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Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Health
Resources by Type: Document

Rural America at a Glance: 2024 Edition
Provides an overview of social and economic factors affecting rural America, with a focus on population migration, poverty, child care and elder care, broadband, and employment. Includes county-level maps as well as metro and nonmetro comparisons.
Author(s): Tracey Farrigan, Brandon Genetin, Austin Sanders, et al.
Date: 11/2024
Sponsoring organization: USDA Economic Research Service
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Migration Continues to Sustain Population Gains in Rural America
Explores the effect of migration on the population growth in rural parts of the country from 2020 to 2023. Discusses the population losses in rural areas due to deaths caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and highlights pandemic-driven early retirement and remote work as factors facilitating migration to rural areas.
Author(s): Kenneth Johnson
Date: 11/2024
Sponsoring organization: Carsey School of Public Policy
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2024 Rural-Urban Disparities in Health Care in Medicare
Examines rural/urban differences in the quality of healthcare received by Medicare beneficiaries in 2023, with breakdowns by race and ethnicity. Describes trends in quality of care for rural and urban residents between 2017 and 2023.
Date: 11/2024
Sponsoring organizations: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, RAND Corporation
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Final CY 2025 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule: Fact Sheet
Fact sheet covering Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) telehealth policy changes for 2025 as outlined in the final calendar year (CY) 2025 Physician Fee Schedule. Covers audio-only telehealth; eligible services that can be delivered by telehealth; frequency limitations for inpatient visits, nursing facilities, and critical care consults; direct supervision through the use of live video; payment to Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and Rural Health Clinics (RHCs); opioid treatment programs; and more.
Date: 11/2024
Sponsoring organization: Center for Connected Health Policy: The National Telehealth Policy Resource Center
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Accountable Health Communities (AHC) Model Evaluation: Third Evaluation Report
Provides an overview of the Accountable Health Communities (ACH) Model, which tests whether identifying and addressing core health-related social needs (HRSNs) of community-dwelling beneficiaries improves health outcomes, reduces healthcare costs, and reduces unnecessary healthcare utilization. Explores which bridge organization and community characteristics were associated with better implementation outcomes, and the beneficiary-level characteristics were associated with a greater probability of accepting navigation, having at least one HRSN resolved, or having all HRSNs resolved. Examines the extent to which bridge organizations met model requirements. Includes information on the availability and quality of community resources to address HRSNs in rural communities.
Additional links: Appendices, Findings at a Glance
Date: 11/2024
Sponsoring organizations: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, RTI International
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Re-Imagining Rural Health: Themes, Concepts, and Next Steps from the CMS Innovation Center "Hackathon" Series
Summarizes themes that emerged from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Innovation Center's August 2024 Rural Health Hackathons, which aimed to inform potential payment and service delivery model development and to identify innovative solutions to address the access, care delivery, and workforce needs of rural, Tribal, frontier, and geographically isolated areas communities. Describes lessons learned from previous Innovation Center models focused on rural health and how these lessons were applied during the development of new models. Outlines potential areas for the Innovation Center to explore to advance health in rural, Tribal, frontier, and geographically isolated areas.
Date: 11/2024
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
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The Declining Capacity of Nursing Facility Care in Rural Minnesota
Discusses the increasing demand for professional long-term care in Minnesota alongside the decreasing capacity of nursing facility availability. Provides information and statistics on projected demand through 2045, number of available nursing facilities and beds, changes in demand trends, workforce needs, and more, with breakdowns according to county and urbanicity.
Additional links: Summary
Author(s): Kelly Asche
Date: 11/2024
Sponsoring organization: Center for Rural Policy and Development
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A Cross-Sectional Study of Stigma Towards Opioid Users among Rural Law Enforcement and Community Members in Tennessee
Examines stigma toward people who use opioids among 48 law enforcement officers (LEOs) and 393 community members in rural Tennessee. Compares perceptions of opioid use and opioid user demographics among LEOs and community members, including data on attitudes related to dangerousness, blame, social distance, and fatalism. Discusses the effects of stigma on access to harm reduction and treatment for opioid use disorder.
Author(s): Kahler W. Stone, Gabrielle M. Chesak, Angela S. Bowman, Michael Ayalon, Cynthia Chafin
Citation: Harm Reduction Journal, 21, 195
Date: 11/2024
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Rural Value-Based Care – The Payer Perspective
Summarizes discussions on rural value-based care (VBC) contracting during a July 2024 summit of leaders from national and regional healthcare payer organizations. Describes challenges facing payer organizations that serve rural beneficiaries, including engaging rural healthcare organizations in VBC; solutions to rural-specific challenges; and recommendations for rural healthcare organizations.
Date: 11/2024
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Value
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The Realities of Behavioral Health in Rural Communities
An infographic that provides information and data on behavioral health issues in rural communities, including mental health practitioner shortages, substance use, supportive strategies for hospitals and health systems, and more.
Date: 11/2024
Sponsoring organization: American Hospital Association
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