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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Surgery

Use of Telemedicine among Office-Based Physicians, 2021
Details the usage of telemedicine by physicians who are office-based, self-employed or employed by a health system, including their specialty, participation in payment models, satisfaction with telemedicine, and continued use post-pandemic. Provides data on rural and urban physician use of telemedicine tools and platforms integrated with electronic health records (EHR).
Author(s): Yuriy Pylypchuk, Wesley Barker
Citation: ONC Data Brief, 65
Date: 03/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
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Rural Communities in the United States Face Persistent Disparities in Access to Orthopaedic Surgical Care
Examines trends in the proportion of orthopedic surgeons practicing in rural areas between 2013 to 2018 using data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Physician Compare National Downloadable File (PC-NDF). Identifies the proportion of rural U.S. counties with access to orthopedic surgeons. Describes the characteristics associated with surgeons practicing in a rural setting.
Author(s): Victoria S. Wu, Jenna E. Schmidt, Tarun K. Jella, et al.
Citation: The Iowa Orthopaedic Journal, 431(1), 15-21
Date: 2023
Type: Document
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Total Knee Arthroplasty in the Outpatient vs Inpatient Settings: Impact of Site of Care on Early Postoperative Economic and Clinical Outcomes
Compares inpatient and outpatient outcomes of total knee arthroplasty adult patients treated with the Attune Knee System implant between October 1, 2015 and December 2020. Table 1 shows comparison of rural patients to urban patients among other demographic characteristics. Discusses the difference in both clinical and financial outcomes when the procedure occurs at rural hospitals as compared to urban hospitals.
Author(s): Jack Mantel, Jill W. Ruppenkamp, Maricruz Cantu, Chantal E. Holy
Citation: Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery and Research, 2023(18), 273
Date: 2023
Type: Document
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Socioeconomic Factors Affecting Outcomes in Total Knee and Hip Arthroplasty: A Systematic Review on Healthcare Disparities
Examines health disparities in patient access, utilization, and outcomes related to total joint arthroplasty (TJA). Conducts a literature review of 44 studies that discuss socioeconomic factors associated with TJA disparities such as insurance type, socioeconomic status, hospital volume, and rural versus urban geographic location.
Author(s): Paul M. Alvarez, John F. McKeon, Andrew I. Spitzer, et al.
Citation: Arthroplasty, 4, 36
Date: 10/2022
Type: Document
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Minnesota Chartbook Section 8B Health Care Providers and Service Availability: Clinics, Imaging and Other Facilities
Provides information on availability of physician clinic services, diagnostic imaging services, and freestanding outpatient surgical services in Minnesota. Includes number and distribution of physicians practicing by isolated rural, small town rural, large rural city, and urban location, as well as regional data and state maps on primary care and specialty care clinics, imaging services, and outpatient surgical services.
Date: 08/2022
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Minnesota Department of Health
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Association of Rurality, Race and Ethnicity, and Socioeconomic Status With the Surgical Management of Colon Cancer and Postoperative Outcomes Among Medicare Beneficiaries
Results of a study of 57,710 fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries 65 years or older diagnosed with colon cancer between April 2016, and September 2018, with follow-up until December 2018. Features demographics and statistics with breakdowns by metropolitan, micropolitan, or small town/rural location.
Author(s): Niveditta Ramkumar, Carrie H. Colla, Qianfei Wang, et al.
Citation: JAMA Network Open, 5(8)
Date: 08/2022
Type: Document
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Georgia Counties without Primary Care/Core Practitioners: Based on 2019-2020 Licensure Renewal Data and New Licensees
County-level Georgia maps showing counties without any physicians, and without physicians specializing in family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, OB/GYN, general surgery, psychiatry, and emergency medicine. Features statistics on numbers of these physicians with breakdowns by county.
Date: 05/2022
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Georgia Board of Health Care Workforce
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Rural-Urban Differences in Breast Cancer Surgical Delays in Medicare Beneficiaries
Examines patients with early-stage breast cancer to evaluate biopsy-to-surgery delays by rurality of patient and surgery location. Analyzes 238,491 patients who underwent breast cancer surgery with demographic breakdowns by age, hospital type/location, race/ethnicity, area deprivation index, and patient and surgery location such as isolated small rural town, small rural town, large rural city/town, and urban.
Author(s): Ronnie J. Zipkin, Andrew Schaefer, Changzhen Wang, et al.
Citation: Annals of Surgical Oncology, 29(9), 5759-5769
Date: 05/2022
Type: Document
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Overcoming Disparities in Surgical Care among Native Americans
Discusses the disparity in access to oncologic surgical care for Native Americans. Details a pathway program at the Oregon Health & Science University aimed as increasing matriculation rates among Native Americans into medicals school.
Author(s): Thomas L. Sutton, Brett C. Sheppard
Citation: Bulletin of The American College of Surgeons
Date: 04/2022
Type: Document
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Predictors of Hospital Choice among Rural Patients Seeking Elective Surgery: A Scoping Review
Identifies literature describing determinants of hospital choice among rural patients seeking elective surgery and summarizes data and findings from these studies. Includes considerations for future research on rural hospital bypass.
Author(s): Yuqi Zhang, Tyler Malone, Sarah Cantrell, et al.
Date: 04/2022
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: North Carolina Rural Health Research Program
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