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Tennessee

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The land of Tennessee stretches from the scenic Great Smoky Mountains of the east to the banks of the Mississippi River in the west. Tennessee covers 41,217 square miles, with a 2006 estimated population of 6,038,803 people – with 1,641,951 living in rural Tennessee (USDA-ERS). Nashville is the state capital. The state’s largest cities are Memphis, Nashville, and Knoxville. According to the 2006 Census, 80.4% of the state’s population is white, 16.9% is Black/African-American, and 3.2% is of Hispanic/Latino origin.

There are 127 hospitals in Tennessee, 55 of which are located in rural areas (North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center, 2007). The state has 16 hospitals currently identified by the Flex Monitoring Team as Critical Access Hospitals. There are 40 Rural Health Clinics in Tennessee, and 22 Federally Qualified Health Centers provide services at 101 sites in the state (Kaiser, 2004). Thirteen percent of Tennessee residents lack any health insurance (Kaiser, 2004-2005).

According to the Economic Research Service, the average per-capita income for all Tennessee residents in 2006 was $32,172, although rural per-capita income lagged at $25,422. Estimates from 2005 indicate a poverty rate of 18.2% exists in rural Tennessee, compared to 14.7% in urban areas of the state. Data from 2000 reports that 31.8% of the rural population has not completed high school, while 21.1% of the urban population lacks a high school diploma. The unemployment rate in rural Tennessee is 5.9%, while in urban Tennessee, it is 4.3% (USDA-ERS, 2007).

For a national comparison, please see an overview of the United States.

Data Sources:

U.S. Census Bureau: State & County QuickFacts

USDA Economic Research Service: State Fact Sheets

North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center

Kaiser Family Foundation State Health Facts

Flex Monitoring Team: Critical Access Hospital List

State Contacts

Directory of Rural Health Contacts: Tennessee
Contact information for people and organizations in Tennessee with an interest in rural health.

Organizations

Community Resource Group (CRG)
Nonprofit/Foundation
Works in rural areas to expand the opportunities for families to build assets, improve their lives, and strengthen their communities.

HUD Community Development Block Grants: Tennessee
Federal government
Contact information for the State CDBG program. Provides funding for community development projects.

National Network of Libraries of Medicine, Southeastern/Atlantic Region (NN/LM-SE/A)
State/regional organization
Works to improve access to health information for health care providers, librarians and the public in Alabama, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Virginia and West Virginia.

Tennessee Association of Community Action
State/regional organization
Works to empower local agencies through advocacy, training, and the provision of technical assistance to promote self-sufficiency and personal growth in the individuals, families and communities of Tennessee.

Tennessee Child Support
State government
Supplies help in obtaining support (financial and medical) for a child when there is a parent that does not live with him/her.

Tennessee Department of Health
State government
Works to improve the health of all Tennessee residents.

Tennessee Department of Human Services
State government
Provides Adult & Family Services, Child Support, and Rehabilitation Services.

Tennessee Hospital Association (THA)
State/regional organization
Works to lead our members in advocacy for and support of community-based hospitals and health systems and to assist them in delivering accessible, cost-effective, quality health services.

Tennessee Office of Rural Health
State government
Works to improve and enhance the accessibility, availability, and affordability of quality health care in Tennessee by creating a central focus and coordination of rural health care resources. A division of the Tennessee Department of Health.

Tennessee Primary Care Association (TNPCA)
State/regional organization
Has a fundamental commitment to maximizing access to health care for all Tennesseans with emphasis on the medically underserved.

Tennessee Rural Health Association (RHAT)
State/regional organization
The Rural Health Association of Tennessee works to improve the policies and practices of health programs and services in Tennessee.

Tennessee Rural Health Recruitment & Retention Center, Inc. (TRHRRC)
State/regional organization
Mission is to enhance statewide collaboration on workforce planning to better serve rural and underserved communities and health providers in Tennessee by assisting in the recruitment, placement and retention of physicians, physician assistants, advanced practice nurses and other health professionals.

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development: Tennessee
Federal government
Works to increase homeownership, support community development and increase access to affordable housing. The HUD state office provides information about HUD housing programs and local contacts for the state.

USDA Rural Development Tennessee State Office
Federal government
Committed to helping improve the economy and quality of life in all of rural America. The Rural Development State Office provides information about Rural Development programs and applications for financial assistance.

