Rural Health
Research Gateway

Rural Health Clinics (RHCs)

Research Products & Journal Articles

Browse the full list of research publications on this topic completed by the Rural Health Research Centers.

Products – Freely accessible products include policy briefs, fact sheets, full reports, chartbooks, and interactive data websites.

Journal Articles – Articles in peer-reviewed journals may require a subscription or affiliation with a subscribing library. For these publications, Gateway lists the article citation, a brief summary, a link to additional information and access to the full-text of the article, if available.

2024

2023

2022

2021

2019

  • Access and Capacity to Care for Medicare Beneficiaries in Rural Health Clinics
    Policy Brief
    University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 12/2019
    Access to timely, high-quality healthcare is essential for health, but rural areas face particular barriers to access, including for primary care. We present findings from an online survey of RHCs describing clinic characteristics related to healthcare access for rural Medicare beneficiaries.
  • Access to Specialty Care for Medicare Beneficiaries in Rural Communities
    Policy Brief
    University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 12/2019
    Access to care is a challenge in many rural communities for both primary care services and specialty care services. We present findings from an online survey of Rural Health Clinics describing access issues for rural Medicare beneficiaries in seeking care from specialty care providers.
  • Rural Health Clinic Costs and Medicare Reimbursement
    Policy Brief
    Maine Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 11/2019
    We used cost report data to examine Rural Health Clinic (RHC) services costs. The findings support the National Advisory Committee on Rural Health & Human Service's conclusion that the cost-based methodology used to determine Medicare reimbursement for RHCs is outdated and RHCs subject to the reimbursement cap are paid less than their costs.
  • Cost-Sharing as a Barrier to Accessing Care at FQHCs and RHCs for Rural Medicare Beneficiaries
    North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center
    Date: 06/2019
    The purpose of this study is to investigate cost barriers to accessing care at Federally Qualified Health Centers and Rural Health Clinics for the rural Medicare population.
  • Identification of High-Need Rural Counties to Assist in Resource Location Planning
    Policy Brief
    Rural and Minority Health Research Center
    Date: 05/2019
    To identify high-need, low-resource locations, we began by identifying counties that lacked safety-net providers. For the purposes of this analysis, we identified Medicare-certified Rural Health Clinics (RHCs), Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs).
  • Identification of High-Need Rural Counties to Assist in Resource Location Planning for Primary Care
    Policy Brief
    Rural and Minority Health Research Center
    Date: 05/2019
    We examined simultaneously areas with poor health outcomes and limited access to primary care safety net settings. The combination of facility availability with health status indicators may help with identifying those areas in rural America that are in the greatest need of additional primary care resources.
  • Facility-Based Ambulatory Care Provided to Rural Medicare Beneficiaries in 2014
    Chartbook
    North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center
    Date: 03/2019
    This chartbook uses available Medicare claims data to describe facility-based (i.e., excludes private practitioners) ambulatory care provided to rural Medicare beneficiaries and includes claims, costs, and common diagnoses.

2018

2017

2016

  • Medicare Accountable Care Organizations: Beneficiary Assignment Update
    Policy Brief
    RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
    Date: 06/2016
    This brief updates Brief No. 2014-3 and explains changes in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Accountable Care Organization regulations issued in June 2015 pertaining to beneficiary assignment for Medicare Shared Savings Program ACOs. Understanding ACO beneficiary assignment policies is dire in managing ACO providers and beneficiaries.
  • Characteristics of Medicaid Beneficiaries Who Use Rural Health Clinics
    Policy Brief
    North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center
    Date: 05/2016
    The RHC role varies by state. While we don't have an understanding of what this looks like for each state, we can see that RHCs are an important provider for Medicaid beneficiaries. One of the most important differences is by age groups. All states tend to cater RHC services toward children, with a minimum of 39% of the RHC population < 18.
  • Identifying Rural Health Clinics in Medicaid Data
    Policy Brief
    North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center
    Date: 05/2016
    Identifying Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) in Medicaid claims across states is challenging, but this brief recommends methods for identifying the majority of these claims in four states.
  • Pilot Testing a Rural Health Clinic Quality Measurement Reporting System
    Policy Brief
    Maine Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 02/2016
    More than 4,000 Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) serve the primary care needs of rural communities. Unfortunately, the Rural Health Clinic Program is plagued by a lack of data participating clinics. This reports on the results with a focus on assessing the feasibility and utility of the reporting system and quality measures for the participating RHCs.

2015

2014

2013

2012

2010

  • Are Rural Health Clinics Part of the Rural Safety Net?
    Policy Brief
    Maine Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 09/2010
    This policy brief examines whether rural health clinics are part of the rural safety net.
  • Safety Net Activities of Independent Rural Health Clinics
    Maine Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 09/2010
    Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) provide primary care services to rural residents of 45 states. Since RHCs are in underserved rural areas and serve vulnerable populations, many consider them safety net providers. In this paper, we explore whether, and to what extent, independent RHCs are serving a safety net role or have the capacity to do so.
  • Encouraging Rural Health Clinics to Provide Mental Health Services: What Are the Options?
    Maine Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 05/2010
    This study examined changes in the delivery of mental health services by rural health clinics (RHCs), their operational characteristics, barriers to the development of services, and policy options to encourage more RHCs to deliver mental health services.
  • The Provision of Mental Health Services by Rural Health Clinics
    Maine Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 05/2010
    This study examined changes in the delivery of mental health services by rural health clinics (RHCs), their operational characteristics, barriers to the development of services, and policy options to encourage more RHCs to deliver mental health services.

2009

2003

  • The Characteristics and Roles of Rural Health Clinics in the United States: A Chartbook
    Chartbook
    Maine Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 01/2003
    This chartbook reports on a rural health clinics (RHCs) survey. Information was collected on many topics, including their characteristics/operations; their location relative to the underservice problems/rural access needs; their safety net functions; staffing, recruitment, and financial issues; and involvement in training healthcare professionals.

2002

2000