Articles

A collection of articles that support feature stories in the Rural Monitor.

A Career of Influencing Rural Healthcare Delivery: Bill Finerfrock and the NARHC Origin Story

Over 5,200 rural organizations participate in the Rural Health Clinics program, a reimbursement model dedicated to rural low-volume healthcare delivery and now in its 45th year. The National Association of Rural Health Clinics — in its 30th year — is a membership organization that emerged as the program increased its participants. Bill Finerfrock, association cofounder and its recently retired executive director, shared the group’s origin story as well as touchpoints from his own career.

The healthcare delivery model known as the swing bed program has allowed rural and Critical Access Hospitals to serve patients by keeping them in their rural communities for post-acute care. Reviewing the history of this program, experts describe early implementation and key program elements that have sustained its success for over 40 years.

Aaron Wernham and Scott Malloy of the Montana Healthcare Foundation share how their foundation responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by providing technical assistance, organizing webinars to clarify emergency declaration orders, and creating a grant application assistance initiative.

Barbara Leonard and Ruta Kadonoff of the Maine Health Access Foundation (MeHAF) discuss how their foundation provided unrestricted COVID-19 grants and open competitive grants and partnered with other philanthropies pooling together COVID-19 response funds.

Kim Barber Tieman, program director for health and human services for the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, shares how her foundation set up a COVID-19 grant capture team and funded grant writers to help organizations navigate and apply for federal funding opportunities. In addition, her foundation worked with organizations and funded three mobile COVID testing units to better reach communities of color.

Dolores E. Roybal, executive director of Con Alma Health Foundation, discusses how her foundation partnered with other funders to provide almost $2 million in grants and created an advisory committee of immigrant-led, immigrant-serving organizations to address barriers limiting access to services.

Job preparedness is essential for quality caregiving, professional success, and satisfaction. Three rural registered nurses join a nursing doctoral candidate to share their stories about the path to their profession and their perspective on rural nursing preparedness.

In addition to information from federal agencies, a Missouri cardiologist reviews the science behind what often seems to be mixed messages concerning alcohol use and its impact on health and well-being

Over 40% of today’s physicians are burned out. A closer look at research indicates that not only is this a system problem rather than an individual problem, but that burnout impacts a system’s revenue streams, healthcare quality, and patient safety and satisfaction. Experts suggest the problem may even be of more concern in rural areas.

Governance, organizational size, and other factors may impact rural local health departments’ ability to take on voluntary accreditation. In addition to a brief review of these issues, accreditation officials, professional societies, and researchers share how they are working together to better understand these challenges in order to foster equity for all public health departments desiring accreditation.

The Rural Monitor

Articles and resources on key rural health issues, from the Rural Health Information Hub

Articles

A Career of Influencing Rural Healthcare Delivery: Bill Finerfrock and the NARHC Origin Story

History of the Swing Bed: A Look Through the Rural Rearview Mirror

Montana Healthcare Foundation: Leveraging Funds, Providing Technical Assistance, and Supporting Public Health

Con Alma Health Foundation: Health Equity and COVID Relief

Nursing Preparedness: Words from Researchers and Rural Nurses

The Alcoholic Beverage: An Elixir, and Yet a Poison?

Burnout: Measurement Tool(s), Cause(s) and Impact(s)

Understanding Rural Health Departments: Do They Have Unique Accreditation Needs?