Pennsylvania Resources

Pennsylvania Mental Health Care Workforce Shortage: Challenges and Solutions: A Staff Study
Provides a discussion of mental healthcare workforce occupations and examines the factors that led to shortages in these fields. Describes how telemedicine can be used to extend the mental healthcare workforce in rural Pennsylvania and determines how state government entities can encourage more people to enter and remain in the mental healthcare workforce. Makes recommendations including increasing the number of psychiatric residencies in rural areas and designating more Rural Health Clinics. Includes a county-level map of Mental Health Professional Shortage Areas.
Author(s): Grant Rosul, Stephen J. Kramer, Wendy L. Baker
Date: 06/2020
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Joint State Government Commission, General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
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Evaluation of Senior Community Centers in Rural and Urban Pennsylvania
Report evaluates Pennsylvania's senior community centers in both rural and urban areas. Details some of the services offered by senior community centers and features county level data.
Additional links: Executive Summary
Author(s): Janet Ann Melnick, Morgan Silfies, Heather Shanks-McElroy, Emily McElroy
Date: 03/2020
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Center for Rural Pennsylvania
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Pennsylvania Office of Rural Health Strategic Plan, 2020-2023
Three-year plan of action for the Pennsylvania Office of Rural Health. Features areas of focus including strengthening of rural health care delivery systems, community and population health, areas of unmet need, advocacy, continuing education, and expansion of infrastructure.
Date: 01/2020
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Pennsylvania Office of Rural Health
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Serving Rural America: Health Insurance Providers at Work
Offers 5 case studies to showcase the ways in which health insurance providers are working to ensure access to high quality healthcare in rural areas. Examples feature 8 insurance providers in Maryland, Pennsylvania, California, and Oregon sharing different approaches to healthcare delivery, financing, and community engagement.
Date: 09/2019
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: AHIP
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Medicaid: Efforts to Identify, Predict, or Manage High-Expenditure Beneficiaries
Describes strategies used in 7 states to manage beneficiaries' healthcare costs while ensuring quality care, and lists resources the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services provides to help states identify, predict, and manage high-expenditure beneficiaries. Discusses effects of social determinants of health and staff shortages in rural areas. Includes statistics for Medicaid expenditures among beneficiaries enrolled only in Medicaid, for fiscal years 2009-2011.
Additional links: Full Report
Date: 08/2019
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Government Accountability Office
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Broadband Availability and Access in Rural Pennsylvania
Report details broadband access in rural Pennsylvania. Discussed broadband speed and the role it plays in rural telehealth services. Features a literature review and policy recommendations.
Author(s): Sascha D. Meinrath, Hannah Bonestroo, Georgia Bullen, et al.
Date: 06/2019
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Center for Rural Pennsylvania
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The Availability of Medication-Assisted Treatment for Opioid Addiction in Pennsylvania
Report details the availability of medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid addiction throughout the state of Pennsylvania. Compares rural and urban counties and highlights MAT delivery methods to rural areas.
Additional links: Executive Summary
Author(s): Harry D. Holt, Matin Katirai, Whitney Katirai
Date: 03/2019
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Center for Rural Pennsylvania
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Promising Practice: Pennsylvania Office of Rural Health Puts Focus on Rural Human Trafficking
Discusses ways in which the Pennsylvania Office of Rural Health is raising awareness and bringing attention to the issue of human trafficking in rural areas.
Author(s): Beth Blevins
Date: 03/2019
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health
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Technical Assistance for Hospitals Applying to the Pennsylvania Rural Health Model — A CMMI-Sponsored Rural Hospital Global Budget Model
Describes the experiences of the Rural Health Value program in coaching hospitals in Pennsylvania that were interested in participating in a global budget model. Explains a process to quickly develop a plan focused on community health rather than exclusively on clinical services, to facilitate the transition from volume to value.
Date: 2019
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Value
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Toward Hospital Global Budgeting: State Considerations
Overview of hospital global budgeting, using case studies from Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Vermont. Explores ways in which global budgets can offer some financial stability for rural hospitals.
Author(s): Robert Murray
Date: 05/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: State Health & Value Strategies
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