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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Telehealth

Veteran Mobility and COVID-19
Examines veterans living in rural areas and how their mobility options, cost of transportation, use of telehealth, access to healthy food, and social isolation have been impacted by COVID-19. Discusses issues and policies related to improving healthcare transportation and access to Veterans Administration (VA) services for rural veterans. Includes data on veteran demographics and survey responses to health- and transportation-related questions.
Additional links: Executive Summary, Video Summary
Author(s): Del Peterson, Jill Hough, Antonio Molina
Date: 05/2022
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: North Dakota State University, Small Urban and Rural Center on Mobility, Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute
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Telehealth: Current Definitions and Future Trends
Information guide covering updated telehealth terminology, issues, and considerations as of May 2022. Offers definitions of key terms from various agencies and organizations and how those definitions apply to various stakeholders.
Author(s): Hari Eswaran, Leah Dawson, Michelle Hernandez, et al.
Date: 05/2022
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Rural Telehealth Evaluation Center
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Rx for the Rural Healthcare Workforce and Access to Care
Podcast with Tom Morris of the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy about trends related to the rural healthcare workforce and efforts to overcome challenges. Discusses the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, rural hospital closures, telehealth, graduate medical education in rural areas, community health workers and community paramedics, funding opportunities to promote healthcare access in rural areas, the opioid crisis, and more.
Author(s): Jessica Nicholson
Date: 05/2022
Type: Audio
Sponsoring organization: The Conference Board
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Telemedicine Versus In-person Primary Care: Impact on Visit Completion Rate in a Rural Appalachian Population
Explores telemedicine use in a primary care clinic in rural West Virginia and its impact on patient access and visit completion rates. Examines visit completion rates of 110,999 patients from January 2019 to November 2020, with patient data broken down by sex, age, marital status, and distance in miles from facility.
Author(s): Treah Haggerty, Heather M. Stephens, Shaylee A. Peckens, et al.
Citation: The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, 35(3), 475-484
Date: 05/2022
Type: Document
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State Medicaid Managed Care and Access to Rural Behavioral Health Services
Details how states with Medicaid managed care organizations (MCOs) are using MCO contract language to increase access to behavioral healthcare through service access requirements, provider network requirements, and telehealth utilization policies. Includes links to available MCO contracts and requests for applications.
Date: 05/2022
Type: Website
Sponsoring organization: National Academy for State Health Policy
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The Future of Telehealth Roundtable: The Potential Impact of Emerging Technologies on Health Equity
Presents insights and key ideas from a roundtable on the future of telehealth following the COVID-19 pandemic, covering barriers to telehealth delivery, opportunities for equitable care, and policy and regulatory issues impacting telehealth access. Includes rural mentions throughout.
Date: 05/2022
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Committee for Quality Assurance
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Dentist Perceptions About the Value of Teledentistry
Highlights a study on dentist's perceptions on teledentistry as a means of expanding access to oral healthcare across the country. Discusses the role teledentistry plays in rural and underserved areas. Explores perceived barriers to adopting teledentistry.
Author(s): Tamanna Tiwari, Vuong Diep, Eric Tranby, et al.
Citation: BMC Oral Health, 22, 176
Date: 05/2022
Type: Document
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Assessing the Effectiveness of Policies to Improve Access to Primary Care for Underserved Populations: Case Study Analysis: Grant County, New Mexico
Case study of policy initiatives to increase access to primary care, focusing on rural Grant County, New Mexico. Discusses challenges to expanding the primary care workforce, bringing outpatient clinics into communities, mobile clinics and telehealth, affordability, and more.
Author(s): Maanasa Kona, Megan Houston, Jalisa Clark, Emma Walsh-Alker
Date: 05/2022
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Milbank Memorial Fund
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Telemedicine Use in Children Aged 0–17 Years: United States, July–December 2020
Report examining telemedicine use by children ages 0-17 based on data from the National Health Interview Survey collected between July-December 2020 and covering the prior 12 months. Discusses findings related to telemedicine use in general and because of the COVID-19 pandemic; percentages of children who used telehealth because of the pandemic by rural, medium and small metropolitan, and large metropolitan residence; and telehealth use among children with selected chronic conditions.
Date: 05/2022
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Center for Health Statistics
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The Impact of COVID-19 on the Rural Health Care Landscape: Challenges and Opportunities
Presents an overview of key findings from interviews with stakeholders in eight states - Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming - regarding the rural healthcare landscape. Discusses rural hospital financial health, rural hospital transformation models, challenges facing the rural healthcare workforce, and the role of telehealth in increasing access to care. Provides recommendations aimed at further advancing the use of virtual care in all communities, including rural and frontier areas, beyond the temporary federal COVID-19 public health emergency flexibilities.
Author(s): Sabah Bhatnagar, Julia Harris, Tara Hartnett, et al.
Date: 05/2022
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Bipartisan Policy Center
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