Rural Health Research Gateway

🚨Rural Health Research Alert🚨 "Medicare Advantage Enrollment Update 2024" This policy brief continues the RUPRI Center's annual update of Medicare Advantage (MA) enrollment including the changes in enrollment in types of MA plans, and health policy changes that may have had an impact. Key Findings: • MA enrollment now exceeds 50 percent of eligible beneficiaries (enrolled in both Part A and Part B) in metropolitan counties (56.1 percent); at the current rate of growth, nonmetropolitan enrollment is expected to exceed 50 percent (currently 48.1 percent) in 2025. • While the annual rate of MA growth continues to exceed the rate of growth in total Medicare eligible beneficiaries, it has moderated somewhat from previous years. • Much of the growth in nonmetropolitan MA enrollment has been in plans using local preferred provider organizations, accounting for a majority of MA enrollees in nonmetropolitan counties since 2022. View and subscribe: https://ow.ly/WlJv50UBe4U RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis #ruralhealth

Rural counties have a higher proportion of people with medical debt in collections than urban counties (15.7% vs 14.8%), and this difference is associated with lower average household incomes in rural counties in general. https://ow.ly/7Rfn50Uyqhh University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center #ruralhealth

The GRACE Youth and Family Center for Everyone brings free programming to children and teenagers in a county with one of the highest drug overdose rates in the state. https://ow.ly/WghI50UylJO Rural Health Information Hub #ruralhealth

The number of behavioral health clinicians per 100,000 population in rural counties ranged from 27% (psychiatrists) to 70% (psychiatric nurse practitioners) of urban areas. https://ow.ly/V4Yb50Uyq3J WWAMI Rural Health Research Center #ruralhealth

The counties with an REH had the highest median rates of poverty (16.3%), uninsured (19.4%), and people in poor or fair health (25.8%). https://ow.ly/5WZW50Uyq0h #ruralhealth #REH

“Just because the obstetrics units close, doesn’t mean those communities stop having babies,” said Katy Kozhimannil, co-director of the University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center. “It just means they have to go farther and face more challenges in having a successful delivery.” https://ow.ly/4C3Y50Uylvq The Daily Yonder #ruralhealth

This recently updated topic guide provides an overview of home health services in rural areas, including information on the type and availability of home health services for rural populations. https://ow.ly/8zk850Uylif Rural Health Information Hub #ruralhealth #HomeHealth

🚨Rural Health Research Alert🚨 "Midwifery Care at Rural Hospitals in Montana and California" As of 2019, over one-third of rural U.S. communities had no obstetrician/gynecologists or family physicians trained in obstetrics. In 2022, 60 percent of rural U.S. counties had no hospital-based maternity unit. Despite the current circumstances, there is hope in the projected growth of the midwifery care field and an increasing demand for the midwifery model of care among birthing people. These case studies describe how two hospitals that serve rural U.S. communities incorporate midwifery care into their services. Highlights: • Bozeman Health (a mid-size, regional health care hub in rural Montana) and Plumas District Hospital (a small, remote Critical Access Hospital in rural California) recruited midwives in response to community demand for midwifery care. • At Bozeman Health, four staff midwives provide perinatal care and attend births using a group-based model, in addition to providing primary care and women's health care services across the life course. • At Plumas District Hospital, one staff midwife provides prenatal and postpartum care, leads childbirth classes, provides primary care and women's health care services, and responds to immediate patient concerns through a 24/7 Mother-Baby phone line. • Both hospitals emphasized that the success of their midwifery programs is due to the autonomy granted to midwives, including the ability to practice without restrictive supervision agreements, prescribe medications, and make independent clinical decisions. Hospitals attributed this autonomy to the midwifery practice policies in their respective states as well as the support of collaborating physicians. View and subscribe: https://ow.ly/xf4t50UxWZ0 University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center #ruralhealth

“Rural hospitals not only started with fewer obstetric services but also experienced more severe losses over time, leaving rural residents with fewer options and longer distances to travel—often at times when patients are in urgent need of timely care,” said Katy Kozhimannil. https://ow.ly/sQZt50Ux0LA University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center #ruralhealth

"Between 2018 and 2023, retail pharmacies in rural communities decreased by nearly 6%, a study from the RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis found. It’s a nationwide trend in rural and urban areas: pharmacies in urban areas declined by 3.4% over the same time." https://ow.ly/euIo50Ux0q4 #ruralhealth