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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Policy

Tobacco Use and Health Insurance Literacy Among Vulnerable Populations: Implications for Health Reform
Results of a study examining health insurance literacy among tobacco users, with data collected from 631 lower-income, predominantly minority residents of rural Virginia. Features statistics on insurance choice and cost, age, race, education, and tobacco use.
Author(s): Robert T. Braun, Yaniv Hanoch, Andrew J. Barnes
Citation: BMC Health Services Research, 17, 729
Date: 11/2017
Type: Document
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Pain in the Nation: The Drug, Alcohol and Suicide Crises and the Need for a National Resilience Strategy
Examines current trends, causes, costs, and potential solutions to the drug, alcohol, and suicide crises in the U.S. Includes rural data and discussion of rural-specific issues.
Author(s): Laura M. Segal, Anne De Biasi, Jennifer L. Mueller, Kendra May, Molly Warren
Date: 11/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Trust for America's Health
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Emerging Strategies to Ensure Access to Health Care Services: Emergency Medical Center
Provides an overview of the emergency medical center (EMC) model, which would allow struggling hospitals to convert to EMC status and provide emergency and outpatient services, without having to provide inpatient acute care services. Also outlines rural-specific federal policy proposals that seek to create similar hospital designations, with the goal of improving access to and the delivery of care in underserved communities.
Date: 11/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: American Hospital Association
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Emerging Strategies to Ensure Access to Health Care Services: Frontier Health System
Discusses the challenges of providing care in frontier communities and offers solutions for improving access to and delivery of care. Proposes the creation of a frontier-specific accountable care organization (ACO), the Frontier Health System (FHS), that provides traditional ACO services along with transportation, swing beds, home-based care, expanded visiting nurse services, and more.
Date: 11/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: American Hospital Association
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The Front Lines of the Opioid Crisis: Perspectives from States, Communities, and Providers
Video recording details the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing on the opioid epidemic. Features testimony detailing efforts to combat opioid addiction from representatives of the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Dentistry; the Rhode Island Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals; the Wisconsin Prescription Drug Monitoring Program; and the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet.
Date: 11/2017
Type: Video/Multimedia
Sponsoring organization: Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions
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Distribution of Disproportionate Share Hospital Payments to Rural and Critical Access Hospitals
Provides information concerning the potential effects of Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) payment on rural hospitals in 47 states. Features statistics on hospital Medicaid DSH payments by state and census region, with breakdowns for urban, rural, and Critical Access Hospitals.
Author(s): Erin M. Mobley, Fred Ullrich, Keith J. Mueller
Date: 11/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
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Telehealth Services Proposed for Medicare Part B Reimbursements, 2018: Fact Sheet
Identifies the five conditions that a telehealth service must meet in order to be covered by Medicare Part B, provides an overview of how telehealth services get added to Medicare's reimbursable list, and outlines proposed services that may be added for calendar year 2018.
Date: 11/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Congressional Research Service
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Emerging Strategies to Ensure Access to Health Care Services: Virtual Care Strategies
Discusses opportunities to use telehealth to improve healthcare access and delivery to vulnerable rural and urban communities. Includes recommendations from the American Hospital Association Task Force on Ensuring Access in Vulnerable Communities and details the benefits of telehealth services and potential policy solutions such as reimbursement, interaction of state and federal laws, broadband access, and federal research.
Date: 11/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: American Hospital Association
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Comparing the Affordable Care Act's Financial Impact on Safety-Net Hospitals in States That Expanded Medicaid and Those That Did Not
Examines how Medicaid expansion affected the financial health of safety-net hospitals, and compares hospitals in expansion states with hospitals in non-expansion states. Addresses changes in operating margins, Medicaid inpatient days, Medicaid revenues and costs, and uncompensated care costs. Findings are based on data from Medicare's fiscal year 2012-2015 hospital cost reports.
Author(s): Allen Dobson, Joan E. DaVanzo, Randy Haught, Phap-Hoa Luu
Date: 11/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Commonwealth Fund
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Robert Pack & Maggie Elehwany: VRHA Keynoters--and VRHA Board President Summer Sage
Recording from the 2017 Virginia Rural Health Association (VRHA)'s Rural Health Providers Conference. Discussion of new rural healthcare-related education initiatives and resources, grant funding to help combat the Virginia opioid crisis, and rural health policy developments on the federal level and their impact on rural areas.
Date: 11/2017
Type: Audio
Sponsoring organizations: Center for Rural Affairs, National Rural Education Association
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