ETSU/NORC Rural Health Research Center

Completed Projects

Listed by project completion date. You can also view these projects alphabetically.

2025

• Characteristics of Buprenorphine Therapy Among Commercially-Insured Pregnant and Postpartum Women
  This project analyzed claims from a national commercial insurance database to characterize buprenorphine therapy initiation persistence and adherence among pregnant and postpartum women with opioid use disorder (OUD) and assessed differences in buprenorphine OUD treatment characteristics among rural and urban pregnant/postpartum women.
  Topics: Healthcare access, Maternal health, Substance use and treatment
  
• Examining Differences in Rural and Urban Medicare FFS Beneficiaries' Emergency Department Use Pre-COVID-19 and During COVID-19
  This study described and compared the differences in the utilization of emergency department (ED) services among rural and urban Medicare Fee-For-Service enrollees during 2018-2021. Researchers identified factors associated with differences in ED use, including shifts in volume, primary diagnoses, and admission source, before and since the COVID-19 public health emergency in rural and urban areas.
  Topics: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs), Emergency medical services (EMS) and trauma, Healthcare access, Hospitals and clinics, Medicare, Social determinants of health