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Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Healthcare needs and services

Combatting the Opioid Epidemic with Provider and Public Education
Highlights from a conversation with Fred Wells Brason II, discussing community-based efforts to reduce opioid misuse and use in rural communities. Brason helped found Project Lazarus in Wilkes County, North Carolina, which reduced the overdose rate in Wilkes County by 72% over 3 years. The Project Lazarus model has since spread to more than 20 states and focuses on cross-sector collaboration, public and provider education, and increasing access to treatment.
Citation: Transforming Care: Reporting on Health System Improvement
Date: 03/2017
Sponsoring organization: Commonwealth Fund
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Promoting Colorectal Cancer Screening Through a New Model of Delivering Rural Primary Care in the USA: A Qualitative Study
Results of a study conducted in Nebraska, to explore ways in which colorectal cancer screening can be promoted by rural primary care clinics participating in an Accountable Care Organization. Features statistics including participants' sex, job, and breakdowns by three levels of rurality.
Author(s): Jungyoon Kim, Lufei Young, Sarbinaz Bekmuratova, et al.
Citation: Rural and Remote Health, 17(1), 4187
Date: 03/2017
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A National Strategy for the Elimination of Hepatitis B and C: Phase Two Report
Report that considers strategies to eliminate Hepatitis B and C as a public health problem in the U.S. and potential barriers that could stand in the way of this goal. Includes recommendations for coordination and funding, as well as rural focused segments regarding injectable drugs such as opioids and other narcotics.
Additional links: Read Online
Date: 03/2017
Sponsoring organizations: Committee on a National Strategy for the Elimination of Hepatitis B and C, Health and Medicine Division (HMD), National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
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Learning by Doing: The MD-PA Interprofessional Education Rural Rotation
Describes the Combined Medical-Physician Assistant Student Rural Rotation (Med-PARR) program at the Oregon Health & Science University, in which pairs of third-year MD students and second-year PA students spend 5 weeks together in a primary-care-focused clinical rotation in a rural area.
Author(s): Ryan Palmer, Curt Stilp
Citation: Rural and Remote Health, 17(1), 4167
Date: 03/2017
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Use of Cell Phones and Computers for Health Promotion and Tobacco Cessation by American Indian College Students in Montana
Results of a survey given to 153 American Indian students at two rural tribal colleges, designed to inform development and implementation of a text messaging smoking cessation intervention. Features statistics including age, sex, health status, degree of tobacco use, access to computer and cell phone, and frequency of phone and internet use.
Author(s): Jo Ann Walsh Dotson, Lonnie A. Nelson, Sara L. Young, Dedra Buchwald, John Roll
Citation: Rural and Remote Health, 17(1), 4014
Date: 03/2017
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Trends in Suicide by Level of Urbanization — United States, 1999–2015
Reports on suicide rates from 1999–2015, with data for metropolitan, micropolitan, and non-core (rural) areas. Discusses possible causes for geographic disparities in suicide rates, including limited access to mental health care, social isolation, and the opioid overdose epidemic. Also discusses the widening gap beginning in 2007-2008, which may relate to the impact of the recession on rural areas.
Author(s): Scott R. Kegler, Deborah M. Stone, Kristin M. Holland
Citation: MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report), 66(10), 270-273
Date: 03/2017
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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Differences in Health Care, Family, and Community Factors Associated with Mental, Behavioral, and Developmental Disorders Among Children Aged 2–8 Years in Rural and Urban Areas — United States, 2011–2012
Provides rural and urban data on a variety of health-related factors for children 2-8 years of age with and without mental, behavioral, and developmental disorders. Topics addressed include demographics, health insurance coverage, having a medical home, parental mental health, family financial difficulties, and community factors.
Author(s): Lara R. Robinson, Joseph R. Holbrook, Rebecca H. Bitsko, et al.
Citation: MMWR Surveillance Summaries, 66(8), 1-11
Date: 03/2017
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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MedPAC Report to the Congress: Medicare Payment Policy, 2017
Provides an annual review of Medicare payment policies, with recommendations to Congress. Includes discussions on Medicare payment policies that directly affect rural providers and beneficiaries. Analyses payment adequacy for home health, skilled nursing, long-term care hospitals, hospice, ambulatory surgical centers, and rehabilitation facilities.
Date: 03/2017
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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Community Health Workers Get Trained to Reduce Oral Health Disparities
Highlights programs serving the Navajo Nation, Texas colonias, and Appalachian Maryland that use community health workers to provide oral health education and improve access dental care.
Author(s): Jenn Lukens
Citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 03/2017
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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Evaluation of Health Care Innovation Awards (HCIA): Primary Care Redesign Programs, Third Annual Report
Third annual evaluations for the Health Care Innovation Awards Round One projects focused on primary care redesign, addressing a range of intervention models, target populations, and organizational settings. Presents findings on program impacts related to quality of care, service use, and medical spending. Includes projects serving rural areas.
Additional links: Addendum, August 2017
Date: 03/2017
Sponsoring organizations: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Mathematica Policy Research
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