Category: Articles

Why Travel Time is Better Indicator of Access than Zip Codes

February 5, 2025

Why Travel Time is Better Indicator of Access than Zip Codes

Patients who travel longer distances to emergency facilities are more likely to present with more severe medical conditions, highlighting travel time as a key indicator of health care access. Additionally, health care leaders look a how organizations can use social determinants of health to reduce disparities in underserved communities.

Click Here to Read “Travel time is better indicator of access than ZIP codes, study suggests”.

Click Here to Read “Reducing Disparities and Promoting Health Equity in Underserved Communities with Social Determinants of Health”.

New JRH Articles on Physical Therapy Utilization and More

February 5, 2025

New JRH Articles on Physical Therapy Utilization and More

The National Rural Health Association’s (NRHA’s) Journal of Rural Health (JRH) published articles on the following topics:

These are the Top 5 Policies to Transform Rural Health

February 5, 2025

These are the Top 5 Policies to Transform Rural Health

As a new administration takes the reins in Washington, the National Rural Health Association (NRHA) is mobilizing to work with policymakers to implement transformative policy changes to improve rural health care and other hospital leaders are also expressing their concerns.

Top 5 Policies to Transform Rural Health

  • Reduce regulator burden on small rural providers.
  • Secure key rural health care programs.
  • Make Medicare Advantage work for rural health care.
  • Stop implementation of payment policies harmful to rural providers.
  • Sustain rural health care infrastructure.

NRHA CEO Alan Morgan has released a statement as a rebuttal to the troublesome findings in a recent OIC report on CAH swing bed reimbursement. We can address the needs of rural communities and their hospitals through direct advocacy.

Click Here to Read “The top 5 policies to transform rural health”.

Click Here to Read “What hospitals want from Donald Trump and the new Congress”.

Click Here to Read “NRHA statement on OIG swing bed report”.

Click Here to Read “Cut swing-bed pay rates to match skilled nursing reimbursement and save billions, OIG tells CMS”.

How Private Equity Reduces Patient Care, Enriches Investors

January 22, 2025

How Private Equity Reduces Patient Care, Enriches Investors

A yearlong bipartisan congressional investigation into two private equity-backed hospital systems found that patient care deteriorated at both operations as their private equity owners reaped significant payouts on their investments in the systems.

Additionally, analysts expect to see hospitals recording modest gains in their operating margins over the coming year. They see encouraging signs with labor pressures easing a bit and improved volumes.

Click Here to Read More

New JRH Articles on Medicaid Expansion’s Racial Impact, More

December 31, 2024

New JRH Articles on Medicaid Expansion’s Racial Impact, More

The latest issue of the National Rural Health Association’s (NRHA’s) Journal of Rural Health (JRH) is now available online featuring original articles and research on topics including:

  • The role of digital technology in rural health research;
  • Associations between COVID-19 therapies and outcomes in rural and urban America;
  • Barriers to participation in clinical trials of rural older adult cancer survivors;
  • The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on urban and rural hospital profitability;
  • The uneven impact of Medicaid expansion by race in rural and urban areas; and much more.

Click Here to Read NRHA Journal of Rural Health

Article: Why Hospital Violence is a Public Health Emergency

December 31, 2024

Article: Why Hospital Violence is a Public Health Emergency

A distressing 80 percent of emergency room doctors say violence has impacted patient care and safety where they work. Half of emergency physicians note they have witnessed harm to patients in the emergency department, and 47 percent report they themselves have been assaulted at work.

Since the pandemic, 44 percent of nurses report an increase in physical violence and 68 percent report an increase in verbal abuse. Additionally, health care violence prevention expert Kimberly Urbanek recently discussed ways to reduce violence, protect workers, and empower staff.

Click Here to Read Article: Hospital Workplace Violence is a Public Health Emergency

Click Here to Read Article: Taking a Proactive Approach to Reducing Violence in Healthcare

Feature Article: How Federal Funding Helped Build a Rural Cancer Care Network

December 20, 2024

Feature Article: How Federal Funding Helped Build a Rural Cancer Care Network

This feature article in The Rural Monitor describes how an urban nonprofit organization collaborated with a regional health care system and a rural physician’s office to create a network that brings comprehensive cancer care to residents in rural Georgia.

The Southeastern Rural Cancer Care Network used federal funds administered by FORHP’s Community Based Division through the Rural Health Care Coordination Program.

Click Here to Read Article

New Policy Briefs from National Advisory for Rural Health Policy

December 6, 2024

New Policy Briefs from National Advisory for Rural Health Policy

The National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services is a citizens’ panel of rural health experts that convenes twice each year to examine pressing issues and make recommendations to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.

The most recent reports come from a meeting in Austin, Texas in April of this year, with an in-depth look at How Technology and Innovation Can Help Address Rural Health Care Challenges and Supporting Quality Measurement for Rural Health Clinics.

Click Here for Policy Brief: How Technology and Innovation Can Help Address Rural Health Care Challenges

Click Here for Policy Brief: Supporting Quality Measurement for Rural Health Clinics

Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program Achieves Record-Breaking 90.6% Viral Suppression Rate among Its More than 576,000 Clients

December 3, 2024

Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program Achieves Record-Breaking 90.6% Viral Suppression Rate among Its More than 576,000 Clients

In commemoration of World Aids Day, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), announce a record-breaking 90.6 percent of people with HIV receiving medical care through the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program are virally suppressed, exceeding national viral suppression rates. Viral suppression means people with HIV taking their medication cannot sexually transmit HIV and can live longer and healthier lives.

The new Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program data reflect several key milestones:

  • More than 576,000 people with HIV in the U.S. received life-saving care, medication, and essential support services through the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program representing over 50% of those with diagnosed HIV in the U.S.
  • Nearly 91 percent of Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program clients receiving HIV medical care were virally suppressed in 2023. This is up from 70 percent of clients virally suppressed in 2010 and significantly higher than the 65 percent virally suppressed nationally (which includes people who do not qualify or receive treatment through the Ryan White Program).
  • Nearly 48 percent of Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program clients are aged 50 years and older, demonstrating the program’s success in supporting older clients and its commitment to addressing the unique needs of people with HIV as they age.

Click Here to access the new 2023 Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program By the Numbers data infographic.

Click Here to learn more about HRSA’s Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program

Click Here to read full press release

Peer-Reviewed Publication: Utilization, Quality, and Spending for Pediatric Medicaid Enrollees with Primary Care in Health Centers vs non-Health Centers

December 2, 2024

Peer-Reviewed Publication: Utilization, Quality, and Spending for Pediatric Medicaid Enrollees with Primary Care in Health Centers vs non-Health Centers

Using 2012 Medicaid claims data, HRSA-funded researchers compared cost, use, and quality among health center and non-health center pediatric patients. They found that for health center patients, quality of care was comparable, and total expenditures were lower by $240 per patient. This suggests that delivering primary care pediatric services at a health center may be a more cost-effective health care model.

Click Here to Learn More