Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Pharmacy workforce
Allied Health Workforce: Supporting Rural Providers, with Chris Laman
An episode of the Exploring Rural Health podcast featuring Chris Laman, Vice President of Strategy at Columbia Memorial Hospital in Astoria, Oregon. Focuses on the hospital's work developing and maintaining the rural allied health workforce. Part 2 in a 3-part series from the December 2025 Health Innovation Potluck held in Hutchinson, Kansas.
Date: 03/2026
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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An episode of the Exploring Rural Health podcast featuring Chris Laman, Vice President of Strategy at Columbia Memorial Hospital in Astoria, Oregon. Focuses on the hospital's work developing and maintaining the rural allied health workforce. Part 2 in a 3-part series from the December 2025 Health Innovation Potluck held in Hutchinson, Kansas.
Date: 03/2026
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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Barriers to Implementing a Pharmacist-Led COPD CARE Bundle in Rural Settings: A Qualitative Evaluation
Examines barriers to implementing the COPD Coordinated Access to Reduce Exacerbations (COPD CARE) program, a care bundle focused on improving chronic obstructive pulmonary disease care coordination among pharmacists, nurse care managers, and other pharmacy clinicians in the Veterans Affairs system. Describes themes from clinician interviews, including discussion of staffing challenges, limited referral availability, fragmentation of care, technological limitations, and more.
Author(s): Edward Christopher Portillo, Martha Maurer, Steven Do, et al.
Citation: BMJ Open Respiratory Research, 13, e003178
Date: 03/2026
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Examines barriers to implementing the COPD Coordinated Access to Reduce Exacerbations (COPD CARE) program, a care bundle focused on improving chronic obstructive pulmonary disease care coordination among pharmacists, nurse care managers, and other pharmacy clinicians in the Veterans Affairs system. Describes themes from clinician interviews, including discussion of staffing challenges, limited referral availability, fragmentation of care, technological limitations, and more.
Author(s): Edward Christopher Portillo, Martha Maurer, Steven Do, et al.
Citation: BMJ Open Respiratory Research, 13, e003178
Date: 03/2026
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2024 Indiana Pharmacist Health Workforce Data Report
Provides an overview of the pharmacist healthcare workforce in Indiana as of 2024, with a focus on total licenses, employment status and practice location, workforce demographics, practice characteristics, and more. Includes county-level data on geographic distribution of pharmacists as well as population per pharmacist ratios.
Additional links: Workforce Brief
Author(s): Cleveland Dietz, Sierra Vaughn, Brittany Daulton
Date: 02/2026
Sponsoring organization: Bowen Center for Health Workforce Research and Policy
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Provides an overview of the pharmacist healthcare workforce in Indiana as of 2024, with a focus on total licenses, employment status and practice location, workforce demographics, practice characteristics, and more. Includes county-level data on geographic distribution of pharmacists as well as population per pharmacist ratios.
Additional links: Workforce Brief
Author(s): Cleveland Dietz, Sierra Vaughn, Brittany Daulton
Date: 02/2026
Sponsoring organization: Bowen Center for Health Workforce Research and Policy
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Rural Health System Administrator Perspectives on Pharmacists' Role in Collaborative Drug Therapy Management
Examines the impact of pharmacist-led collaborative drug therapy modification (CDTM) on access to patient care in rural Georgia. Utilizes interview feedback from 7 primary healthcare system administrators regarding CDTM benefits and barriers, such as patient access to care, interprofessional collaboration among healthcare professionals, pharmacist knowledge and scope of practice, financial impacts, and more.
Author(s): Suzanne Whitten, Sharmon P. Osae, Russ Palmer, et al.
Citation: Journal of the American Pharmacists Association, 66(1), 102929
Date: 01/2026
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Examines the impact of pharmacist-led collaborative drug therapy modification (CDTM) on access to patient care in rural Georgia. Utilizes interview feedback from 7 primary healthcare system administrators regarding CDTM benefits and barriers, such as patient access to care, interprofessional collaboration among healthcare professionals, pharmacist knowledge and scope of practice, financial impacts, and more.
Author(s): Suzanne Whitten, Sharmon P. Osae, Russ Palmer, et al.
Citation: Journal of the American Pharmacists Association, 66(1), 102929
Date: 01/2026
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Examining Rural Community Pharmacists' Knowledge and Practices in Opioid Overdose Prevention and Treatment Services in the Southeastern United States
Highlights a study on the knowledge and practices of rural pharmacists around opioid use disorder-related education and counseling in the Southeastern U.S. Presents data by pharmacist demographic characteristics, knowledge, and experience with medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD).
Author(s): Stefanie P. Ferreri, Paige Q. Ngo, Kaileigh D. Yen, Kevin Wang, et al.
