Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), which received responses from 737 FQHC leaders in fall 2023 and spring 2024. Explores the extent to which FQHCs achieve primary care accessibility, comprehensiveness, and coordination. Compares findings to data from the 2018 version of this survey to assess how care delivery changed over time. Describes barriers FQHCs face in offering high-quality care. Presents data by rural and urban location throughout.
Author(s): Celli Horstman, Corinne Lewis, Alexandra Bryan, Sara Federman
Date: 08/2024
Sponsoring organization: Commonwealth Fund
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Delivery of High-Speed Broadband Services in Unserved and Underserved Areas of the Commonwealth (Pennsylvania): Fifth Annual Report
Provides an update on the role of broadband in education, telehealth, agriculture, and community and economic development; barriers to development; and funding resources. Discusses developments in Pennsylvania state and local initiatives and efforts to identify unserved and underserved Pennsylvania communities.
Author(s): Yvonne Llewellyn Hursh, Bryan W. DeWalt, Lydia Hack, Allison N. Kobzowicz, Wendy L. Baker
Date: 08/2024
Sponsoring organization: Joint State Government Commission, General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
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Palliative Care for Patients with Heart Failure and Family Caregivers in Rural Appalachia: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Evaluates FamPALcare, a telephone coaching intervention for family caregivers who provide palliative care to patients with heart failure (HF) in rural Appalachia. Provides data on patients' HF-related physical health and depression/anxiety, caregivers' caregiving burden and depression/anxiety, and intervention helpfulness at 3 and 6 months.
Author(s): Ubolrat Piamjariyakul, Angel Smothers, Kesheng Wang, et al.
Citation: BMC Palliative Care, 23, 199
Date: 08/2024
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FY 2025 Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) and Long-Term Care Hospital Prospective Payment System (LTCH PPS) Final Rule – CMS-1808-F
Fact sheet providing an overview of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) fiscal year 2025 hospital inpatient prospective payment system (IPPS) and long-term care hospital prospective payment system (LTCH PPS) final rule. Includes information about the extension of the low-wage index hospital policy, a separate IPPS payment for small and independent hospitals to establish and maintain a buffer stock of essential medicines, the distribution of graduate medical education (GME) residency slots, updates to quality reporting programs, and more.
Date: 08/2024
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
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