WWAMI Rural Health Research Center

Current Projects

• Access to and Provision of Child and Youth Behavioral Health Services in the Rural and Urban U.S.
  The need for behavioral health treatment for youth has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Little is known about the availability of youth behavioral health providers in rural areas. This study will investigate who provides behavioral health services to youth, how the workforce is distributed, and gaps in service availability.
  Topics: Allied health professionals, Children and adolescents, Health services, Healthcare access, Mental and behavioral health, Nurses and nurse practitioners, Pharmacy and prescription drugs, Physician assistants, Physicians, Substance use and treatment, Workforce
  
• Assessing Access to Medication Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder in Rural Communities Influenced by the Rural Communities Opioid Response Program (RCORP)
  This project will use national prescription claims data to compare access to buprenorphine treatment for opioid use disorder in rural counties with and without Rural Communities Opioid Response Program (RCORP) funding and urban counties. An accurate understanding of access to buprenorphine treatment is essential for determining the influence of RCORP funding on a critical strategy for curbing the opioid epidemic.
  Topics: Health services, Healthcare access, Mental and behavioral health, Pharmacy and prescription drugs, Substance use and treatment, Workforce
  
• Availability, Care Practices, and Quality of Hospice Providers Serving Rural versus Urban Communities
  This project will examine differences in availability of hospice care in rural versus urban communities as well as provider-level quality and care practices by rural-urban status of hospices. Findings will highlight potential rural-urban disparities in hospice care that can be used to inform future Medicare policy.
  Topics: Aging, Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), Health services, Healthcare access, Hospice and palliative care, Medicare, Quality
  
• Barriers and Facilitators to Providing Rural Clinical Training for Health Professions Students and Residents
  Scarce rural clinical training sites are the top barrier preventing medical schools, residencies, and nurse practitioner and physician assistant education programs, among other health professional training programs, from providing rural training to their students. This study aims to describe the barriers to offering rural clinical training and the potential solutions for establishing and sustaining interdisciplinary rural clinical training.
  Topics: Allied health professionals, Healthcare access, Nurses and nurse practitioners, Physician assistants, Physicians, Workforce
  
• Comparing Utilization and Quality of Home Health Care Between Medicare Fee-for-Service and Medicare Advantage Beneficiaries by Rural-Urban Status
  This project examines differences in home health use and quality by enrollment in Medicare Fee-for-Service (FFS) versus Medicare Advantage (MA) plans. Findings will include information on rural-urban and intra-rural variation in home health care to inform policies on access, payment, and quality for Medicare FFS and MA plans.
  Topics: Aging, Allied health professionals, Health services, Healthcare access, Healthcare financing, Home health, Medicare, Medicare Advantage (MA), Post-acute care, Quality
  
• Dentist Supply, Dental Care Utilization, and Oral Health Among Rural and Urban U.S. Residents: Exploring Changes in the Past 15 Years
  This project will describe the national supply of the rural and urban dental workforce and investigate whether rural adults, compared to urban adults, report lower dental care utilization, higher prevalence of dental disease or both. This study will also look at whether disparities in oral health care and supply have changed over the past 15 years.
  Topics: Allied health professionals, Health services, Healthcare access, Oral health, Workforce
  
• Identifying Characteristics Associated With Rural and Urban Medicare Beneficiaries Bypassing Local Skilled Nursing Facilities for Post-Acute Care
  This project will compare how often rural versus urban beneficiaries receive post-acute care from skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) outside of their local communities, and which patient, provider, and community characteristics are associated with bypass of local SNFs, informing policies to support SNFs in rural communities.
  Topics: Aging, Healthcare access, Long-term care, Medicare, Post-acute care
  
• Methamphetamine Use, Mental Health Comorbidities, and Treatment in Rural and Urban Areas
  This study will investigate methamphetamine (meth) use in rural versus urban areas - including meth use in combination with opioids and alcohol, mental health comorbidities, and perceived need for and receipt of treatment by meth users and those with meth use disorder - to identify hotspots for targeting of prevention and treatment resources.
  Topics: Mental and behavioral health, Substance use and treatment
  
• Rural and Urban Medical School Programs that Demonstrate a Commitment to Producing Rural Physicians
  Studies of individual medical schools have identified characteristics associated with working in rural areas, but little is known about which organizational factors are the most significant predictors of rural practice. This project will examine characteristics of medical schools' missions and organizational commitments to promote physician practice in rural communities.
  Topics: Health services, Healthcare access, Physicians, Workforce
  
• Specialist Physicians in the Rural and Urban U.S.: Supply, Distribution, and Access
  This project will describe the geographic distribution (rural/urban, regional, and intra-rural) of specialist physicians who care for patients experiencing conditions that account for the top four leading causes of rural mortality. It will also explore how patients in rural communities that lack these specialists obtain needed care.
  Topics: Cancer, Care management, Chronic diseases and conditions, Frontier health, Health services, Healthcare access, Physicians, Social determinants of health, Telehealth, Workforce
  
• The Emerging Landscape of Rural Family Medicine Residency Training: Defining Models and Assessing Their Value
  Rural residency training options for family physicians are growing, as is the evidence for rural training in promoting rural practice choice. This study aims to use a new classification of six residency program types to describe and quantify programs and positions by type and compare relative effectiveness in producing rural physicians.
  Topics: Health services, Healthcare access, Physicians, Workforce
  
• The Impact of Rural Surgery Training on General Surgeon Supply in Rural Communities
  A growing number of general surgery programs offer rural training that aims to address the dwindling supply of rural surgeons. This study aims to describe program models for providing rural general surgery training; quantify the availability of programs; and compare the models' effectiveness in producing rural surgeons.
  Topics: Health services, Healthcare access, Physicians, Workforce
  
• The Nursing Home and Skilled Nursing Facility Workforce in the Rural and Urban U.S.
  This project will describe the rural and urban distribution of nursing and non-nursing staff in U.S. long-term care facilities and investigate how the workforce varies by facility and community characteristics.
  Topics: Aging, Healthcare access, Long-term care, Workforce
  
• Treatment, Provider, and Cost Differences for Rural and Urban Patients with Opioid Use Disorder Across the U.S.
  This study describes and compares the treatment that rural and urban patients with opioid use disorder (OUD) receive, documenting the workforce providing care, distance that patients travel to receive care, and cost of care. Findings will inform policies to ensure that rural patients with OUD have access to care from local healthcare providers.
  Topics: Health services, Healthcare access, Healthcare financing, Mental and behavioral health, Nurses and nurse practitioners, Pharmacy and prescription drugs, Physician assistants, Physicians, Substance use and treatment, Telehealth
  
• Treatment, Provider, and Cost Differences for Rural and Urban Patients with Opioid Use Disorder and Medicaid Insurance Across the U.S.
  This project will analyze Medicaid claims data to compare the treatment that rural and urban patients with opioid use disorder receive, documenting the workforce providing care, the distance that patients travel to receive care, and the cost of care. Findings from this study can be used to improve policies regarding opioid use disorder treatment.
  Topics: Health services, Healthcare access, Healthcare financing, Legislation and regulation, Medicaid and CHIP, Mental and behavioral health, Nurses and nurse practitioners, Pharmacy and prescription drugs, Physician assistants, Physicians, Substance use and treatment, Telehealth, Workforce