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Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Policy

Responsive Rural Health Delivery Systems
Policy brief discussing how rural healthcare delivery systems can address current challenges while transitioning to value-based care. Offers recommendations for creating a high-performance rural healthcare system based on five critical factors as defined by the Rural Policy Research Institute's Rural Health Panel: affordability, accessibility, community-focused, high quality, and patient-centered.
Author(s): Brandon Baumbach, Sue Deitz, Maria Poepsel
Date: 02/2016
Sponsoring organization: National Rural Health Association
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American Indian and Alaska Native Health
Identifies and discusses the adverse health issues affecting the health status of American Indian and Alaska Native populations. Offers policy recommendations to address these issues.
Additional links: Supplemental Document
Author(s): Linda Bane Frizzell, Kathleen Spencer
Date: 02/2016
Sponsoring organization: National Rural Health Association
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Rural Public Health
Policy paper discussing the critical need for public health services to positively impact the current health issues contributing to health disparities in rural communities. Offers recommendations to address the lack of adequate public health services by developing partnerships, supporting public health education and training, and strengthening communication and technology systems.
Author(s): Christine M. Eisenhauer, Michael Meit
Date: 02/2016
Sponsoring organization: National Rural Health Association
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A Special Governors' Roundtable: State and County Collaboration to Tackle Chronic Rural Poverty
Video recording of a bi-partisan panel of governors at the National Association of Counties' Annual Meeting discussing issues surrounding childhood poverty in rural America. Focuses on the Rural Impact Challenge, a collaborative effort between county, state, and national leaders to fight rural poverty. Includes discussion of substance abuse prevention and treatment, job creation, economic development, situational and inter-generational poverty, and food insecurity. USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack moderated the panel, which included governors from Tennessee, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Utah and took place February 22, 2016.
Date: 02/2016
Sponsoring organization: National Association of Counties
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Entry Regulation and Rural Health Care: Certificate-of-Need Laws, Ambulatory Surgical Centers, and Community Hospitals
Examines the effect of regulations on entry and expansion of "hospital substitutes," including ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs), and analyzes whether certificate-of-need (CON) programs have achieved their goal of protecting access to hospitals in rural areas. Features demographics on ASC patients, and state-level information on CON regulations and requirements for ASCs.
Date: 02/2016
Sponsoring organization: Mercatus Center
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Definition of Frontier
Policy paper discussing the various definitions of frontier and the methodologies for determining the different definitions. Offers support to state and federal programs in their selection of the most appropriate definition to attain their program goals.
Author(s): Susan Wilger
Date: 02/2016
Sponsoring organization: National Rural Health Association
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Report to Congress on Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital Payments
First annual report on Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) payments, which provide support to safety-net hospitals to help offset uncompensated care costs for Medicaid and uninsured patients. Discusses Medicaid policy, current and future DSH allotments, and data needs. Table B-3 projects FY2018 DSH payments under different scenarios, with data for urban and rural hospitals and for Critical Access Hospitals.
Date: 02/2016
Sponsoring organization: Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission
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CMS Manual System: Revisions to Medicare State Operations Manual, Chapter 9 - Critical Access Hospital (CAH) Recertification Checklist: Rural and Distance or Necessary Provider Verification
Provides a list of the necessary components to be confirmed when Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) are surveyed for recertification to determine if they meet the rural location and distance or necessary provider requirements to maintain their CAH status. Identifies the procedures used by the CMS Regional Office and state survey agencies to determine if CAHs meet the necessary requirements.
Date: 02/2016
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
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Rural Reality: City Transit, Rural Transit
A discussion of rural versus urban transit use in Minnesota, with particular focus on transit dependent populations and policy issues. Includes a fact sheet with county-by-county breakdown.
Date: 01/2016
Sponsoring organization: Center for Rural Policy and Development
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Community Health Workers: Roles and Opportunities in Health Care Delivery System Reform
Identifies and discusses health services research on the utilization and integration of Community Health Workers (CHWs) into healthcare service delivery. Includes an analysis regarding the various CHW models, employment data, training and credentialing, and challenges associated with the development of this occupation.
Author(s): John E. Snyder
Date: 01/2016
Sponsoring organization: HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation
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