WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
Completed Projects
Access to Cancer Services for Rural Colorectal Cancer Medicare Patients: A Multi-State Study
This study examined a comprehensive database to quantify the distance and access to four types of cancer services in a sample of rural, Medicare-insured, CRC patients of different racial and ethnic groups, and will inform future work designed to understand discrepancies in cancer service use by the rural elderly in different racial and ethnic groups.
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topics:
Aging,
Chronic diseases and conditions,
Health services,
Medicare,
Minority health
Access to Physician Care for the Rural Medicare Elderly
This study described where Medicare beneficiaries in five states obtain their health care, how far they travel for that care, and the mix of physician specialties from which they obtain ambulatory care. Special attention was paid to beneficiaries who have dual Medicare-Medicaid status, who reside in poorer income areas, and who live in designated Health Professional Shortage Areas.
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topics:
Aging,
Chronic diseases and conditions,
Health services,
Medicare,
Physicians,
Poverty
Ambulatory Care and the Rural Elderly
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topics:
Aging,
Chronic diseases and conditions,
Health services
Are Rural Perinatal Care Systems Deregionalizing?
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topics:
Children,
Health services,
Maternal and child health
Availability of Specialty Health Care for Rural American Indians and Alaska Natives
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topics:
American Indians and Alaska Natives,
Health services,
Minority health
Breast, Cervical, Colorectal, and Prostate Cancer Screening in Rural America: Does Proximity to a Metropolitan Area Matter?
The study compared cancer screening rates among various levels of rural versus urban Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System respondents and among white respondents versus those from racial/ethnic minority groups.
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topics:
Health disparities,
Health promotion and disease prevention,
Minority health
Burden of Asthma Among Rural Residents: A National Study
This study uses data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) to examine the prevalence of and trends in asthma—among rural residents by type of geographic location and by key risk factors.
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topics:
Chronic diseases and conditions,
Health disparities,
Minority health,
Rural statistics and demographics
Changes in U.S. Rural Perinatal and Infant Health Care During the Last Decade
This study examined changes in rates of adverse birth outcomes and prenatal care among rural Americans of different racial and ethnic groups during two time periods. The study used national data from the Linked Birth Death Data Sets to assess differences in low birth weight, neonatal death, post neonatal mortality and inadequate prenatal care.
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topics:
Children,
Health disparities,
Maternal and child health
Chartbook of Family Practice Graduate Medical Education Programs in Rural America
Little is known about the volume, location, and types of rural training for family physicians. This project will produce a chartbook that makes previously unreported information about family physician residency directors more fully available to medical educators and other policymakers.
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topics:
Physicians,
Workforce
Distribution and Retention of General Surgeons in Rural Areas of the U.S.
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topics:
Health services,
Physicians,
Workforce
Do Community Health Centers Substitute for or Attract Private Rural Physicians?
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topics:
Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs),
Physicians
Evaluation of Washington State Shortage Designations
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topic:
Workforce
Health Care for the Uninsured: How Do the Uninsured Use the Rural Safety Net?
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topic:
Health insurance and the uninsured
In What Types of Communities Do Rural Women Physicians Practice?
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topics:
Physicians,
Women,
Workforce
Is Rural Residency Training of Family Physicians an Endangered Species? An Interim Follow-up to the 1999 National BBA Study
This study examined the proportion of rural-based family medicine residencies that have ceased operations since 2000, the residency-match experiences of the surviving programs, the proportion of U.S. medical school graduates and international medical graduates, major issues confronting these rural residencies, and likely impacts of these changes on the preparation of future family physicians for rural America.
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topics:
International Medical Graduates (IMGs),
Physicians,
Workforce
Long Term Trends in Characteristics of the Rural Nurse Workforce: A National Health Workforce Study
This national study characterizes changes in the demographic, education and practice characteristics of registered nurses (RNs) in rural and urban areas from 1980 to 2004. This study provides important information for projecting future trends in rural RN supply.
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topics:
Mid-level practitioners,
Nurses,
Workforce
Medicare Bonus Payments for Physician Care in Health Professional Shortage Areas
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topics:
Health care financing,
Medicare,
Physicians
National Changes in Physician Supply
This project describes the supply of allopathic and osteopathic physicians in rural and urban areas of the US. Study results will provide a current picture of rural physician supply and its variation by state and by region.
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topics:
International Medical Graduates (IMGs),
Physicians,
Workforce
National Rural General Surgeon Project
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topics:
Health services,
Physicians,
Workforce
National Rural Hospital Flexibility Program Tracking Project
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topic:
Critical Access Hospitals and Rural Hospital Flexibility Program
National Trends in the Perinatal and Infant Health Care of Rural and Urban American Indians (AIs) and Alaska Natives (ANs)
This project examined and compared trends in prenatal care and mortality rates of rural and urban AI/AN and non-AI/AN populations in order to determine the level of disparity between these populations and their temporal changes.
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topics:
American Indians and Alaska Natives,
Children,
Health disparities,
Maternal and child health,
Minority health
Physician Residency Rural Training Baseline Study
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topics:
Physicians,
Workforce
Quality of Care for Acute Myocardial Infarction Patients in U.S. Rural Hospitals
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topics:
Hospitals and clinics,
Quality
Rural Dentistry: Availability, Practice, and Access
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topics:
Dental health,
Workforce
Rural Health Center Expansion and Recruitment Survey
This collaborative project between WWAMI and the South Carolina Rural Health Research Centers examined and described the current staffing needs of rural health centers (HC), ascertained the staffing, recruitment, and retention issues that HC CEOs regard as most critical; distinguish edhow issues differ between CEOs contemplating development of expansion sites versus those who are not; and described how these findings correlate with the literature and current national supply projections for the categories of health professions needed by the HCs.
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topics:
Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs),
Rural Health Clinics (RHCs),
Workforce
Rural-Urban Commuting Area (RUCA) Development Project: Demographic Description and Frontier Enhancement
This project augments the initial RUCA work by producing and describing the base 1998 demography of the RUCA code areas, creating quality state maps of the RUCA codes, and making this information and the codes easily available on the Web.
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topics:
Defining rural,
Frontier health
State Rural Health Workforce Monograph
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topics:
Physicians,
Workforce
The Rural/Urban Practice Location Patterns of Women Medical School Graduates
While women are becoming an increasingly large percentage of the graduates of medical schools, they are much less likely to locate their practices in rural towns. This study involved a survey including questions about where the residents preferred to locate and how much they thought they would be practicing in the future.
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topics:
Physicians,
Women,
Workforce
Validation of Commuting Area Designations for the Elderly
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topics:
Aging,
Defining rural
Which Training Programs Produce Rural Physicians? A National Health Workforce Study
This national study is using comprehensive, longitudinal data on medical schools and residency location to determine the extent to which the nation's medical schools and residency programs vary in their production of rural physicians by specialty.
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topics:
Physicians,
Workforce
