Archived Articles

Recent Policy Briefs from the National Rural Health Association

Policy Statement-June 2006
Dental Health Professionals in Rural Communities
The National Rural Health Association believes rural communities should have access to the most appropriately trained dental health professionals relative to the size and demographics of the community. In frontier Alaska, tribal programs experience a 25 percent annual vacancy rate and 30 percent annual turnover rate for dentists. And, Alaska Native children have 2.5 times more dental disease than all U.S. races. Additionally, the geography of Alaska increases the cost of providing dental care and many villages face economic conditions that make support of a full-time dentist unfeasible. Therefore, the National Rural Health Association fully endorses the provision of oral  health care via dental health aides and therapists in small, frontier communities in Alaska.
http://www.nrharural.org/advocacy/pdf/AKdental_policy.pdf

Rural/Frontier Women's Access to Health Services — November 2005
Download the brief in PDF Format

Public Reporting of Hospital Quality in Rural Communities: An Initial Set of Key Issues — May 2005
Download the entire policy brief in PDF Format

Meeting Oral Health Care Needs in Rural America — April 2005
For too long, oral health and oral health care have enjoyed far less attention than other aspects of health and health care.  As one prominent study put it, "The perception that oral health is in some way less important than and separate from general health has been deeply ingrained in American consciousness."  When they have focused on oral health, policymakers, health care providers, and the general public alike have focused primarily on teeth, rather than the person around the teeth.
Download the entire policy brief in PDF Format

 

Rural Policy Research Institute Briefs

Chronic Disease Management Systems (Registries) in Rural Health Care PB 2006-1— May 2006
http://www.rupri.org/ruralPolicy/publications/PB2006-1.pdf

Medicare Part D: Early Findings on Enrollment and Choices for Rural Beneficiaries? PB2006-8— April 2006
Includes map of Percent of Rural Persons Enrolled in Medicare Prescription Drug Plans (PDPs) as of March 2006.
http://www.rupri.org/ruralPolicy/publications/Medicare Part D brief.pdf

 

Rural Assistance Center Articles/News

Primer on the Occupational Mix Adjustment to the Medicare Hospital Wage Index— September 2006
Focuses on the occupational mix adjustment (OMA) to the labor-related share in the hospital inpatient prospective payment system. The Primer explains what the OMA is, why it is needed, and how it has been calculated. In addition, reasons why the effect of the OMA has been less than some rural advocates anticipated are discussed.
http://www.shepscenter.unc.edu/research_programs/rural_program/WP86.pdf

Rural America at a Glance — August 2006
Overview of social and economic conditions in rural areas, including statistics on employment, poverty, tourism, housing, population, and more
http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/eib18/eib18.pdf

Role of Medicaid and SCHIP as an Insurance Safety Net — August 2006
Documents the decline in health insurance coverage from employer-sponsored insurance for low-income adults and children between 2000 and 2004.
http://www.rwjf.org/files/publications/other/UrbanHealthInsuranceBrief.pdf

Child Poverty in Rural America: New Data Shows Increasaes in 41 States — Summer 2006
Rural child poverty rates increased between 2000 and 2005 in 41 of the 50 states (data were not available in four states). The child poverty rate is the most widely used indicator of child well-being because poverty is closely linked to undesirable outcomes in areas such as health, education, emotional welfare, and delinquency.
http://www.carseyinstitute.unh.edu/documents/rural_child_poverty_fact_sheet.pdf

Rural Hospitals Have Limited Pharmacist Staffing, Technology Use, Study Finds — January 6, 2006
Many small rural hospitals have limited hours of onsite pharmacist coverage, according to a national study that assessed how rural hospitals implement medication safety practices, focusing on pharmacist staffing and availability and use of technology. 
http://www.uppermidwestrhrc.org/news/010406.html

Hospital Closing Symptomatic of Small-town Medicine — January 10, 2006
Pittsburgh Post Gazette, (PA) article tells how the closing of a rural Pennsylvania hospital is symptomatic of difficult financial times for medical centers in small rural communities. 
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06010/635364.stm

Safety Belts and Rural Communities - 2005 Report — January 12, 2006
WomanMotorist.com article gives statistics from a report that shows that rural Americans face a greater risk of being injured or killed in a traffic crash than people who live and commute in urban areas.  http://www.womanmotorist.com/index.php/news/main/4639/event=view

Clinton, McHugh Call for Overhaul of Rural Utilities Service Broadband Loan Program — January 12, 2006
Oswego Daily News, (NY) article reports that Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) and Congressman John M. McHugh (R-NY) are calling on the head of the federal Rural Utilities Service to improve the Broadband Loan Program likening the importance of broadband deployment's effect on economic development to the electrification of rural areas in the 1930s.  http://oswegodailynews.com/index.php/oswego/news/community/clinton_mchugh_call_for_overhaul_of_rural_utilities_service_broadband_loan_program

Country Doctors Becoming Hard to Find — January 17, 2006
Mobile Register article reports how Alabama is trying to reverse the trend of doctors disappearing from out in the country.  http://www.al.com/news/mobileregister/index.ssf?/base/news/1137406638171060.xml&coll=3

A Stork Contrast: Days of Baby Delivery at Rural Hospitals Steadily Slipping Away — January 17, 2006
Grand Forks Herald, (ND) article discusses why fewer rural hospitals are delivering babies.  http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/13629945.htm

 

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Current Issues

Rural Health Care Workforce

School-Based & School-Linked Health Services  

Mental Health

Dental Services

Critical Access Hospitals

Rural Homelessness

Emergency Preparedness in Rural Communities

Medicare in Rural America