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.

Browse Research Products:

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Five Most Recent Publications

• An Early Look at Profitability Before and After Conversion to Rural Emergency Hospital
  Policy Brief
  North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center
  Date: 03/2026
  Converting to a Rural Emergency Hospital (REH) may provide struggling, low-volume rural hospitals with a more stable financial model by eliminating unprofitable inpatient services in exchange for some significant financial benefits. This brief provides an early assessment of financial performance before and after conversion to REH status.
• Dentist Workforce and Dental Care Utilization in the Rural and Urban U.S.
  Policy Brief
  WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
  Date: 03/2026
  Rural communities face challenges accessing dental care, in part due to shortages of dentists in rural communities. The purpose of this study was to examine the rural-urban dentist supply and whether rural adults have lower dental care utilization in a nationally representative sample.
• Metropolitan and Nonmetropolitan Medicare Advantage Enrollment 2025
  Report
  RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis, Rapid Response to Requests for Rural Data Analysis
  Date: 03/2026
  This data report presents an interim review of Medicare Advantage enrollment while awaiting the release of updated detailed Medicare enrollment data.
• Rural-Urban Trends in the Burden of Diabetes Among U.S. Adults
  Policy Brief
  University of South Carolina Rural Health Research Center
  Date: 03/2026
  This brief provides an updated analysis of diabetes incidence, prevalence, and mortality across rural and urban counties. The National Health Interview Survey (2021, 2022, and 2023) provided diabetes incidence and prevalence data. CDC Wonder provided diabetes mortality data.
• Examining Rural Population Characteristics and Access to Care in 2022: A Study of Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) and Medically Underserved Areas (MUAs)
  Chartbook
  ETSU/NORC Rural Health Research Center
  Date: 03/2026
  This chartbook presents a national and regional comparison of rural and urban census tracts with and without Health Professional Shortage Area or Medically Underserved Area designations in 2022.

Archived Publications

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