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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Populations

Home Equity: A Vision of Housing Security, Health and Opportunity
Provides data demonstrating the interrelationship between housing insecurity and health equity. Examines how policies and racism have impacted housing stability in Colorado's rural, urban, and suburban communities. Looks at the challenges to housing security faced by communities of color, undocumented immigrants, people with disabilities, families with children, low income households, rural communities, and homelessness populations. Suggests housing policies that may impact communities and improve housing security.
Date: 08/2019
Sponsoring organization: Colorado Health Institute
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Making Connections: Nationwide Implementation of Video Telehealth Tablets to Address Access Barriers in Veterans
Results of a survey of 68 facility telehealth coordinators to evaluate implementation of a Department of Veterans Affairs initiative to provide tablets to high-need veterans with chronic conditions. Features statistics including demographics of tablet recipients and tablet users, with breakdowns by urban, rural, and highly rural location.
Author(s): Donna M. Zulman, Emily P. Wong, Cindie Slightam, et al.
Citation: JAMIA Open, 2(3), 323–329
Date: 08/2019
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Select Maps on the Population 65 and Older in the United States by County: 2013-2017
Collection of maps showing county-level data on adults age 65 and older, with a focus on disability. Includes maps showing disability combined with living alone, widowhood, poverty status, and labor force participation.
Date: 08/2019
Sponsoring organization: U.S. Census Bureau
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The Role of Tribal Epidemiology Centers: Podcast with Vanesscia Cresci, MSW, MPA, and Rosalina James, PhD
Podcast discusses the role of tribal epidemiology centers in studying and mitigating health disparities among American Indians and Alaska Natives. Details some of the ways tribal epidemiology centers are able to serve their communities more effectively than outside entities.
Author(s): Camelia Singletary
Citation: JPHMP Direct
Date: 08/2019
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Organizational Challenges to Improving Quality of Care in Indian Health Service Hospitals
Identifies organizational issues hindering the Indian Health Service (IHS) from improving the management of IHS hospitals. Discusses concerns related to formal structure, policies and roles; awareness of hospital performance and problems; and IHS officials' confidence in the agency's ability to make sustained improvements. Recommends strategies for improvement.
Author(s): Suzanne Murrin
Date: 08/2019
Sponsoring organization: Office of Inspector General (HHS)
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The Geography of Uninsurance in Massachusetts: An Update for 2013-2017
Identifies high-uninsurance communities in Massachusetts using three measures: uninsurance rate, number of uninsured, and concentration of uninsured. Describes socioeconomic characteristics of high-uninsurance communities and uninsured residents. Supplemental tables include data by county, county subdivision, place, and additional geographies.
Additional links: Full Report
Author(s): Michael Karpman, Dulce Gonzalez, Sharon K. Long
Date: 08/2019
Sponsoring organizations: Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation, Urban Institute
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Supportive Services and Caregiving for Older Rural Adults: Policy Brief and Recommendations to the Secretary
Provides an overview of current supportive services and caregiving policies for rural older adults, in terms of availability, accessibility, and acceptability of services. Explores topics including long-term services and supports, telehealth, care coordination, transportation, stigma, and unpaid caregivers, and describes federal programs for older adults. Offers policy recommendations and considerations.
Date: 08/2019
Sponsoring organization: National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services
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Evidence Brief: Barriers and Facilitators to Use of Medications for Opioid Use Disorder
Report details an analysis of barriers and facilitators to administering medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid use disorder (OUD) that are applicable to the Veterans Health Administration. Highlights a synthesis of data extracted from a number of selected studies from 2014-2019, as well as VA data from 2006-2019. Includes data focusing on rural areas.
Date: 08/2019
Sponsoring organization: Veterans Health Administration
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Adult Health Status among Native American Families Participating in the Growing Resilience Home Garden Study
Reports the results of a randomized controlled trial examining the impacts of home food gardens on the health status of 176 adults from 96 families of the Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone tribes living on the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming. Compares the rates of obesity, high blood pressure, and diabetes among study participants with the state and national disease rates in 2017, and national disease rates of participants from tribal communities in 2015.
Author(s): Christine M. Porter, Alyssa M. Wechsler, Shawn J. Hime, Felix Naschold
Citation: Preventing Chronic Disease, 16
Date: 08/2019
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Implementation of Liver Cancer Education Among Health Care Providers and Community Coalitions in the Cherokee Nation
Describes an intervention in 2017-2018 to plan and implement activities to increase knowledge and awareness of liver cancer prevention among Cherokee Nation health care providers. Includes recommendations to improve viral hepatitis surveillance, increase support for strategies to eliminate hepatitis B virus, and enhance services including risk factor screening and serologic testing.
Author(s): Behnoosh Momin, Jorge Mera, Whitney Essex, et al.
Citation: Preventing Chronic Disease, 16
Date: 08/2019
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