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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Healthcare quality

Integrated Behavioral Health Implementation and Chronic Disease Management Inequities: An Exploratory Study of Statewide Data
Examines associations between the use of integrated behavioral health (IBH) and quality of asthma, diabetes, and vascular disease management at 102 primary care clinics in Minnesota. Analyzes how rurality, racial profile of clinical location, and patient socioeconomic status interact with IBH adoption and quality of chronic disease management.
Author(s): Gretchen J. R. Buchanan, Jerica M. Berge, Timothy F. Piehler
Citation: BMC Primary Care, 25, 302
Date: 08/2024
Type: Document
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Small Practice After-Action Review: 2022 Performance Year Final Score
Tool for small practices interested in examining their 2022 Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) final score to identify opportunities to improve performance in 2024.
Additional links: Video: Small Practice Action Planning Tool for MIPS
Date: 08/2024
Type: Tool
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
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Advocate-BREAST: Advocates and Patients' Advice to Enhance Breast Cancer Care Delivery, Patient Experience and Patient Centered Research by 2025
Examines breast cancer (BC) survivor experiences with BC care delivery, education, and support received. Analyzes 2,437 responses from a 2021 survey of patients in the Mayo Clinic Breast Disease Registry, with data breakdowns of respective patient perspectives, concerns, and symptoms by sociodemographic variables, including rural versus urban location.
Author(s): Ciara C. O'Sullivan, Nicole L. Larson, Robert A. Vierkant, et al.
Citation: Archives of Public Health, 82, 119
Date: 08/2024
Type: Document
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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
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Commonwealth Fund
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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
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
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Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS): 2024 MIPS Promoting Interoperability Performance Category Hardship Exception Application Guide
Provides guidance on how clinicians can apply for a MIPS hardship exception. Highlights guidance for having your MIPS Promoting Interoperability performance category reweighted to 0% in cases of insufficient internet connectivity, decertified electronic health record technology, or other circumstances out of the clinicians control.
Date: 08/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
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Structural Determinants of Health: Hospitals' Unequal Capital Investments Drive Health Inequities
Examines hospitals' capital investments as a structural factor influencing disparities in patient safety and quality of care at hospitals in the United States. Analyzes topics including hospital economics, federal policy, funding, hospital infrastructure, and more. See Section 5 in particular for discussion of rural hospitals.
Author(s): Eileen Appelbaum, Emma Curchin, Rosemary Batt
Date: 07/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR)
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Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics Demonstration Program: Report to Congress, 2023
Provides an overview of the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) demonstration. Describes changes in the quality of care during the first four years of the demonstration for states with available quality measures, as well as quality bonus payments states made to CCBHCs based on quality measure performance. Builds on findings on demonstration implementation, quality improvement, and costs outlined in previous evaluation reports, focusing on data collected since spring 2022.
Date: 07/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Mathematica, RAND Corporation
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Report to Congress: Addressing the Maternal Health Crisis in the United States: An Update from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Reports on efforts by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to improve maternal health outcomes, including programs related to care delivery, access to care, and social factors influencing health. Presents data and discussion of maternal health trends, identifies key drivers, highlights relevant HHS programs and actions, and presents a framework to measure progress. Details rural access and outcome disparities and features rural-focused programs.
Date: 07/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
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Why Primary Care Practitioners Aren't Joining Value-Based Payment Models: Reasons and Potential Solutions
Explores reasons why primary care providers do not participate in value-based payment models. Presents findings from focus group and key informant interviews with primary care providers and primary care member organizations. Covers financial, workforce, and administrative burden-related challenges, and outlines potential solutions. Includes a discussion of financial challenges small and rural independent practices face in participating in value-based payment models.
Author(s): Ann S. O'Malley, Rumin Sarwar, Cindy Alvarez, Eugene C. Rich
Date: 07/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Commonwealth Fund
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