Citation: Harm Reduction Journal, 23(11)
Date: 01/2026
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Highlights a study on the knowledge and practices of rural pharmacists around opioid use disorder-related education and counseling in the Southeastern U.S. Presents data by pharmacist demographic characteristics, knowledge, and experience with medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD).
Author(s): Stefanie P. Ferreri, Paige Q. Ngo, Kaileigh D. Yen, Kevin Wang, et al.
Citation: Harm Reduction Journal, 23(11)
Date: 01/2026
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"The Crux of the Community": A Qualitative Focus Group Study of the Impact of Community Pharmacy Closures in Colorado and Utah
Discusses themes identified in focus groups of pharmacy workforce that had experienced a community pharmacy closure in Colorado or Utah. Themes discussed include community impacts, pharmacy operations, job experience, and patient impact. Highlights rural considerations throughout.
Author(s): Michael J. DiStefano, Nai-Chia Chen, Carl V. Asche, Kelly E. Anderson, T. Joseph Mattingly, II
Citation: Journal of the American Pharmacists Association, 66(1)
Date: 01/2026
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Discusses themes identified in focus groups of pharmacy workforce that had experienced a community pharmacy closure in Colorado or Utah. Themes discussed include community impacts, pharmacy operations, job experience, and patient impact. Highlights rural considerations throughout.
Author(s): Michael J. DiStefano, Nai-Chia Chen, Carl V. Asche, Kelly E. Anderson, T. Joseph Mattingly, II
Citation: Journal of the American Pharmacists Association, 66(1)
Date: 01/2026
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2025 West Virginia Health Sciences and Rural Health Report
Review of medical school enrollment, licensing rates, student debt ratios, residency training, and retention rates in West Virginia, with special focus on the Rural Health Initiative Program. Includes dental and pharmacy program profiles, and describes the Medical Student Loan Program and the Health Sciences Service Program, providing financial awards to health professionals who agree to practice in underserved areas of West Virginia.
Date: 12/2025
Sponsoring organization: West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission
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Review of medical school enrollment, licensing rates, student debt ratios, residency training, and retention rates in West Virginia, with special focus on the Rural Health Initiative Program. Includes dental and pharmacy program profiles, and describes the Medical Student Loan Program and the Health Sciences Service Program, providing financial awards to health professionals who agree to practice in underserved areas of West Virginia.
Date: 12/2025
Sponsoring organization: West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission
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Leveraging Pharmacy Education through a Train-the-Trainer Model to Enhance Breast Cancer Literacy in Rural Communities
Evaluates changes in participant confidence in a train-the-trainer program focusing on rural patient education on breast cancer among 46 PharmD students in South Carolina.
Author(s): Christopher L. Farrell, Melanie R. Ginzburg, Morgan B. Enlow, et al.
Citation: Journal of Cancer Education, 2025
Date: 08/2025
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Evaluates changes in participant confidence in a train-the-trainer program focusing on rural patient education on breast cancer among 46 PharmD students in South Carolina.
Author(s): Christopher L. Farrell, Melanie R. Ginzburg, Morgan B. Enlow, et al.
Citation: Journal of Cancer Education, 2025
Date: 08/2025
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Health Workforce in Nevada - 2025
Reports on the supply and geographic distribution of physicians, nurses, and other healthcare workers providing direct patient care services, and administrative and non-clinical healthcare workers in Nevada. Utilizes federal and state demographic, licensure, and health shortage data.
Author(s): John Packham, Angel Barboza, Simran Kaur, et al.
Date: 07/2025
Sponsoring organization: University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine Office of Statewide Initiatives
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Reports on the supply and geographic distribution of physicians, nurses, and other healthcare workers providing direct patient care services, and administrative and non-clinical healthcare workers in Nevada. Utilizes federal and state demographic, licensure, and health shortage data.
Author(s): John Packham, Angel Barboza, Simran Kaur, et al.
Date: 07/2025
Sponsoring organization: University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine Office of Statewide Initiatives
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Beyond Our Walls: Leveraging Pharmacies for STI Services and Care
Profiles NACCHO and CDC-funded partnerships between local health departments and pharmacies to expand sexually-transmitted infection (STI) services and access to care in their communities. See Appendix 2 for discussion of observations and implementation of HIV/STI programming in rural Chaffee County, Colorado.
Date: 07/2025
Sponsoring organization: National Association of County and City Health Officials
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Profiles NACCHO and CDC-funded partnerships between local health departments and pharmacies to expand sexually-transmitted infection (STI) services and access to care in their communities. See Appendix 2 for discussion of observations and implementation of HIV/STI programming in rural Chaffee County, Colorado.
Date: 07/2025
Sponsoring organization: National Association of County and City Health Officials
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