Southwest Rural Health Research Center

Current Projects

• "Older, Sicker, Poorer": A Scoping Review of the Literature That Contributes to This Narrative on Rural Americans
  The investigators will conduct a scoping review of peer-reviewed literature to explore the contributive evidence that rural Americans are older, sicker, and poorer. The project will provide historical and context-setting perspectives on the factors that have led to this description and the extent to which it still holds true. The project will also identify literature gaps to inform future research.
  Topics: Aging, Poverty, Rural statistics and demographics
  
• Assessing the Clinical and Financial Impact of Community Health Workers in Rural America
  This scoping review project will assess how often the existing literature has examined community health workers (CHW) in rural America and what the literature suggests about the clinical and financial impact that CHWs have in rural communities.
  Topics: Allied health professionals, Health promotion and disease prevention, Social determinants of health
  
• Behavioral Health Needs and Service Utilization in Frontier and Remote Communities: A Comparative Analysis Using HCUP Data
  This project aims to identify trends and predictors of behavioral health services utilization and provider availability, specifically as they relate to Frontier and Remote (FAR) populations compared to other rural and urban populations.
  Topics: Frontier health, Healthcare access, Mental and behavioral health
  
• Evaluating the Impact and Progress of the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy's Rural Public Health Workforce Training Network Program
  HRSA established the Rural Public Health Workforce Training Network Program to expand health service capacity by supporting public health job development, training, and placement in rural and tribal communities. This project will examine how the program's 32 grantees implemented their activities and will assess the impact of their program activities.
  Topics: Allied health professionals, Workforce
  
• Examining the Relationship Between 911 Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) Closures and Rural-Urban Disparities in Ambulance Response Times
  This project will examine 911 Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) closures, assess whether response times increased in the service areas of closed PSAPs, and examine if rural-urban disparities in response times occurred after such closures.
  Topics: Emergency medical services (EMS) and trauma, Healthcare access
  
• Exploring Substance Use Disorder Treatment in Rural Communities: Access, Utilization, and Perceived Barriers
  This project will analyze data from the National Survey of Drug Use and Health to assess disparities in treatment access and utilization between rural and urban residents in the United States. It will specifically examine substance use behaviors, co-morbid substance use-related health disparities, and treatment utilization to identify key areas for intervention and policy improvement.
  Topics: Healthcare access, Mental and behavioral health, Substance use and treatment
  
• Federal Agencies' Recent Collaboration and Innovation in Rural Cancer Control: A Model for Practice
  The investigators will conduct an examination of the multi-year effort by the National Cancer Institute to focus on rural cancer issues and its collaboration with the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy. The project will explore the key pieces of evidence that served as the impetus for the emphasis on rural America in cancer control efforts.
  Topic: Cancer
  
• Identifying and Exploring the Settings That Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants Are Practicing in as Well as Trends in Specialization in These Groups
  Investigators will conduct a descriptive study to assess trends in specialty and population foci of nurse practitioners (NP) and physician assistants (PA). They will also explore changes in the number of clinician types billing for procedures. Trends will be assessed by census region to inform FORHP on areas for which use of NPs and PAs can be bolstered.
  Topics: Health services, Nurses and nurse practitioners, Physician assistants
  
• Nurse Practitioner Scope of Practice Laws and Their Effect on Pediatric Ambulatory Care Sensitive Condition (ACSC)-Related Emergency Department Visits
  This project aims to identify trends and predictors of pediatric ambulatory care sensitive conditions as they relate to patients in urban and rural settings whose nurse practitioners are allowed full practice under the license authority of the state board of nursing. Trends will be compared to those in jurisdictions that do not allow full practice of nurse practitioners.
  Topics: Healthcare access, Legislation and regulation, Nurses and nurse practitioners
  
• The Rural Elderly Population: Demographics, Economic Status, Health Status, and Insurance Enrollment
  The project investigators will conduct a descriptive study to describe the demographics, economic status, health status, and insurance enrollment of the rural elderly population using data from nationally representative sources.
  Topics: Aging, Private health insurance, Rural statistics and demographics
  
• Updating and Exploring the Burden of Potentially Avoidable Emergency Department Visits in Rural U.S. Communities
  This project will update the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy's research portfolio on potentially avoidable emergency department (ED) visits among rural residents across the U.S., particularly as they relate to ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACSCs). Data on ACSC-related ED visits will be drawn from the State Emergency Department Databases, and findings will be stratified by census region and patient's place along the urban-rural continuum.
  Topics: Emergency medical services (EMS) and trauma, Healthcare access, Medicaid and CHIP, Uninsured and underinsured
  
• Utilization of Hospital-Based Services for Behavioral Health Conditions
  This project will update the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy's portfolio on rural residents' reliance on hospital-based care for behavioral health conditions. Data will be drawn from the State Emergency Department Databases and the National Inpatient Sample and findings will be presented in the context of patient residence along the urban-rural continuum, census region, and insurance coverage.
  Topics: Healthcare access, Mental and behavioral health