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Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Healthcare needs and services

Health System Interventions to Prevent Firearms Injuries and Death: Proceedings of a Workshop
Summarizes the proceedings of a workshop focused on how healthcare systems can reduce gun violence and injuries. Discusses the impact of health systems on the reduction, ways to identify high risk individuals, health system interventions, program examples, and more. Addresses rural in several chapters, including firearm homicide and suicide rates for rural and urban areas, a VA program targeting rural veterans at risk for suicide, and recommendations from a rural physician.
Additional links: Interactive Overview of Workshop Proceedings, Read Online
Author(s): Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice
Date: 02/2019
Sponsoring organization: Health and Medicine Division (HMD), National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
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Fact Sheet: Rural Nebraska's Shifting Long-Term Care System
Highlights the state of Nebraska's rural long-term care system. Addresses access, capacity, provider shortages, and reimbursements.
Date: 02/2019
Sponsoring organization: Center for Rural Affairs
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Case Studies of 6 Safety Net Organizations That Integrate Oral and Mental/Behavioral Health With Primary Care Services
Features an analysis of 6 Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) integrating oral health and behavioral health with primary care across the country. Features one rural example.
Additional links: Policy Brief
Author(s): M. Langelier, S. Surdu, N. Goodwin
Date: 02/2019
Sponsoring organization: Oral Health Workforce Research Center
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Long-term Care Providers and Services Users in the United States, 2015-2016
Describes the supply, organizational characteristics, staffing, and services offered by providers. Gives descriptions of services users, including residents of nursing homes and residential care communities, patients receiving home health or hospice care, and people who attend adult day care centers. Features statistics including distribution of long-term care providers in 2016, with breakdowns by metropolitan, micropolitan, or other area.
Additional links: State Estimates Supplement
Author(s): L. Harris-Kojetin, M. Sengupta, J.P. Lendon, et al.
Date: 02/2019
Sponsoring organization: National Center for Health Statistics
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The State of Primary Care Physician Workforce
State-level information describing the primary care physician workforce in 50 states and the District of Columbia. Features statistics including age, sex, training origin, distribution of physicians, percent of state population living in rural areas, and percent of physicians practicing in rural communities.
Date: 02/2019
Sponsoring organization: Robert Graham Center
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Evidence Brief: Video Telehealth for Primary Care and Mental Health Service
Details an investigation by the Veterans Health Administration into video telehealth as a means of delivering primary and mental healthcare to veterans. Highlights advantages for increasing access for rural veterans.
Additional links: Supplemental Materials
Author(s): Stephanie Veazie, Donald Bourne, Kim Peterson, Johanna Anderson
Date: 02/2019
Sponsoring organization: VA Health Systems Research, Office of Research & Development
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Do Hospital Closures Affect Patient Time in an Ambulance?
Examines the impact of hospital closures on patient travel time to an emergency department (ED) by ambulance. Uses national data on hospital closures and hospital-based ambulance services and compares rural/urban differences.
Author(s): SuZanne Troske, Alison Davis
Date: 02/2019
Sponsoring organization: Rural and Underserved Health Research Center
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Practicing Medicine in Rural America: Listening to Primary Care Physicians
Reports on focus group research and interviews with primary care physicians regarding the challenges of serving rural, low-income patients. Highlights issues related to poverty, healthy food access, mental health, substance abuse, specialty care access, and transportation. Third post in the series "Listening to Primary Care Physicians for Low-Income Patients."
Author(s): Shanoor Seervai
Date: 02/2019
Sponsoring organization: Commonwealth Fund
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Premature Mortality from All Causes and Drug Poisonings in the USA According to Socioeconomic Status and Rurality: An Analysis of Death Certificate Data by County from 2000–15
Examines premature deaths from drug poisoning versus all causes by county for various groups of people. Addresses differences by rural/urban location, socioeconomic status, education level, and sex, among other measures. See additional link for detailed tables.
Additional links: Supplementary Appendix
Author(s): Meredith S. Shiels, Amy Berrington de Gonzalez, Ana F. Best, et al.
Citation: The Lancet, 4(2), e97-e106
Date: 02/2019
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Opioid Use Disorder: Challenges and Opportunities in Rural Communities
Discusses challenges rural communities face in providing access to evidence-based treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD). Identifies federal and state strategies to address treatment capacity, including expanding the workforce authorized to prescribe buprenorphine and using technology to provide treatment. Highlights how Scott County, Indiana responded to an HIV outbreak related to OUD by addressing the barriers to care faced by people with OUD and HIV.
Date: 02/2019
Sponsoring organization: Pew
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