Rural Health Research Gateway – The Low-Volume Hospital Adjustment Before and During COVID-19

August 9, 2024

Rural Health Research Gateway – The Low-Volume Hospital Adjustment Before and During COVID-19

This brief from the North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center provides an update to a 2016 analysis of the profitability of low-volume rural Prospective Payment System hospitals under the Affordable Care Act’s qualifying criteria.

The Low-Volume Hospital (LVH) adjustment is for hospitals with fewer than 3,800 patient discharges in the previous year that are more than 15 miles from the nearest Inpatient Prospective Payment System acute care hospital.

Qualifying hospitals receive a payment adjustment up to an additional 25% for every Medicare patient discharge.

Click Here to Read the Brief

Hospital Services Research Brief

July 25, 2024

Hospital Services Research Brief

Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) and screening patients for Health-Related Social Needs (HRSN) is conducted by most hospitals and medical centers in the United States.

The article published by Health Services Research states that many hospitals do have programs or strategies to address HRSN and/or SDOH, but it remains unclear how these relate to use of data captured through the screening process.

Collection of social needs data may help inform the development of programs to strategies to address HRSN and SDOH. This, in turn, can enable providers to screen for these needs and use the data in the near term for care delivery and in the long term to address community and population needs.

Read the Brief

Rural Health Research on Rural Hospital Profitability from 2018 to 2023

June 27, 2024

Rural Health Research on Rural Hospital Profitability from 2018 to 2023

Profitability of rural hospitals in 2020-21 and 2021-22 was influenced by the Public Health Emergency (PHE) funding distributed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Three briefs from the North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis center examine hospital profitability from 2018 to 2023, taking PHE funding into account.

Rural Health Research: Understanding the Rise of Ransomware Attacks on Rural Hospitals

June 24, 2024

Rural Health Research: Understanding the Rise of Ransomware Attacks on Rural Hospitals

Among the key findings in this brief from the University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center:

Rural hospitals experienced an increasing number of ransomware attacks from 2016 to 2021.
From 2016 to 2021, 43 rural hospitals across 22 states experienced a ransomware attack.
Ransomware attacks afflicted all types of rural hospitals, including:

Critical Access Hospitals (N=9)
Sole Community Hospitals (N=13)
Rural Referral Centers (N=3)
Hospitals paid under Medicare’s Inpatient Prospective Payment System (N=18).

Eighty-four percent of ransomware attacks on rural hospitals resulted in operational disruptions. Common disruptions included electronic system downtime (81%), delays or cancellations in scheduled care (42%), and ambulance diversion (33%). Operational disruptions were similar in rural and urban hospital settings.

Click Here to Read Research Alert

A Look at the Latest Alcohol Death Data and Change Over the Last Decade

May 31, 2024

A Look at the Latest Alcohol Death Data and Change Over the Last Decade

The health policy nonprofit, KFF, used data from CDC WONDER to examine trends in death caused by alcohol form 2012 – 2022.

The report finds that deaths were highest among people aged 45 to 64, males, people living in rural areas, and American Indian/Alaska native people.

Rural areas experienced faster growth in alcohol deaths, driven by sharp rises during the pandemic.

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Safety of Outpatient Health Care

May 17, 2024

Safety of Outpatient Health Care

Despite considerable emphasis on delivering safe care, substantial patient harm occurs. Although most care occurs in outpatient settings, research into adverse events (AE) in this setting remains sparse in comparison to acute care.

Seven percent had at least one AE, most commonly adverse drug events, and 23% were potentially preventable. Most AE originated from care in the physician’s office.

The conclusion was made that outpatient harm was relatively common and often serious. Adverse drug events were most frequent. Rates were higher among older adults. Interventions to curtail outpatient harm are urgently needed.

For more information about this study, go to the National Library of Medicine.

Rural Health Research Gateway – Research Recap: LGBTQ+ Health: Rural vs Urban Inequities

April 25, 2024

Rural Health Research Gateway – Research Recap: LGBTQ+ Health: Rural vs Urban Inequities

From 2019-2020, rural lesbian, gay, and bisexual adults were more likely to report poor/fair self-rated health than rural heterosexual adults.

This Recap summarizes several policy briefs from the University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center examining self-rated health, chronic conditions, mental health, and social and emotional support systems for LGBTQ+ populations.

Click Here to View Research Recap

New Research: Health Centers and Patient Support Services

March 11, 2024

New Research: Health Centers and Patient Support Services

A recent Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) funded study shows that health centers with the highest use of patient support services, such as transportation, score higher than other health centers on 90% of clinical quality process measures (e.g., cervical cancer screening, childhood immunization status).

This research suggests that health-related social services that health centers provide make a significant positive impact on clinical health outcomes.

Read the published article and other articles about high-quality care in health center in HRSA’s Health Center Library

Rural Health Research – A Comparison of 2017 – 2019 Uncompensated Care of Rural and Urban Hospitals by Net Patient Revenue, System Affiliation and Ownership

February 2, 2024

Rural Health Research – A Comparison of 2017 – 2019 Uncompensated Care of Rural and Urban Hospitals by Net Patient Revenue, System Affiliation and Ownership

Researchers at the North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center use 2017 – 2019 Medicare Cost Report data to study the association of uncompensated care with:

Net patient revenue
System affiliation
Ownership among Critical Access Hospitals
Rural Prospective Payment System (PPS) hospitals
Urban PPS hospitals

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Research Study at Washington University Seeks Participants for an Interview!

June 21, 2023

Research Study at Washington University Seeks Participants for an Interview!

A research study at Washington University seeks participants for an interview. The purpose of the study is to learn what pharmacy customers think about distributing kits at their pharmacy that can find colon cancer.

Participants will take part in a 1-hour interview over Zoom.

Do I Qualify:

A person might qualify if they:

Are 44 to 85 years old
Haven’t had colon cancer (& no family history)
Live in a rural Missouri county
Have been a customer at their local pharmacy

Participants will be offered a gift card for their time.

Email: Sienna.ruiz@wustl.edu

Call: (314) 286-2837

Category: Research