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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Primary care

The Future of Rural Health
Describes the current state of the rural healthcare system and the opportunities for improvement with the passage of the Affordable Care Act. Discusses core concepts of providing primary care, basic mental health and oral health services, surgery and obstetric, pharmacy, eye and audiology services, public health, new models of care, workforce issues, and more.
Author(s): Charlie Alfero, Tommy Barnhart, Darrold Bertsch, et al.
Date: 02/2013
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Rural Health Association
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Streamlining Telemedicine Licensure to Improve Rural America
Provides information and statistics to support advocacy for and efforts to implement telemedicine cross-state licensure to improve healthcare access in rural America. Includes policy recommendations.
Author(s): Jarod Giger, Mary DeVany
Date: 02/2013
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Rural Health Association
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Rural Residency Training for Family Medicine Physicians: Graduate Early-Career Outcomes, 2008-2012
Discusses the effectiveness of family medicine rural training track (RTT) residency programs, which train physicians for practice in rural and underserved areas.
Author(s): Davis G. Patterson, Randall Longenecker, David Schmitz, et al.
Date: 01/2013
Type: Document
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Mental Health and Mental Health Care in Rural America: The Hope of Redesigned Primary Care
Briefly discusses mental health treatment disparities between rural and nonrural veterans.
Date: 01/2013
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Veterans Health Administration's Office of Rural Health
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HeartBeat Connections: A Rural Community of Solution for Cardiovascular Health
Describes a phone-coaching population-based program in New Ulm, Minnesota, combining behavioral lifestyle coaching and medication management, with the goal of reducing myocardial infarctions.
Author(s): Gretchen A. Benson, Abbey Sidebottom, Jeffrey J. Van Wormer, et al.
Citation: Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, 30(4), 299-310
Date: 2013
Type: Document
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Lessons Learned from the Conduct of a Multisite Cluster Randomized Practical Trial of Decision Aids in Rural and Suburban Primary Care Practices
Reports on participant recruitment for a community-based primary care practice study that included rural clinics. Discusses lessons learned related to timing and location of recruitment and impact of recruitment methods on the intervention implementation. Also describes how the study was designed to minimize disruption for the participating clinical sites.
Author(s): Kari L Ruud, Annie LeBlanc, Rebecca J Mullan, et al.
Citation: Trials, 14, 267
Date: 2013
Type: Document
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Most Family Physicians Work Routinely With Nurse Practitioners, Physician Assistants, or Certified Nurse Midwives
Reports that more than half of family physicians work with nurse practitioners, physician assistants, or certiļ¬ed nurse midwives, and doing so helps ensure access to health care services, particularly in rural areas.
Author(s): Lars E. Peterson, Robert L. Phillips, James C. Puffer, Andrew Bazemore, Stephen Petterson
Citation: Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, 26(3), 244-245
Date: 2013
Type: Document
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Growth and Changes in the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) Workforce with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
Studied how additional supplemental funding to the National Health Service Corps through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which was focused on granting more loan repayment awards to clinicians who agreed to work in underserved areas, affected the NHSC's workforce. States that proportions of the NHSC's workforce serving in rural areas changed only modestly.
Author(s): Donald E. Pathman, Thomas R. Konrad
Citation: Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, 25(5), 723-733
Date: 09/2012
Type: Document
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Returning the Mouth to the Body: Integrating Oral Health & Primary Care
Describes how coordinating oral health and primary care services can address dental health disparities affecting vulnerable populations including those in rural and underserved areas.
Date: 09/2012
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Grantmakers in Health
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Washington State Primary Care Workforce: Summary of Physician Focus Group Findings
Presents findings from five focus groups consisting of primary care physicians in five areas of Washington State conducted by the Washington State Office of Financial Management. Assesses physicians' perspectives of factors affecting access to primary care, especially for Medicaid patients, and how the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will change the primary care physician's role in the health delivery system.
Author(s): Barbara Matthews, Thea Mounts
Date: 08/2012
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: UW Center for Health Workforce Studies
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