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

• Average Salary Expense in Rural and Urban Hospitals Before and During the Low Wage Index Policy, 2018–2022
  Policy Brief
  North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center
  Date: 04/2026
  This study describes hospital wage patterns for Critical Access Hospitals and Prospective Payment System hospitals from 2018–2022, examining the Low Wage Index Policy in effect between 2020-22.
• Medicare Wage Index Trends in Rural and Urban Hospitals Before and During the Low Wage Index Policy, 2018–2022
  Policy Brief
  North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center
  Date: 04/2026
  This study tracks how Medicare wage index values changed for rural and urban PPS hospitals from 2018–2022. It shows how these values shifted over time and explains how policy and labor market forces may be driving geographic differences in hospital payment.
• Geographic Variation in Average Salary Expense Among Rural Hospitals Nationwide, 2018–2022
  Policy Brief
  North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center
  Date: 04/2026
  This brief examines how wages changed at rural hospitals from 2018–2019 to 2021–2022, focusing on geographic differences among CAHs and rural PPS hospitals. By tracking salary expense per FTE, it highlights the workforce and financial pressures rural hospitals faced as COVID disrupted care delivery and labor markets.
• Average Salary Expense in Rural and Urban Hospitals in 2022 Compared With 2018, by Hospital Characteristics
  Policy Brief
  North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center
  Date: 04/2026
  This study compares labor costs at rural and urban hospitals before COVID and examines whether pay grew differently across hospitals. It identifies hospital characteristics linked to staffing costs and what they reveal about financial resilience during unexpected disruption.
• The Distribution of the Youth Behavioral Health Workforce in Rural and Urban America in 2025
  Policy Brief
  WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
  Date: 04/2026
  Children and youth living in rural areas face unique barriers to accessing mental health care, including shortages of child and youth behavioral health specialists. The objective of this project was to examine the distribution of the child and youth behavioral health workforce across rural and urban areas of the U.S.

Archived Publications

• Publication Archive
  Rural health research publications not available elsewhere online.