Income Divide in Health Care: How the Affordable Care Act Will Help Restore Fairness to the U.S. Health System
Author(s): Sara R. Collins, Ruth Robertson, Tracy Garber, Michelle M. Doty
Sponsoring organization: Commonwealth Fund
Presents results from a survey revealing data on uninsured adults and children living in poverty. Describes how the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will work to reduce these uninsured rates.
Date: 02 / 2012
Format: PDF
Fact Sheet: HIV/AIDS Epidemic in the United States
Sponsoring organization: Kaiser Family Foundation
Provides the latest data on the U.S. epidemic, including key trends over time, impact by region and population, and data on the U.S. government's response.
Date: 02 / 2012
Format: PDF
Fact Sheet: Women and HIV/AIDS in the United States
Sponsoring organization: Kaiser Family Foundation
Highlights the impact of HIV/AIDS on women in the United States, providing current data and trends over time.
Date: 02 / 2012
Format: PDF
Implications of Health Reform for American Indian and Alaska Native Populations
Author(s): Carolyn Ingram, Shannon M. McMahon, Veronica Guerra, Alice Weiss
Sponsoring organization: Center for Health Care Strategies
Outlines provisions in the Affordable Care Act that affect American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) populations.
Date: 02 / 2012
Format: PDF
Fact Sheet: Latinos and HIV/AIDS
Sponsoring organization: Kaiser Family Foundation
Highlights the impact of HIV/AIDS on Latinos in the United States, providing current data and trends over time.
Date: 02 / 2012
Format: PDF
Rural Demographic Change in the New Century: Slower Growth, Increased Diversity
Author(s): Kenneth M. Johnson
Sponsoring organization: Carsey Institute
Examines rural demographic trends in the first decade of the twenty-first century using newly available data from the 2010 Census.
Date: 02 / 2012
Format: PDF
Fact Sheet: Black Americans and HIV/AIDS
Sponsoring organization: Kaiser Family Foundation
Highlights the epidemic's impact on Black Americans, providing current data and trends over time.
Date: 02 / 2012
Format: PDF
Ohio Appalachian Residents' Views on Smoke-free Laws and Cigarette Warning Labels
Author(s): Paul Reiter, Mary Wewers, Electra Paskett, Elizabeth Klein, Mira Katz
Presents results from a study that explored attitudes and beliefs of residents in Ohio Appalachia relating to smoke-free laws and public health policies in place to reduce smoking and smoking-related diseases.
Journal citation: Rural and Remote Health Volume 12 Issue 1945
Date: 02 / 2012
Format: HTML
Medicaid Managed Care: Key Data, Trends, and Issues
Sponsoring organization: Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured
Examines the prevalence of managed care in state Medicaid programs, including rural areas.
Date: 02 / 2012
Format: PDF
Going Home: Programs Create New Housing Options for Rural Veterans
Author(s): Candi Helseth
Sponsoring organization: Rural Assistance Center
Discusses Medical Foster Homes and transitional housing, which provide homes for elderly and once-homeless veterans. Highlights homes in California, Iowa, and South Dakota.
Journal citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 02 / 2012
Format: HTML
Sidebar: Co-Located Clinics Bring Improved Care for Veterans in New Mexico
Author(s): Candi Helseth
Sponsoring organization: Rural Assistance Center
Highlights an outpatient clinic in New Mexico that has co-located mental health and primary care services for veterans seeking treatment.
Journal citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 02 / 2012
Format: HTML
Healing Invisible Wounds: Programs Help Rural Vets with PTSD and Depression
Author(s): Candi Helseth
Sponsoring organization: Rural Assistance Center
In Virginia and Montana, rural veterans suffering from PTSD, depression and trauma are finding help and support in their local communities.
Journal citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 02 / 2012
Format: HTML
Sidebar: Telepsychiatry Fills Gaps in PTSD Care
Author(s): Candi Helseth
Sponsoring organization: Rural Assistance Center
Highlights telehealth services for American Indian veterans living with PTSD in rural areas on reservations in the Midwest.
Journal citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 02 / 2012
Format: HTML
Challenges for Human Services: Getting Help to Rural Veterans and Their Families
Author(s): Kathleen Belanger
Sponsoring organization: Rural Assistance Center
Rural veterans need more services than their urban counterparts, but are less likely to find them locally.
Journal citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 02 / 2012
Format: HTML
Look What's Coming: Watch Your Medical School
Author(s): Wayne Myers
Sponsoring organization: Rural Assistance Center
Discusses American medical education, geography and specialty distribution, and how medical schools are addressing it.
Journal citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 02 / 2012
Format: HTML
Rural Monitor: Services for Rural Veterans
Sponsoring organization: Rural Assistance Center
Entire issue is devoted to services for rural veterans. Discusses medical foster homes and housing for veterans, rural veterans with PTSD, telehealth in rural areas, and getting help for families.
