Health Panel Project: Providing an Objective Assessment of the Implications of Health Reform for Rural People, Places and Health Care Providers

Funder:	Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Research center:	Rural Policy Analysis and Applications Phone: 573.882.0316
Lead researcher:	Brian Dabson
Contact:	Brian Dabson, brian@rupri.org
Project funded:	September 2004
Project completed:	July 2011
Topics:	Health care financing Health policy

The Panel has been commenting on the likely impact of health reform on rural health care delivery and finance for the past two years. Documents have been published that provide a rural perspective on the "white papers" published by the Senate Committee on Finance; presentations have been made to Senate and House staff and the power point made available; and comments about specific legislation have been shared. Most recently the Panel published a report of the impact of health reform on coverage of rural residents currently uninsured.

Publications

• Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010: Impacts on Rural People, Places, and Providers: A First Look
  Author(s): Andrew F. Coburn, Jennifer P. Lundblad, A. Clinton MacKinney, Timothy D. McBride, Keith J. Mueller
  Date: 09 / 2010
  Summarizes six issue areas of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and discusses implications for access to services and improving the health status of rural residents. These issue areas are: health insurance coverage; Medicare and Medicaid payment; quality, financing, and delivery system reform; public health; healthcare workforce; and long-term care.
• Place-based Policies and Public Health: The Road to Healthy Rural People and Places
  Author(s): Keith J. Mueller, A. Clinton MacKinney, Mario Gutierrez, Jocelyn Richgels
  Date: 03 / 2011
  Identifies how the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA) can influence the determinants of health and contribute to the prosperity, equity, sustainability, and livability of rural places.
• Securing High Quality Health Care in Rural America: The Impetus for Change in the Affordable Care Act
  Author(s): A. Clinton MacKinney, Jennifer P. Lundblad, Andrew F. Coburn, Timothy D. McBride, Keith J. Mueller
  Date: 12 / 2010
  The ACA calls for the development of a National Health Care Quality Strategy and Plan (National Quality Strategy) that will affect health care that is delivered to millions of Americans who live in rural areas and thousands of health care providers who care for them.