Tools

ERS State Fact Sheet: Tennessee
Web site
Statistics on population, educational attainment, employment, income, farm characteristics, and farm financial indicators for the state.
Sponsoring organization: USDA Economic Research Service

National Healthcare Quality Report State Snapshot: Tennessee
Web site
Health care quality report for the state, based on the National Healthcare Quality Report.
Sponsoring organization: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

Rural Health Networking Project
Web site
Improves the quality of health care in rural Tennessee communities by promoting better communication and cooperation by those providing health-related services in rural areas. Facilitates communication, transmits information needed to obtain resources, and develops better ways of caring for people in rural areas.
Sponsoring organization: Tennessee Rural Health Association

State Profiles- Tennessee: Health Information Technology (HIT)
Web site
Profiles the state’s health information technology (HIT) issues. Contains sections on demographics, HIT legislation, telemedicine, Health Information Exchanges (HIE) & Regional Health Information Organizations (RHIO), grant funded HIT projects, and HIT survey information.
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Resource Center

Tennessee QuickFacts
Web site
Basic demographic and economic statistics for the state, with links to county-level data.
Sponsoring organization: U.S. Census Bureau

Tennessee AgrAbility Project
Web site
Is a cooperative effort of the University of Tennessee Agricultural Extension Service and Easter Seals in Tennessee. Is joined together to create a project to benefit Tennessee's farmers, farm workers and their family members who have disabilities.

Tennessee Community Level Information on Kids (CLIKS)
Web site
Provides data on child well-being for the state.
Sponsoring organization: Annie E. Casey Foundation

Tennessee Health Centers Data
Web site
Provides access to information on Federally Qualified Health Centers for the state. Includes a map of FQHC locations, as well as information on the populations served by health centers, services provided, staff, patient visits, costs of care, and use of electronic health information.

Tennessee Health Workforce: Highlights from the Health Workforce Profile
Web site
Highlights compile 2000 data on levels of employment, projected growth and key environmental factors that affect demand for health care. Details for medicine, nursing, dentistry, pharmacy, mental health and aides.
Sponsoring organization: National Center for Health Workforce Analysis

Tennessee State Health Facts
Database
The latest state-level data on demographics, health, and health policy, including health coverage, access, financing, and state legislation. Individual state profiles and 50-state comparisons.
Sponsoring organization: Kaiser Family Foundation

Tennessee State Medicaid Profile
Web site
Provides data on Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) for the state.
Sponsoring organization: North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center (Cecil G. Sheps Center)

See also: Resources for All States: Tools

Maps & Map Collections

Tennessee Rural Definition Maps
Geographic coverage: Tennessee
Set of maps showing the geographic coverage provided by 9 different rural definitions for the state.
Sponsoring organization: USDA Economic Research Service

See also: Resources for All States: Maps

Funding

Weyerhaeuser Company Foundation
Provides grants in communities where the company has operations.

Inactive Funding

Inactive Funding Opportunities - Lists additional funding programs for this state that are not currently accepting applications. Programs that are inactive may be offered again in the future.

Documents, Reports and Other Publications

Around the Country: Tennessee Public Health Certificates Offered
Author(s): Hope Hanson
Sponsoring organization: Rural Assistance Center
Discusses a program where state public health workers at the Tennessee Department of Health can take online courses and receive certificates in applied epidemiology, health leadership, or healthcare management.
Journal citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 08 / 2005

Curing the Crisis in Nursing Education: A Master Plan for Tennessee
Discusses nursing workforce shortage issues in Tennessee.
Date: 01 / 2005

Demographic and Economic Profile: Tennessee
Author(s): Kathleen K. Miller
Sponsoring organization: Rural Policy Research Institute
Discusses demographic and economic data including population, race, education, age, poverty, income, and more. Includes maps and graphics.

