Research Publications

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

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.

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Five Most Recent Publications

• Changes in Provision of Selected Services by Rural and Urban Hospitals Between 2009 and 2017
  Policy Brief
  North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center
  Date: 04/2021
  The purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding of recent trends in hospital service provision and whether there were disparities between rural and urban hospitals. This brief describes and compares the changes in service provision for rural and urban hospitals between 2009 and 2017.
• Characteristics of Rural and Urban U.S. Hospitals Based on Obstetric Services
  University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center
  Date: 04/2021
  This infographic provides an overview of characteristics of rural and urban hospitals in the United States that provide obstetric services, as well as rural hospitals that recently closed their obstetric units.
• Rural and Urban Hospital Characteristics by Obstetric Service Provision Status, 2010-2018
  Policy Brief
  University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center
  Date: 04/2021
  The purpose of this policy brief is to illustrate the differences between urban and rural hospitals that provide obstetric services by their size, capacity, location, and community characteristics, as well as to compare these factors between rural hospitals with obstetric services and those that recently closed their obstetric units.
• Geographic Access to Health Care for Rural Beneficiaries in Five States: An Update
  Policy Brief
  WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
  Date: 04/2021
  Using data from five states, this study describes the mix of providers caring for rural Medicare beneficiaries, the quantity of care received, and how far rural beneficiaries traveled for care for several selected conditions in 2014. Results are also compared with a similar study of the same states that used data from 1998.
• Spatial Analysis of Healthcare Utilization Among Medicare Beneficiaries with Coal Workers' Pneumoconiosis and Other Related Pneumoconiosis
  Policy Brief
  Rural and Underserved Health Research Center
  Date: 04/2021
  Miners risk developing coal workers' pneumoconiosis (black lung disease) and other pneumoconiosis. This study determines, maps, and analyzes the spatial patterns of healthcare utilization among Medicare beneficiaries with black lung disease and other related pneumoconiosis using the Medicare beneficiaries Limited Data Set from 2011-2014.