Journal citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 02 / 2012
Format: HTML
Around the Country: Network Brings Better, More Efficient Care to Cardiac Patients in 68 Counties
Author(s): Candi Helseth
Sponsoring organization: Rural Assistance Center
Highlights the Saint Thomas Chest Pain Network in Tennessee and Kentucky, which is proving that moving patients into and through a system quickly and efficiently is critical to saving lives.
Journal citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 02 / 2012
Format: HTML
Around the Country: Marshfield Telehealth Program Reaches Rural Kidney Patients in Northern Wisconsin
Author(s): Candi Helseth
Sponsoring organization: Rural Assistance Center
Highlights a renal disease telehealth program in Wisconsin, which is serving low-income nursing home residents as well as patients who can travel to their local clinic for care.
Journal citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 02 / 2012
Format: HTML
Rural Spotlight: An Interview with Rebecca J. Davis, Ph.D.
Author(s): Beth Blevins
Sponsoring organization: Rural Assistance Center
Rebecca Davis, Executive Director of the National Cooperative of Health Networks Association, describes the purposes of networks as well as the varied career paths she followed to her current position.
Journal citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 02 / 2012
Format: HTML
NCHS Urban - Rural Classification Scheme for Counties: Data Evaluation and Methods Research
Author(s): Deborah Ingram, Shelia Franco
Sponsoring organization: National Center for Health Statistics
Details the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics development of the 2006 NCHS Urban-Rural Classification Scheme for Counties. Provides examples of how the scheme can be used to describe differences in health measures by urbanization level.
Date: 01 / 2012
Format: PDF
Primary Care Workforce Facts and Stats No. 3: Distribution of the U.S. Primary Care Workforce
Sponsoring organization: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Shows that primary care physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants are more likely to practice in rural areas than are non-primary care specialists, but are still more concentrated in urban areas.
Date: 01 / 2012
Format: HTML
Rural Residency Training for Family Medicine Physicians: Graduate Early-Career Outcomes
Author(s): Davis G. Patterson, Randall Longenecker, David Schmitz, Imam M. Xierali, Robert L. Phillips, Jr., Susan M. Skillman, Mark P. Doescher, MD
Sponsoring organization: Rural Training Track Technical Assistance Program
Discusses family medicine rural training track residency programs (RTTs), which train physicians for practice in rural and underserved areas.
Date: 01 / 2012
Format: PDF
Serving Rural America
Author(s): Christine Serlin, Donna Kimura
Discusses how developers are overcoming small town challenges in providing affordable housing.
Date: 01 / 2012
Format: HTML
Explaining Health Care Reform: How Will the Affordable Care Act Affect Small Businesses and Their Employees?
Sponsoring organization: Kaiser Family Foundation
Describes ACA initiatives that will be implemented between now and the year 2016 and affect small businesses in terms of insurance exchanges, penalties for not providing affordable coverage, tax credits, and grants for wellness programs.
Date: 01 / 2012
Format: PDF
Transforming Health Care: The Role of Health IT
Sponsoring organization: Bipartisan Policy Center
Identifies six barriers to the optimal use of health information technology including: misaligned incentives, lack of health information exchange (HIE), limited level of consumer engagement with health IT tools, limited levels of EHR adoption, privacy and security concerns and vague federal priorities.
Date: 01 / 2012
Format: PDF
Relevant Quality Measures for Critical Access Hospitals
Author(s): Michelle Casey, Ira Moscovice, Jill Klingner, Shailendra Prasad
Sponsoring organization: Flex Monitoring Team
Policy brief describes quality measures relevant to Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) and identifies policy implications.
Date: 01 / 2012
Format: PDF
Affordable Insurance Exchanges and Enrollment: Meeting Rural Needs
Author(s): Bryan Garter, Keith J. Mueller,
Sponsoring organization: Rural Policy Research Institute
Reviews the principal characteristics of exchanges that will affect how well they meet the needs of rural residents, including the structure, governance, and process for enrollment.
Date: 01 / 2012
Format: PDF
Affordable Insurance Exchanges: A Summary of Characteristics and Rural Implications
Sponsoring organization: RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
Provides a quick reference to selected critical decisions being made about health insurance exchanges (Exchanges) that will affect access to affordable insurance plans in rural America.
Date: 01 / 2012
Format: PDF
Critical Access Hospital: Rural Health Fact Sheet Series
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Provides information about Critical Access Hospital providers, designations, and payments.
Date: 01 / 2012
Format: PDF
Quality Incentives for Federally Qualified Health Centers, Rural Health Clinics and Free Clinics: A Report to Congress
Sponsoring organization: George Washington University Department of Health Policy
Discusses current initiatives and incentives that apply to primary care clinics regarding quality of care and the use of health information technology.
Date: 01 / 2012
Format: PDF
Performing Under Pressure: Annual Findings of a 50-State Survey of Eligibility, Enrollment, Renewal, and Cost-sharing Policies in Medicaid and CHIP, 2011-2012.