Long-Term Impacts of Retiree In-Migration on Rural Areas: A Case Study of Cumberland County, Tennessee
Sponsoring organization: University of Tennessee Institute for Public Service
A summary of a report commissioned by the Institute for Public Service to inform state, local, and regional officials, and other interested individuals about the various impacts of a substantial influx of in-migrant retirees (IMRs) on a rural community.
Date: 01 / 2007

Small Business Profile: Tennessee
Sponsoring organization: U.S. Small Business Administration
Profile of the state's economy, covering the number of firms, industry composition, small business income, banking, women and minority business ownership, and employment.
Date: 2006

State Profiles - Tennessee: Reforming the Health Care System
Sponsoring organization: AARP Public Policy Institute
Detailed profile of the state's health care system. Covers demographics, expenditures and financing, health status, utilization and quality of services, health care providers, Medicare, Medicaid, health insurance coverage, and key trends.
Date: 12 / 2005

See also: Resources for All States: Documents

Success Stories

Child and Maternal Health Program for Hardeman County, Tennessee
This outreach grant was used for a multifaceted program designed to reduce teen pregnancy, low-birthweight babies, infant death rates, sexually transmitted diseases, lack of adequate prenatal care, child abuse, and neonatal deaths in Hardeman County, Tennessee.

Community Health Outreach (Talbott, TN)
This educational program in the heart of Appalachia teaches children, their parents, and educators how to stay healthy mentally and physically, and to access needed health services to attain this goal.

Drug Endangered Child Outreach Network Project
This project aims to deliver integrated medical and mental health services to the 24 Drug-Endangered Children/Drug-Endangered Infants and their families per year immediately upon identification.

Housing Health Education Rural Outreach (HHERO) Program
The LaFollette Housing Authority implemented the HHERO program to provide health education and primary care services to the residents of public housing throughout a seven-county area in rural east Tennessee.

Lewis County Rural Outreach Program
Through the collaboration of five area agencies, the project offered alcohol and drug abuse treatment, mental health services, medical assistance, support services for teen parents, transportation services, patient supplies, and community education and outreach.

Loudon School Health Consortium
A school-based health center to bridge the gap between health education and services.

Making TennCare Work
Making TennCare Work was designed to provide individuals enrolled in Tennessee's new managed care program with assistance in overcoming problems resulting from the abrupt introduction of that program.

Maternal Infant Health Outreach Worker Program
The Vanderbilt Center for Health Services’ Maternal Infant Health Outreach Worker (MIHOW) program provides early intervention services to low income families in Nashville as well as other urban and rural areas in Appalachia and the Mississippi delta, including Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and West Virginia.

Public Health Certificates Offered Online
The Tennessee Department of Health created an online training program where department staff can earn certificates in applied epidemiology, health leadership or healthcare management.

Shared Information Technology (IT) Services
The Community Health Network was formed to share information technology (IT) resources among varying sized community health organizations across Tennessee, from one doctor, one location, to much larger groups in multiple locations.

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Page last updated 6/30/2008
State last reviewed 8/06/2007

Events
Jul 20 - 23, 2008
The National Association of Area Agencies on Aging (n4a) 33rd Annual Conference and Tradeshow
National Association of Area Agencies on Aging
Renaissance Nashville Hotel and the Nashville Convention Center
Nashville, TN
Contact:
  202.872.0888
  rlogan@n4a.org


Aug 12 - 13, 2008
Delta RHPI Leadership/Management Summit
Delta Rural Hospital Performance Improvement Project
Holiday Inn Select Downtown
Memphis, TN
Contact:
  Allison Hartl
  218.727.9390 ext 251
  ahartl@ruralcenter.org


Aug 22, 2008
Grant Writing Symposium
Tennessee Rural Health Association
Montgomery Bell State Park
Burns, TN
Contact:
  Susan Veale
  615.907.9707
  mailto:rhatmail@bellsouth.net


Sep 16 - 17, 2008
Delta Performance Management Workshop
Delta Rural Hospital Performance Improvement Project
Holiday Inn Select Downtown
Memphis, TN
Contact:
  Allison Hartl
  218.727.9390 ext 251
  ahartl@ruralcenter.org


Oct 5 - 8, 2008
AHCA/NCAL 59th Annual Convention and Expo — The Harmony of Long Term Care: People, Partnership, Passion
American Health Care Association
Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center
Nashville, TN
Contact:
  202.842.4444


Nov 19 - 20, 2008
14th Annual Conference, “Rural Connections 2008: Health Partners in Concert”
Tennessee Rural Health Association
Music Road Hotel & Inn
Pigeon Forge, TN
Contact:
  Susan Veale
  615.907.9707
  mailto:rhatmail@bellsouth.net


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