RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis

Our new quarterly newsletter highlights our center's recent funding renewal, links recent policy briefs and peer-reviewed publications, and spotlights one of our graduate research assistants, Khyathi Gadag! https://lnkd.in/gFhs4BNp

A new peer-reviewed manuscript from our team highlights the extent to which publicly traded Medicare Advantage plans address social needs.

We're thrilled to share that we have received a renewal of our Rural Health Research Center funding from Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSAgov), HHS' Federal Office of Rural Health Policy--a $2.8 million, 4-year cooperative agreement to continue our research! https://lnkd.in/gZNYD8rE

🚨Rural Health Research Alert🚨 "Changes in Rural Pharmacy Presence 2023" This data brief continues the RUPRI Center's series of reports exploring the availability of retail pharmacy services in rural areas of the U.S. It provides information on rural communities that have kept, lost, or gained a retail pharmacy between 2018 and 2023. Retail pharmacies were identified using data from the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs. This analysis examines changes in rural pharmacies and uses Census-defined “places” as the geographic unit of analysis. Places are geographies defined by the U.S. Census Bureau and include incorporated places and Census Designated Places. Key Findings: • Between 2018 and 2023, the number of retail pharmacies in the U.S. declined by 3.9 percent. During that same period, the number of retail pharmacies located in rural communities declined by 5.9 percent and the number of retail pharmacies located in urban communities declined by 3.4 percent. • While the number of retail pharmacies in rural communities declined during that period (11,489 in 2018 to 10,808 in 2023), the number of rural communities with retail pharmacies remained relatively constant (44.7 percent of rural communities had at least one retail pharmacy in 2018 versus 47.6 percent in 2023). • During this five-year period, 184 rural communities lost all local retail pharmacy service but 195 other rural communities gained retail pharmacy service. • There was little variation in the characteristics of the populations in places that kept, lost, or gained pharmacy service. Where there was any variation, the results were often counterintuitive. For example, places that gained pharmacy service had a lower proportion of population that was non-White but a higher proportion that was Hispanic, and a higher proportion with no health insurance. View and subscribe: https://ow.ly/axXr50SU7EC #ruralhealth RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis

Check out our most recent installment of our quarterly newsletter in which we introduce our expert working group and share updates on our research! https://lnkd.in/g9JSWzrb

We have had great discussions with our Expert Working Group the past two days, and we’re grateful for their expertise!

Congratulations to our director, Keith Mueller, on receiving the Louis Gorin Award for Outstanding Achievement in Rural Health Care from the National Rural Health Association!

In a new policy brief, Edmer Lazaro, Dan Shane, Keith Mueller, and Fred Ullrich find that Medicare Advantage supplemental benefits were less commonly available in noncore and micropolitan counties compared to metropolitan counties. https://lnkd.in/ghinM4vk

In a new policy brief, Whitney Zahnd, PhD, Khyathi Gadag V, Kristin Wilson, and Keith Mueller describe the extent to which critical access hospitals and other rural hospitals partner with outside organizations to address patients' social needs. https://lnkd.in/gSS8Mb_2

A few of our RUPRI graduate research assistants were recently interviewed by Rural Health Leadership Radio! https://lnkd.in/eK4DHQA5