Author(s): Martha Heberlein, Samantha Artiga, Jessica Stephens
Sponsoring organization: Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured
Provides results from a 50-state survey of eligibility, enrollment, renewal, and cost-sharing policies in Medicaid and CHIP. Data identify changes implemented during 2011 and present policies in place for children, pregnant women, parents, and other non-disabled adults. Includes rural information.
Date: 01 / 2012
Format: PDF
Living Well with Chronic Illness: A Call for Public Health Action
Sponsoring organization: Institute of Medicine
Identifies ways to reduce disability and improve the function and quality of life for people living with chronic illness.
Date: 01 / 2012
Format: HTML
Network Guide
Sponsoring organization: Health Resources and Services Administration
Contains a directory and data from more than 40 health networks about their activities in quality and health care delivery improvement, operational management, and health information technology (HIT) in the safety net.
Date: 2012
Format: HTML
Rural Women Were Less Likely to Return for Free HPV Vaccination Follow-Up Doses
Sponsoring organization: Rural Center for AIDS/STD Prevention
Describes a study that contrasted rates of HPV vaccine uptake between young women recruited from two rural locations and one urban location. Found that the recruitment location was a major factor in lack of uptake for the booster doses.
Journal citation: Rap* Time Volume 15 Issue 2 Pages: 1
Date: 12 / 2011
Format: PDF
Growing Your Region’s Economy with Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs
Sponsoring organization: National Association of Development Organizations
Highlights the innovative approaches being taken by five regional development organizations (RDO) in Colorado, Oregon, Texas, and Wisconsin to spur job growth in rural areas through new business startups or existing business expansions.
Date: 12 / 2011
Format: PDF
Water Fluoridation and Dental Health Indicators in Rural and Urban Areas of the United States
Author(s): Michael Hendryx, Constance Weiner, Matthew Gurka
Sponsoring organization: West Virginia Rural Health Research Center
Investigates the availability of fluoridated water across urban-rural settings, and relates measures of fluoride availability to national survey measures of dental health in adults and children.
Date: 11 / 2011
Format: PDF
Economic Impacts on Oregon of the Termination of Secure Rural Schools Payments to Counties: 2011 Update
Author(s): Bruce Weber, Paul Lewin, Bruce Sorte
Sponsoring organization: Oregon State University Rural Studies Program
Presents a study on the expired Secure Rural Schools (SRS) funds that estimates the economic impact on rural Oregon counties and their schools.
Date: 11 / 2011
Format: PDF
Compacts of Free Association: Improvements Needed to Assess and Address Growing Migration
Sponsoring organization: Government Accountability Office
Describes compact migration, reviews enumeration approaches, evaluates impact reporting, and reviews Interior grants related to the impact on compacts with the freely associated states, the U.S. territories, and Hawaii.
Date: 11 / 2011
Format: PDF
Exploring the Digital Nation: Computer and Internet Use at Home
Author(s): Rebecca M. Blank, Lawrence E. Strickling, Mark Doms, et al.
Sponsoring organization: National Telecommunications and Information Administration
Uses data from the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey School Enrollment and Internet Use Supplement to describe Internet and computer use in the United States. Reveals disparities in broadband adoption by demographic and geographic groups, including rural areas.
Date: 11 / 2011
Format: PDF
Sole Community Hospital: Rural Health Fact Sheet Series
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Presents information on Sole Community Hospitals including classification payments and criteria, resources, and a list of regional office rural health coordinators.
Date: 11 / 2011
Format: PDF
Poverty in Rural America
Sponsoring organization: Housing Assistance Council
An overview of rural poverty and income.
Date: 09 / 2011
Format: PDF
F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America's Future
Sponsoring organization: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Provides information on obesity rates and trends, state policies, current legislation and federal policies and programs. Includes information about rural obesity.
Date: 07 / 2011
Format: PDF
Medicaid and CHIP: Most Physicians Serve Covered Children but Have Difficulty Referring Them for Specialty Care
Sponsoring organization: Government Accountability Office
Studies children's access to care under Medicaid and CHIP. Discusses rural physicians. Compares rural and urban primary physicians.
Date: 06 / 2011
Format: PDF
2011 Annual Report of the Boards of Trustees of the Federal Hospital Insurance and Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Funds
Author(s): Timothy F. Geithner, Hilda L. Solis, Kathleen Sebelius, Michael J. Astrue, Charles P. Blahous, Robert D. Reischauer, Donald M. Berwick
Presents the report to Congress on the financial and actuarial status of Medicare's Health Insurance (HI) and Supplementary Medical Insurance (SMI) trust funds. Includes provisions of the new Affordable Care Act (ACA) that affect Medicare and rural areas.
Date: 05 / 2011
Format: PDF
Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System: Payment System Fact Sheet Series
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Provides information about the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System, ambulatory payment classifications, and how payment rates are set.
Date: 03 / 2011
Format: PDF
