ETSU/NORC Rural Health Research Center

Research Products & Journal Articles

Browse the full list of research publications from this Rural Health Research Center.

Products – Freely accessible products include policy briefs, fact sheets, full reports, chartbooks, and interactive data websites.

Journal Articles – Articles in peer-reviewed journals may require a subscription or affiliation with a subscribing library. For these publications, Gateway lists the article citation, a brief summary, a link to additional information and access to the full-text of the article, if available.

2025

Rural and Urban Differences in Suicide in the United States, 2018-2021
Policy Brief
Date: 05/2025
Suicide remains a significant cause of mortality in the United States. This policy brief examines state-level differences in suicide rates by demographics and geography, with a focus on rural and urban areas from 2018 to 2021. The study employs a cross-sectional, retrospective design using secondary data sources.
Are HCC Risk Scores a Reliable Health Status Indicator Across Rural and Urban Areas?
Policy Brief
Date: 04/2025
This brief explores differences in CMS Hierarchical Condition Category (HCC) risk scores between rural and urban Medicare beneficiaries, revealing lower scores for rural populations despite higher chronic disease prevalence. The brief highlights HCC score limitations and suggests improvements and alternatives for accurate health representation.
Examining Differences in Rural and Urban Medicare FFS Beneficiaries' Emergency Department Use Before and During Covid
Policy Brief
Date: 01/2025
The brief examines changes in emergency department (ED) use among rural and urban Medicare Fee-for-Service (FFS) beneficiaries during the COVID-19 pandemic. Key findings included a moderate increase in rural ED use, higher mortality and inpatient admissions, and decreased use among dual-eligible beneficiaries.

2023

State Priorities and Needs: The Role of Block Grants
Journal Article
Date: 11/2023
This study looks at state-level funding allocations for 5 federal block grant programs from 2015-2019, and associations with state-level measures of need that align with the purposes of each block grant program.