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Healthcare Access in Rural Communities – Resources

Selected recent or important resources focusing on Healthcare Access in Rural Communities.

State Differences in Recommended Components of Care Received During Postpartum Visits for Rural and Urban Residents, 2016-2019
Policy brief measuring state-level differences in receipt of recommended postpartum care components for urban and rural residents, using data from the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System. Features statistics on the median number of postpartum care components with breakdowns by state and rurality, and state-level maps with shadings showing frequency of screening for depression, smoking, abuse, and counseling for contraception, eating and exercise, and birth spacing.
Author(s): Julia D. Interrante, Phoebe Chastain, Katy Backes Kozhimannil
Date: 07/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center
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Changes in Telehealth Experienced by Advanced Practice RNs During COVID-19
Summarizes 7,467 advanced practice RNs' national survey responses from June-September 2020 about the use of telehealth before and during the pandemic, and analyzes free-text comments about how the use of telehealth changed during the pandemic. Discusses challenges in rural areas, including provider shortages and lack of broadband access.
Author(s): Mavis N. Schorn, Carole R. Myers, Julie Barroso, et al.
Citation: Computers, Informatics, Nursing, 41(7), 507–513
Date: 07/2023
Type: Document
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Expanded Report to Congress: Non-Emergency Medical Transportation in Medicaid, 2018–2021
Examines the Medicaid analysis of non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT) using Transformed Medicaid Statistical Information System (T-MSIS) data from 2018-2021. Explores the number and percentage of Medicaid beneficiaries using NEMT, the average number of NEMT "ride days" per NEMT user per month enrolled in Medicaid, the types of medical services accessed when using NEMT, monthly trends in the use of NEMT versus telehealth services before and during the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE), and the volume of NEMT services used by type of NEMT delivery model. Offers recommendations for states and local stakeholders regarding Medicaid coverage of NEMT. Presents data by state and by beneficiary characteristics, including Medicaid eligibility category, health conditions, and urban-rural location.
Date: 07/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
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Accommodation and Acceptability of Health Care by Non-Metropolitan/Metropolitan and Race/Ethnicity Status
Provides an overview of the "5 A's of Access" in healthcare: availability, accessibility, affordability, accommodation, and acceptability. Uses data from the 2018 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) to explore differences in accommodation and acceptability in rural and urban areas of eight states. Presents data on non-financial reasons for delaying care and satisfaction with the care received by urban/rural status and among rural respondents by race and ethnicity.
Author(s): Whitney E. Zahnd, Radhika Ranganathan, Elizabeth L. Crouch, et al.
Date: 07/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Rural and Minority Health Research Center (formerly the South Carolina Rural Health Research Center)
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Ambulance Deserts: Geographic Disparities in the Provision of Ambulance Services
Webinar recording presenting key findings from a chartbook that analyzes 41 states in 2021-2022 and identifies places and people in ambulance deserts, defined as locations that are more than 25 minutes from an ambulance station.
Additional links: Presentation Slides, Transcript
Author(s): Yvonne Jonk
Date: 06/2023
Type: Video/Multimedia
Sponsoring organizations: Maine Rural Health Research Center, Rural Health Research Gateway
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Access to Care among Medicare Beneficiaries Aged 65 and Over Living with High-Impact Chronic Pain
Examines access to care and its association with high-impact chronic pain among Medicare recipients over 65 and not living in a long-term care facility between 2018 and 2020. Includes data breakdown between metro area and non-metro area residents. Discusses delay in seeking medical care due to cost and general access to care.
Author(s): Jared Sawyer, Laura Stoff, Carrie Goetsch, et al.
Date: 06/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
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Improving Financial Access to Maternal and Infant Care in Rural Areas
A brief that discusses ways to improve maternal and infant healthcare access, with a focus on Medicaid initiatives, value-based care systems, and leveraging the perinatal workforce.
Date: 06/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Association of State and Territorial Health Officials
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Maniilaq Health Center: Providing High-Quality Obstetric Care to American Indian/Alaska Native People in Rural Kotzebue, Alaska
Results of a case study highlighting a hospital providing care to rural American Indian and Alaska Native patients in Alaska. Examines the maternity care context with attention to the intersection of race and geography with social determinants of health to inform clinical and policy efforts to improve rural maternal health and health equity in Alaska and beyond.
Author(s): Hailey A. Baker, Katy Backes Kozhimannil, Bridget Basile Ibrahim
Date: 06/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center
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Rural Health Research Recap: Rural Hospital Closures: 2023 Update
Summarizes recent research from Rural Health Research Centers examining hospital closures. Features statistics including number of acute hospitals as of 2020 with breakdowns by type and location, rural hospital closures from 2005-2022 with breakdowns by isolated rural, small rural, and large rural location, and numbers of closures by year from 2005-2022 with breakdowns by complete or converted closures.
Author(s): Per Ostmo
Date: 06/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Research Gateway
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Ambulance Deserts: Geographic Disparities in the Provision of Ambulance Services
Chartbook presenting data on ambulance deserts from 41 states in 2021-2022, and identifying places and people that are more than 25 minutes from an ambulance station. Include maps of ambulance desert locations and health care facility locations for every state with available data, and documents coverage gaps in the provision of ambulance services across geographic areas across the United States.
Author(s): Yvonne Jonk, Carly Milkowski, Zachariah Croll, Karen Pearson
Date: 05/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Maine Rural Health Research Center
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Last Updated: 7/27/2023