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Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Healthcare needs and services

Highway Safety: Federal and State Efforts to Address Rural Road Safety Challenges
Identifies the factors contributing to rural road fatalities. Discusses federal and state efforts to improve safety and the challenges to making improvements in rural road safety.
Additional links: Full Report
Date: 05/2004
Sponsoring organization: Government Accountability Office
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Understanding the Role of the Rural Hospital Emergency Department in Responding to Bioterrorist Attacks and Other Emergencies: A Review of the Literature and Guide to the Issues
Overview of bioterrorism preparedness issues facing rural hospitals, including physical capacity, sufficiency of health personnel, preparedness plans, disease surveillance systems, and communication/coordination. Detailed review of the literature, with discussion.
Author(s): Claudia L. Schur
Date: 04/2004
Sponsoring organization: NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis
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The 2004 Report to the Secretary: Rural Health and Human Service Issues
Report to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Overview of key issues and trends affecting health and human service delivery in rural communities. Detailed information on the integration of behavioral health and primary care, access to oral health care, and aging-related services.
Date: 04/2004
Sponsoring organization: National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services
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Medicare Home Health: Payments to Freestanding Home Health Agencies More Than Covered Their Costs
Discusses an evaluation of Medicare payments to freestanding home health agencies (HHAs). Includes comparison of Medicare margins for urban and rural HHAs.
Additional links: Full Report
Date: 02/2004
Sponsoring organization: Government Accountability Office
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Medicare Home Health Care in Rural America
Describes the results of a study evaluating the degree to which Medicare beneficiaries received home health care from agencies outside of their county and the extent to which urban agencies served rural beneficiaries.
Author(s): Sheila J. Franco
Date: 01/2004
Sponsoring organization: NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis
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Prescription Drug Spending and Coverage Among Rural Medicare Beneficiaries in 2003
Examines out-of-pocket spending on prescription drugs by noninstitutionalized rural Medicare beneficiaries age 65 and older. Includes information on supplemental insurance coverage among rural and urban Medicare beneficiaries.
Author(s): Craig Caplan, Normandy Brangan
Date: 2004
Sponsoring organization: AARP Public Policy Institute
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Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003
Text of the legislation that adds a prescription drug benefit to Medicare and enhances some rural healthcare programs, such as the Critical Access Hospitals program.
Date: 11/2003
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Rural-Urban Issues in the Wage Index Adjustment for Prospective Payment in Skilled Nursing Facilities
Discusses the use of the hospital wage index for the skilled nursing facility prospective payment system (SNF PPS) and how a change to an SNF wage index would impact rural and urban skilled nursing facilities. Also identifies some related issues that impact reimbursement to SNFs in both urban and rural areas.
Additional links: Findings Brief, January 2004
Author(s): Kathleen Dalton, Rebecca Slifkin
Date: 11/2003
Sponsoring organization: North Carolina Rural Health Research Program
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Physician Workforce: Supply Increased in Metropolitan and Nonmetropolitan Areas but Geographic Disparities Persisted
Describes the change in supply of physicians from 1991 to 2001. Includes data nationally and by state on physicians in nonmetropolitan areas and on the number of specialists versus generalists. Includes a list of Health Resources and Services Administration programs that address the supply and distribution of health professionals, with 1991 and 2001 expenditures for each program.
Additional links: Full Report
Date: 10/2003
Sponsoring organization: Government Accountability Office
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Ambulance Services: Medicare Payments Can be Better Targeted to Trips in Less Densely Populated Rural Areas
Covers factors that affect ambulance costs per trip, how these factors vary across geographic areas, and how well Medicare payments account for geographic cost differences.
Additional links: Full Report
Date: 09/2003
Sponsoring organization: Government Accountability Office
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