Transportation

Completed Projects

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

Medicare Advantage Plan Growth in Rural America: Opportunities for Beneficiaries?
County Medicare Advantage enrollment data and plan characteristic data were used to create a model accounting for the availability of plans offering benefits addressing social determinants of health. Analyses compared rural and urban counties, and examined county characteristics to explore potential equitable opportunities for rural beneficiaries because of geography and other factors.
Research center: RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
Topics: Medicare, Medicare Advantage (MA), Medicare Part D, Social determinants of health, Telehealth, Transportation

Ambulance Deserts: Addressing Geographic Disparities in the Provision of Ambulance Services
This two-year study aimed to identify geographic disparities in accessing ambulance services by building a database of ambulance service locations in year one and identifying and creating maps of ambulance deserts within each of the states in year two.
Research center: Maine Rural Health Research Center
Topics: Emergency medical services (EMS) and trauma, Healthcare access, Rural statistics and demographics, Transportation

Variations in Travel Burdens Associated with Access to Care Between Rural and Urban Residents
This project focused on geographic access to medical and dental care, recognizing that travel time and distances can hinder individuals from obtaining necessary care. The study explored the travel time and distances to care for specific sub-populations and in specific geographic settings, particularly urban versus rural residence and region.
Research center: Southwest Rural Health Research Center
Topics: Health services, Healthcare access, Transportation

Exploring the Impact of Rural Hospital Closures on Use of Emergency Medical Services
Using a unique national database, The Enterprise Data Trust, we will explore pre- and post-closure hospital emergency department use with specific emphasis on those who used public emergency medical transportation, testing for significant changes. This study will be the first to look at the impacts of rural hospital closure at the patient level.
Research center: Rural and Underserved Health Research Center
Topics: Emergency medical services (EMS) and trauma, Health disparities and health equity, Health services, Transportation
Paving the Way: Addressing Transportation as a Social Determinant of Health for Rural Residents
This project will use a mixed-methods design to examine ways in which transportation operates as a social determinant of health for vulnerable rural residents, and to identify exemplar transportation programs that are successfully improving health and well-being of those residents.
Research center: University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center
Topics: Aging, Health services, Networking and collaboration, Transportation

Rural Environmental Hazards Inventory and Associated Health Outcomes
This study will create a national inventory of potential environmental hazards for rural populations. Population health outcomes such as CDC mortality statistics will be examined to determine if poor health outcomes are related to greater exposures to potential hazards.
Research center: West Virginia Rural Health Research Center
Topics: Environmental and agricultural health, Health promotion and disease prevention, Public health, Transportation
Turnover Costs in Rural Emergency Medical Services
Costs associated with providing Emergency Medical Services (EMS) transportation in rural areas are much higher than in urban communities. This study will measure the annual rate of turnover among rural EMS systems, identify costs associated with turnover, and create a budgeting tool for calculating the costs of turnover.
Research center: FORHP-funded Individual Grantees
Topics: Emergency medical services (EMS) and trauma, Transportation, Workforce

Developing and Using a Classification Schema to Identify Sentinel Communities in the U.S.
This project will enable rural researchers to track the effect of current policies on rural communities, anticipate the effect of proposed policies, and demonstrate policy effects that link one sector to another.
Research center: RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
Topics: Public health, Transportation

Mode of Travel and Actual Distance Traveled for Medical or Dental Care by Rural Residents
This project examined the influence of race and rural isolation on distance traveled to receive medical or dental care, and how the potential interaction of these factors might exacerbate disparities in access to care.
Research center: Rural and Minority Health Research Center
Topics: Health disparities and health equity, Health services, Minority health, Oral health, Transportation

Access to Health Care for Young Rural Medicaid Beneficiaries
This study examined access to health care among rural children ages 0-17 who are enrolled in some type of Medicaid managed care program, and will compare this access across types of programs and, within program type, to that of urban beneficiaries.
Research center: North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center
Topics: Children and adolescents, Health services, Medicaid and CHIP, Oral health, Transportation

State Child Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP) and Access to Medical Transportation Program Services
This project created a typology of S-CHIP models and the interface between each and the existing Medical Transportation Program (MTP) available to Medicaid recipients in select states. In addition, the project compared rural and non-rural variances in patterns of utilization of MTP service in S-CHIP programs, identified the strengths and weaknesses of the various approaches utilized by the different state MTP models, and compared the performance of the various state models in assuring access to covered medical services and identified barriers to S-CHIP services.
Research center: Southwest Rural Health Research Center
Topics: Children and adolescents, Medicaid and CHIP, Transportation