Policy Analyses of Rural Issues Related to Health Care Reform

Funder:	Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Research center:	WWAMI Rural Health Research Center Phone: 206.685.0402
Lead researcher:	Mark Doescher, MD, MSPH
Contact:	Mark Doescher, MD, MSPH, 206.616.9207, mdoesche@u.washington.edu
Project funded:	September 2009
Project completed:	August 2010
Topics:	Health policy Health services

Statement of the Problem: Health care reform (HCR) provides an opportunity to improve health care access and quality for rural Americans. Because HCR is evolving quickly, there is need to understand the rural implications of proposed and newly-enacted legislation in "real time".

Goal: In consultation with ORHP, other RHRCs and rural health care experts, this project will conduct a range of HCR-related policy analyses, concentrating on the rural health care workforce, access to care, and health care quality.

Methods: This project will employ mixed methods techniques synthesizing findings from review of the scientific literature, qualitative and quantitative assessment. The methodology used for each "rapid turnaround" study will reflect the needs of the particular project. Potential topics may include, but are not limited to, the production of rural-oriented Policy Briefs on: 1) International Medical Graduates; 2) Funding for Graduate Medical Education; 3) Title VII and Title VIII funding; 4) Loan Repayment Programs; 5) Federally-qualified Health Centers; 6) Workforce Projections; and 7) Health Professional Shortage Areas/Persistent Poverty Counties and Health-Care Sensitive Health Outcomes.

Publications

• Persistent Primary Care Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) and Health Care Access in Rural America (Policy Brief)
  Author(s): Mark P. Doescher, Meredith A. Fordyce, Susan M. Skillman, J. Elizabeth Jackson, Roger A. Rosenblatt
  Date: 09 / 2009
  Resources are needed to increase and sustain the number of primary care providers and reduce financial barriers to care in all rural primary care HPSAs.