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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Rural-urban differences

Impact of Rural Address and Distance from Clinic on Depression Outcomes Within a Primary Care Medical Home Practice
Compares rural and urban outcomes and rates of recovery for patients diagnosed with depression, describing mental healthcare disparities. Discusses Collaborative Care Management (CCM), which involves nurse care coordinators, behavioral health practitioners, and physicians working together to treat primary care patients with depression. Studies 3,870 patients in southeast Minnesota, analyzing remission data and patients' distance from their primary care clinic. Discusses the impact of rural residence, distance from providers, accessibility of care, and CCM on recovery rates.
Author(s): Hailon Wong, Kyle Moore, Kurt B. Angstman, Gregory M. Garrison
Citation: BMC Family Practice, 20, 123
Date: 09/2019
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Traumatic Injury and Access to Care in Rural Areas: Leveraging Linked Data and Geographic Information Systems for Planning and Advocacy
Analyzes county-level data representing traumatic injury rates in rural Colorado. Discusses challenges to trauma care in rural areas, including distance to trauma centers, rates of injury, prevention resources, EMS response times, and limited EMS capacity. Includes county-level maps showing transportation time to trauma centers, mortality rates, and hospitalization rates for traumatic injury.
Author(s): Paula Yuma, Rebecca Orsi, Julie Dunn, et al.
Citation: Rural Remote Health, 19(3), 5089
Date: 09/2019
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Ending HIV in America: Policy and Program Insights From Local Health Agencies and Providers
Report evaluates strategies for combating HIV and makes policy recommendations. Discusses access to services in rural areas. Highlights rural Scott County, Indiana as a case study.
Date: 09/2019
Sponsoring organization: Bipartisan Policy Center
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America's Care of Serious Illness: A State-by-State Report Card on Access to Palliative Care in Our Nation's Hospitals
Examines access to palliative care services in hospitals. Includes some data on access to palliative care in rural hospitals with 50 or more beds and in hospitals with fewer than 50 beds, many of which are in rural areas.
Date: 09/2019
Sponsoring organizations: Center to Advance Palliative Care, National Palliative Care Research Center
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Electronic Prescribing of Controlled Substances among Office-Based Physicians, 2017
Examines rates of electronic prescribing of controlled substances (EPCS), with information by type of physician practice, including rural or urban location, practice size, practice ownership, physician specialty, and technology available. EPCS is mandated for Medicare Part D providers by 2021, through the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment (SUPPORT) for Patients and Communities Act.
Author(s): Sonal Parasrampuria, Martin Blanco, Wesley Barker
Date: 09/2019
Sponsoring organization: Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy/Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
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Impact of Rurality on Diabetes Screening in the US
Examines diabetes screening in urban, suburban, and rural areas, using Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) data from 2011 through 2017.
Author(s): Phoebe Tran, Lam Tran, Liem Tran
Citation: BMC Public Health, 19, 1190
Date: 09/2019
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Study of Food Safety Needs of Adult Day Care Centers in the Child and Adult Care Food Program
Identifies the food safety education needs of adult day care centers. Examines food safety knowledge gaps, preferences for receiving food safety education, and methods for communicating about food safety education resources. Includes information on rural, town, and urban adult day care centers.
Date: 09/2019
Sponsoring organization: USDA Food and Nutrition Service
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Child Poverty Declines Slightly in 2018 to 18 Percent
Brief summary of child poverty rates. Includes a line chart showing the percent of children in poverty from 2007 through 2018 for city, suburban, and rural places.
Author(s): Jessica A. Carson
Date: 09/2019
Sponsoring organization: Carsey School of Public Policy
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The Older Population in Rural America: 2012-2016
Describes the rural older population, those 65 years and older, compared to urban older adults. Includes rural-urban data on population size for the nation, by region, and by state. Also covers demographic, social, and economic characteristics, age distribution, and sex ratio by age. Some data is available by level of rurality for mostly urban, mostly rural, and completely rural counties.
Author(s): Amy Symens Smith, Edward Trevelyan
Date: 09/2019
Sponsoring organization: U.S. Census Bureau
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Characteristics of Asthma Visits to Physician Offices in the United States: 2012–2015 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey
Examines asthma visits to offices of non-federally employed U.S. physicians, with information on asthma visit characteristics and trends. Includes data by geographic location of the visit for metropolitan and nonmetro areas.
Author(s): Lara J. Akinbami, Loredana Santo, Sonja Williams, et al.
Date: 09/2019
Sponsoring organization: National Center for Health Statistics
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