Defining rural

Publications

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• Classification Change, 1999 to 2003: Office of Management and Budget Metropolitan Areas and Core Based Statistical Areas (CBSAs) Map
  Research center: North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center
  Topic: Defining rural
  Date: 07 / 2003
  Map of the Office of Management and Budget's June 2003 Core Based Statistical Areas (CBSAs) Designations for Counties that were Nonmetropolitan in 1999.
• Core Based Statistical Areas And The Medicare Wage Index
  Research center: North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center
  Topics: Defining rural, Medicare Wage Index
  Report Number: Policy Brief
  Date: 02 / 2004
  Discusses the potential impact of the 2003 Office of Management and Budget (OMB) statistical area standards on the hospital wage index and Medicare payments to rural providers. Additionally, three other possible options for defining labor markets using the 2003 classifications are presented.
• Defining the Term "Frontier Area" for Programs Implemented through the Office for the Advancement of Telehealth
  Author(s): University of North Dakota Center for Rural Health
  Research center: Upper Midwest Rural Health Research Center
  Topics: Defining rural, Frontier health, Telehealth
  Date: 05 / 2006
  An expert panel report to the Office for the Advancement of Telehealth, Health Resources and Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Provides an overview of current frontier definitions and describes the process used to develop a new frontier area definition that could be applied to telehealth programs.
• Definition of Rural in the Context of the MMA Access Standards for Prescription Drug Plans
  Author(s): Keith J. Mueller, Rebecca T. Slifkin, Michael D. Shambaugh-Miller, Randy K. Randolph
  Research centers: North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center, Rural Policy Research Institute (RUPRI) Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
  Topics: Defining rural, Legislation and regulation, Pharmacy and prescription drugs
  Report Number: RUPRI Policy Paper P2004-7, North Carolina Working Paper No. 79
  Date: 09 / 2004
  Access to local pharmacy services is dependent upon the extent to which prescription drug plans offering the Medicare benefit incorporate local rural pharmacies into their provider networks. This will be based on market considerations and on the requirements for local access contained in the MMA and regulation, which in turn will be shaped by how "rural" is defined. This paper assesses how the definition of rural affects the potential impact of the specific access standards in the Proposed Rule to implement Title I of the MMA, and finds that the congressional objective to achieve convenient access to pharmacies (other than mail order) would be more fully realized if the Proposed Rule definition of rural is changed.
• Metropolitan and Micropolitan Core Based Statistical Areas (CBSAs) Map
  Research center: North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center
  Topic: Defining rural
  Date: 07 / 2003
  Map of the June 2003 Office of Management and Budget's metropolitan and micropolitan Core Based Statistical Areas (CBSA )Designations by County.
• RUCA Data: Travel Distance and Time, Remote, Isolated, and Frontier
  Research center: WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
  Topics: Defining rural, Frontier health
  Discusses how Rural Urban Commuting Area (RUCA) codes, travel times and distances can be used together to create needed definitions of remote and isolated areas.
• Rural Definitions for Health Policy and Research
  Author(s): L. Gary Hart, Eric H. Larson, Denise M. Lishner
  Research center: WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
  Topics: Defining rural, Health policy
  Citation: American Journal of Public Health, 95(7), 1149-1155
  Date: 07 / 2005
  Defining "rural" for health policy and research purposes requires researchers and policy analysts to specify which aspects of rurality are most relevant to the topic at hand and then select an appropriate definition. Rural and urban taxonomies often do not discuss important demographic, cultural, and economic differences across rural places-differences that have major implications for policy and research. Factors such as geographic scale and region also must be considered. Several useful rural taxonomies are discussed and compared in this article. Careful attention to the definition of "rural" is required for effectively targeting policy and research aimed at improving the health of rural Americans.