Rural health clinics are a critical element of the rural healthcare system with approximately 3800 located throughout the United States, but due to limited reporting requirements relatively little is known about them. We are beginning to collect data on Medicare beneficiaries' experiences with RHCs (NCRHR&PAC's analysis of 2009 claims data) but we still know very little about the experience of Medicaid beneficiaries with RHCs, including the types of conditions treated/managed.

Rural health clinics are seen as key rural providers, but without information on the numbers and types of patient seen, it is difficult to determine likely effects of various policies which affect RHCs, especially changes in Medicare and Medicaid. This two-year project will expand on NCRHR&PAC's work with RHC Medicare claims data to include Medicaid claims data and information extracted from the cost reports of provider-based RHCs.

Products will include multiple Policy Briefs. We will also identify conferences at which to present our findings.

Publications

• A Rural Taxonomy of Population and Health-Resource Characteristics
  Policy Brief
  RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
  Date: 04/2015
  This brief reports the newly developed taxonomy of rural places based on relevant population and health-resource characteristics and discusses how this classification tool can be utilized by policymakers and rural communities.