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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Needs assessment methods and resources

An Updated Model of Rural Hospital Financial Distress
Discusses a potential model to predict financial distress in rural hospitals, including negative cash flow margin, negative equity, or closure of facility. Tests 2,311 rural hospitals from 2013 to 2019 with the model and discusses its potential to predict financial distress and create accurate assessments.
Author(s): Tyler L. Malone, George H. Pink, George M. Holmes
Citation: Journal of Rural Health
Date: 10/2024
Type: Document
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Critical Access Hospital-Local Health Department Partnerships to Address Rural Community Needs
Explores Critical Access Hospital (CAH) involvement in collaborative community health networks that include local public health departments (LHDs), other healthcare organizations, social service agencies, and other community organizations. Uses survey data from the American Hospital Association (AHA) to describe the collaborative partnerships CAHs are engaged in, the organizations with which they partner, and the activities these partnerships undertake. Presents findings from qualitative interviews with four pairs of CAH and LHD leaders regarding challenges and lessons learned from these local-level collaborations. Identifies three areas of activity - community health needs assessments, emergency preparedness planning, and emergent public health crises - that provide an opportunity to encourage collaboration between CAHs and LHDs and address priority needs.
Author(s): Zachariah Croll, Celia Jewell, John Gale
Date: 01/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Flex Monitoring Team
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Development and Evaluation of the Delivery-Based HEALED Produce Rx Program for Uninsured Patients With Diabetes in Rural Eastern North Carolina
A program evaluation brief that provides an overview of the Healthy Eating and Active Lifestyle to Enhance Diabetes management (HEALED) program that surveyed patients in 2019 and then delivered plant-based foods to 40 participants as a part of a produce prescription (PRx) program in 2021. Reports on how PRx programs and related resources such as cooking instructions can positively impact diabetes patients. Discusses the importance of performing a needs assessment, pilot programming, and a formative evaluation in rural and underserved programs to remove food access barriers such as lack of transportation and involve participants in their own wellness journeys.
Author(s): Lauren R. Sastre, Brandon Stroud, Elisa Smith, Khadijah Hendrix, Olivia McBride
Citation: Preventing Chronic Disease, 20
Date: 06/2023
Type: Document
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Considerations for a National Drinking Water Quality Compliance Assessment
Outlines what an assessment of compliance related to safe drinking water in the United States would look like in 4 phases: quality compliance definition and identification, spatial location considerations, compliance solutions and their costs, and solution funding and gaps. Includes considerations for tribal and rural areas.
Author(s): Gregory Pierce, Laura Landes, Grace Harrison, Lena Schlichting, Lauren Dunlap
Date: 04/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: Rural Community Assistance Partnership, UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation
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Access to Jobs, Economic Opportunities, and Education in Rural Areas
Provides an overview of the challenges experienced in rural communities such as connectivity issues; access to goods, social services, and healthcare; and a lack of educational and economic opportunities. Includes implementation strategies for rural communities to evaluate, plan for, and improve accessibility, along with related case studies.
Additional links: Read Online
Date: 2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Transportation Research Board
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Rural Community Engagement Resource Guide
Describes the importance of community engagement in developing and implementing strategies to improve health, increase value, and drive equitable care delivery. Outlines a variety of toolkits, strategies, and resources to help initiate, improve, and inspire community engagement strategies that support value-based care.
Additional links: Community Engagement and Value Based Care Infographic
Date: 2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Value
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Cancer Clinical Trials: Federal Actions and Selected Non-Federal Practices to Facilitate Diversity of Patients
Examines actions taken by federal agencies to increase diverse population enrollment in cancer clinical trials as well as practices by non-federal cancer centers to facilitate diverse enrollment. Discusses strategies such as collaboration, reducing barriers, data standardization, training, utilization of community ambassadors, and more. Focuses on inclusion of underrepresented groups such as racial/ethnic minorities, young adults, older adults, those with low incomes, women, American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) persons, and people living in rural communities.
Additional links: Full Report
Date: 12/2022
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Government Accountability Office
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Future of Population Health Efforts for Rural Health Systems
Slides presented at the Becker's Hospital Review 10th Annual CEO + CFO Roundtable Conference in November 2022. Discusses approaches to understanding and addressing social determinants of health, including community health needs assessments (CHNAs) and Accountable Health Communities (AHCs), and offers links to tools and resources. Highlights needs addressed and implementation challenges faced by two rural AHCs.
Author(s): Keith J. Mueller
Date: 11/2022
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Rural Policy Research Institute
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Using Maps to Inform Decisions about Child Care and Early Education
Discusses how utilizing maps can assist childcare and early education (CCEE) leaders and partners in the planning of policy, resource allocation, supply building, and family support strategies. Provides county-level examples of maps and discusses technical considerations related to making local decisions about CCEE availability and access.
Author(s): Van-Kim Lin, Erin Bumgarner, Dayne Ornelas Gonzalez, Kelly Maxwell
Date: 10/2022
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: Administration for Children and Families, Child Trends
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Mastering Complex Geographies on data.census.gov
Webinar recording discusses how to use the data.census.gov mapping feature to identify complex geographies. Highlights tips and tricks for identifying and mapping different datasets on rural and tribal areas.
Additional links: Presentation Slides
Date: 05/2022
Type: Video/Multimedia
Sponsoring organization: U.S. Census Bureau
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