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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Rural definitions

Classification Change, 1999 to 2003: Office of Management and Budget Metropolitan Areas and Core Based Statistical Areas (CBSAs) Map
Map of the Office of Management and Budget's June 2003 Core Based Statistical Areas (CBSAs) Designations for Counties that were nonmetropolitan in 1999.
Date: 07/2003
Type: Map/Mapping System
Sponsoring organization: North Carolina Rural Health Research Program
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2000 Update: Frontier Counties in the United States
Describes the development of a definition of "frontier" by the Frontier Education Center and a group of frontier providers and policy experts. Statistics based on the 2000 U.S. Census regarding the number of frontier counties, and land and population distributions are included.
Date: 2002
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Center for Frontier Communities
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Geography of Frontier America: The View at the Turn of the Century
Discusses the definition of frontier. Provides an overview of frontier issues, including health care resources, land ownership, and the frontier economy.
Date: 01/2000
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Center for Frontier Communities
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Definitions of Rural: A Handbook for Health Policy Makers and Researchers
Describes the two major methods of defining rurality, the Office of Management and Budget metropolitan-nonmetropolitan classification of counties and the U.S. Census Bureau classification of areas and population, as well as major variations on those methods.
Author(s): Thomas C. Ricketts, Karen D. Johnson-Webb, Patricia Taylor
Date: 06/1998
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: North Carolina Rural Health Research Program
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Frontier: A New Definition
Discusses the definition of frontier, based on population density, distance to the closest market for services, and travel time. Also describes the process by which this definition was developed. Includes a matrix that can be used to determine frontier status.
Date: 04/1998
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Center for Frontier Communities
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Improving the Operational Definition of "Rural Areas" For Federal Programs
Describes the methodology of the Goldsmith rural modification for metropolitan counties designated by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
Author(s): Harold F. Goldsmith, Dena S. Puskin, Dianne J. Stiles
Date: 1993
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Federal Office of Rural Health Policy
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Non-Congregate Summer Meals
Provides an overview of the interim final rule allowing non-congregate summer meals in rural areas. Includes information on rural definitions, meal types and distribution, associated research on non-congregate meal offerings, implementation and outreach strategies, and additional resources and webinars.
Type: Website
Sponsoring organization: No Kid Hungry
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SC Rural Healthcare Resource Dashboard
Dashboard providing a summary table and interactive maps of public health data for South Carolina by county and zip code. Covers topics including provider distribution, health facilities, demographics, diseases and chronic conditions, health behaviors, healthcare utilization patterns, rural definitions, primary care provider need, obstetric service need, and more.
Type: Database
Sponsoring organization: South Carolina Center for Rural and Primary Healthcare
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Area and Road Ruggedness Scales
Provides measures of topographic variation for 2010 census tracts, showing the ruggedness of terrain and roads. Identifies rurality and primary Rural-Urban Commuting Area (RUCA) code of each census tract along with ruggedness data. Also provides documentation, descriptions of each scale, and national maps.
Type: Website
Sponsoring organization: USDA Economic Research Service
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Health Professional Shortage Areas: Louisiana
Provides information and definitions on Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs), Medically Underserved Areas (MUAs), and Medically Underserved Populations (MUPs), as well as related HPSA opportunities and healthcare facilities. Includes county-level maps of primary care, dental, and mental HPSAs in Louisiana.
Type: Website
Sponsoring organization: Louisiana Department of Health
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