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Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Healthcare needs and services

Ensuring Access to Care: Wagner Community Memorial Hospital – Avera, Wagner, S.D.
Describes Wagner Community Memorial Hospital – Avera (WCMH-A), a 20-bed Critical Access Hospital (CAH) in Wagner, South Dakota, that works to ensure access to care while addressing the social determinants of health for the populations they serve. Shares strategies and collaborative efforts to address the community's needs through the use of telemedicine, housing and economic development, population health, and access to primary care.
Date: 05/2018
Sponsoring organization: American Hospital Association Rural Health Services
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Using Telehealth to Improve Home-Based Care for Older Adults and Family Caregivers
Describes consumer perspectives and policy concerns with telehealth. Includes examples of home telehealth strategies, potential benefits and challenges, and discussion of home telehealth coverage in federal and state programs, including the Veterans Health Administration, Medicaid, and Medicare.
Author(s): Winifred V. Quinn, Ellen O'Brien, Gregg Springan
Date: 05/2018
Sponsoring organization: AARP Public Policy Institute
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America's Health Rankings Senior Report 2018
Provides a national and state-by-state overview of population health for older adults across 34 measures, as well as two supplemental measures new in 2018: suicide rate and risk of social isolation. Includes a special focus on persistent health differences and challenges facing rural seniors.
Additional links: Executive Summary
Date: 05/2018
Sponsoring organization: United Health Foundation
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Rural Post-Acute Care: Healthcare Leaders Offer Practical Solutions to Workforce Challenges
Describes methods for preparing and supporting healthcare workers who provide post-acute care in rural areas. Highlights programs that empower and train staff, maximize community partnerships, involve community health workers, and use telemonitoring.
Author(s): Jenn Lukens
Citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 05/2018
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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Access to Syringe Services Programs — Kentucky, North Carolina, and West Virginia, 2013–2017
Overview of the role of syringe services programs (SSPs) in reducing hepatitis C transmission related to injection drug use. Describes the expansion of SSPs in Kentucky, North Carolina, and West Virginia from 2013 through August 1, 2017. Discusses the opportunity to improve access to care through SSPs, including access to related services such as medication-assisted treatment, which can be included in comprehensive SSPs.
Author(s): Danae Bixler, Greg Corby-Lee, Scott Proescholdbell, et al.
Citation: MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report), 67(18), 529-532
Date: 05/2018
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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OSF HealthCare – Peoria, IL: Connecting Health Systems and Community-Based Organizations to Improve Outcomes
Features a faith-based, 13-hospital health care system serving Illinois and Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Describes OSF Center for Health - Streator, which will feature the first rural freestanding emergency department in Illinois. Discusses how OSF HealthCare is using a case management platform and working with community-based organizations to meet a wide range of patient needs.
Date: 05/2018
Sponsoring organization: American Hospital Association
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Rural Post-Acute Care: Improving Transitions to Enhance Patient Recovery
Highlights approaches that are improving patient transitions from acute care to post-acute care (PAC) in rural settings. Features a tertiary facility's communication with skilled nursing facilities in Tennessee and Kentucky, a Nebraska Critical Access Hospital's swing bed program, and a home health agency serving rural Maine.
Author(s): Jenn Lukens
Date: 05/2018
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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2017 Colorado Opioid Safety Pilot Results Report
Describes an opioid safety pilot study that implemented the ALTO, or alternative to opioid, approach for pain treatment in 7 urban and 3 rural hospital emergency departments in Colorado. Discusses ALTO's multifaceted treatment approach for pain management, data collection and analysis, and lessons learned.
Additional links: Pre-Launch Checklist: Using Alternatives to Opioids (ALTOs) in Hospital Emergency Departments
Date: 05/2018
Sponsoring organization: Colorado Hospital Association
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Leaving the Emergency Department Without Complete Care: Disparities In American Indian Children
Examines children who leave the emergency department (ED) without complete evaluation or care (LWCET) in American Indian (AI) pediatric populations between June 2011 and May 2012. Analyzes 68,461 visits made by 47,228 children to 5 EDs and investigates factors such as demographic characteristics of patient, triage level, distance from the ED, timing of visit, ED activity level, and more.
Author(s): Tess L. Weber, Katherine M. Ziegler, Anupam B. Kharbanda, et al.
Citation: BMC Health Services Research, 18(267)
Date: 04/2018
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Cross-Jurisdictional Resource Sharing in Local Health Departments: Implications for Services, Quality, and Cost
Examines Local Health Departments (LHDs) in Connecticut and Massachusetts and discusses how to increase capacity of public health systems in smaller municipalities. Analyzes 15 resource-sharing jurisdictions and 54 single-municipality jurisdictions and provides benefits and drawbacks of the 2 models. Includes data on demographic and organizational characteristics of independent and sharing municipalities including percentages of rural, suburban, and urban municipality type.
Author(s): Debbie L. Humphries, Justeen Hyde, Ethan Hahn, et al.
Citation: Frontiers in Public Health, 6(115), 1-13
Date: 04/2018
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