April 25, 2024

Why are Rural Americans – Especially Women- Dying Younger?

Rural Americans aged 25 to 54 are dying of natural causes such as chronic diseases and cancer at wildly higher rates than their urban peers, according to a recent report.

The disparity was significantly worse for women, and for Native American women in particular.

The gap highlights how persistent difficulties accessing health care and a dispassionate response from national leaders can eat away at the fabric of rural communities.

The National Rural Health Association’s (NRHA’s) Government Affairs team has produced policy briefs on rural women’s health and American Indian and Alaska Native health.

Read Rural Women’s Health policy brief

Read American Indian and Alaska Native Health policy brief

April 2, 2024

Could Rural Fire Departments Bridge the Telehealth Gap?

As part of Washington State University’s Rural Health Initiative, pharmacy student Amanda Whitehead is exploring the feasibility of setting up telehealth stations in rural fire stations to help bring many health care services closer to rural residents.

Additionally, using telehealth to provide palliative care support to rural family caregivers is a low-cost, feasible strategy for transitioning patients from hospital to home-based care, new research reveals.

Read Full Article

March 11, 2024

Rural Residents Have Less Access to Special Needs Care

According to the National Rural Health Association (NRHA), the patient-to-primary-care-physician ratio is about 39 physicians for every 100,000 people.

In many rural areas, this can create crucial gaps in care for children with special needs, whose families often struggle with transportation and accessibility of services.

Additionally, Rural Health Research Gateway offers a new recap on post-acute care in rural areas.

Read Crucial Gaps in Care Article

Read Recap on Post-acute care