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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Rural-urban differences

Preventing Rural Workforce by Design
Argues that the lack of primary care physicians in rural America could have been and can still be avoided. Discusses how policies aimed to attract recent graduates to primary healthcare, rather than specialty healthcare, can help address disparities between rural and urban healthcare.
Author(s): Robert Bowman, Michael Halasy
Citation: Rural and Remote Health, 14(2), 2852
Date: 06/2014
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Profile of Rural Residential Care Facilities: A Chartbook
Reports on rural/urban differences in residential care facilities, focusing the facilities themselves, their residents, and the services they offer. Addresses how facility policies affect aging-in-place options.
Author(s): Jennifer D. Lenardson, Eileen Griffin, Zach Croll, Erika C. Ziller, Andrew F. Coburn
Date: 05/2014
Sponsoring organization: Maine Rural Health Research Center
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Implications of Rurality and Psychiatric Status for Diabetic Care Use among Adults with Diabetes
Examines patterns of diabetic preventive care use among adults with diabetes to determine whether these patterns varied according to respondents' rural/urban residence or psychiatric status (i.e. the presence/absence of a mental health diagnosis).
Author(s): Jean A. Talbot, Erika C. Ziller, Jennifer Lenardson, David Hartley
Date: 05/2014
Sponsoring organization: Maine Rural Health Research Center
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High Deductible Health Insurance Plans in Rural Areas
Examines whether rural residents with private insurance are more likely to have a high deductible health insurance plan (HDHP) than urban residents, and if it differs by location in remote, rural areas. Addresses differences in income and education and offers recommendations related to the Health Insurance Marketplaces.
Additional links: Policy Brief: Rural Residents More Likely to be Enrolled in High Deductible Health Plans
Author(s): Jennifer D. Lenardson, Erika C. Ziller, Andrew F. Coburn
Date: 05/2014
Sponsoring organization: Maine Rural Health Research Center
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Health, United States, 2013: With Special Feature on Prescription Drugs
Presents an annual overview of national trends in health statistics. Covers health status and determinants, healthcare utilization, access and expenditures. Includes data on rural areas - see index under "Metropolitan/nonmetropolitan data." 2013 edition includes a section on prescription drugs.
Date: 05/2014
Sponsoring organization: National Center for Health Statistics
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Primary Care, Behavioral Health, Provider Colocation, and Rurality
Results of a study regarding the colocation of behavioral health and primary care service delivery as related to rural. Study showed that 40.2% of primary care physicians in urban areas are colocated with behavioral health providers compared with 22.8% in isolated rural areas and 26.5% in frontier areas. Challenges include payment policies separating physical and behavioral health care, workforce distribution, and supply deficiencies, particularly in rural areas.
Author(s): Benjamin F. Miller, Stephen Petterson, Shandra M. Brown Levey, et al.
Citation: Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, 27(3), 367-374
Date: 05/2014
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State Variability in Supply of Office-based Primary Care Providers: United States, 2012
Data brief covering the supply of primary care providers. Includes national rural-urban comparisons for primary care providers per 100,000 population and for use of physician assistants and nurse practitioners in physician practices. See Figure 4.
Author(s): Esther Hing, Chun-Ju Hsiao
Date: 05/2014
Sponsoring organization: National Center for Health Statistics
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Shared and Unshared Barriers to Cancer Symptom Management Among Urban and Rural American Indians
Reports on a 5-year study measuring cancer symptom management in both rural and urban American Indian (AI) populations in the southwestern U.S. Separates findings into shared barriers, such as transportation and lack of support services, and unshared barriers, such as cultural beliefs about treatment and language differences, between rural and urban groups.
Author(s): Tracy Line Itty, Felicia Schanche Hodge, Fernando Martinez
Citation: Journal of Rural Health, 30(2), 206-213
Date: 04/2014
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Widening Rural–Urban Disparities in All-Cause Mortality and Mortality from Major Causes of Death in the USA, 1969–2009
Examines U.S. mortality rates between 1969 and 2009 to identify growth or reduction of mortality disparities between rural and urban settings. Addresses the impact or race/ethnicity, gender, and poverty.
Author(s): Gopal K. Singh, Mohammad Siahpush
Citation: Journal of Urban Health, 91(2), 272-292
Date: 04/2014
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Late HIV Diagnosis: Differences by Rural/Urban Residence, Florida, 2007–2011
Discusses the demographics, socioeconomics, and the availability of healthcare resources linked with a late diagnosis of HIV in rural and urban regions of Florida.
Author(s): Mary Jo Trepka, Kristopher P. Fennie, Diana M. Sheehan, et al.
Citation: AIDS Patient Care and STDs, 28(4), 188-197
Date: 04/2014
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