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Rural Health
Research Gateway

Alyssa Fritz, MPH, RD, CLC

University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center

Email: ahfritz@umn.edu

Division of Health Policy and Management
University of Minnesota
2221 University Ave. SE
Suite 350
Minneapolis, MN 55414

Current Projects - (2)

  • Monitoring Obstetric Unit Closures and Measuring Closure Impacts to Support Rural Maternity Care Access
    This project will create a public health data infrastructure with annually updated information on the loss of hospital-based obstetric services, merging policy-relevant hospital and county characteristics with transportation and geographic data, and measuring trends over time in the loss of hospital-based obstetric care.
    Research center: University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center
    Topics: Healthcare access, Hospitals and clinics, Maternal health, Women
  • Neonatal Care at Rural Hospitals: Describing Access, Closures and Levels of Childbirth-Related Care
    This project will describe access to childbirth-related care for families living in rural and urban communities; it will document access to neonatal care and the levels of that care, describe rural counties that have lost access to neonatal care, and identify rural counties without access to either obstetric or neonatal services.
    Research center: University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center
    Topics: Children and adolescents, Healthcare access, Hospitals and clinics, Maternal health, Quality, Women

Publications - (5)

2024

  • Variation in Elder Abuse State Statutes by State Level of Rurality
    Policy Brief
    University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 12/2024
    This policy brief examines elements of state-level elder abuse statutes' definitions and reporting requirements to investigate potential differences in these policies by state rurality that could influence one's understanding of elder abuse among rural and urban areas.
  • Triad Program Perspectives on Preventing and Addressing Elder Abuse in Rural Communities
    Policy Brief
    University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 11/2024
    Elder abuse is a widespread issue and rural communities face unique risks to preventing, identifying, and addressing it. This brief shares results from key informant interviews with representatives of rural Triads (multi-sectoral community-based partnerships that address elder abuse) to illuminate rural-specific dimensions of this issue.
  • Loss of Hospital-Based Obstetric Services in Rural Counties in the United States, 2010-2022
    University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 07/2024
    The purpose of this infographic is to show the loss of hospital-based obstetric services in rural counties from 2010 to 2022, and how this differs by rural county type (micropolitan vs. noncore).
  • Rural-Urban Differences in Midwifery Care During Childbirth in the U.S.
    University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 07/2024
    This infographic provides a snapshot of rural-urban differences in midwife-attended births, including changes over time as access to rural obstetric care declined and severe maternal morbidity and mortality rose across the United States.

2023