HEALTH AFFAIRS EVENTS–Rural Health

Wednesday, December 4, 9:00 am – 1:00 pm Eastern
National Press Club – 529 14th Street NW, Washington DC (Metro Center)
Registration Now Open

The December 2019 issue of Health Affairs explores various dimensions of health and health care in rural America. Authors examine the health care needs of people living in rural areas, investigate inequities in the availability, accessibility, and financing of care, and identify policies, financing mechanisms, and practices that can improve the health and well-being of rural Americans. Join us for a forum during which authors will present their work and participate in a robust discussion:

David Anderson, Research Associate, Health Policy Evidence Hub, Margolis Center for Health Policy, Duke University, on "Rural-Urban Differences In Individual Market Health Plan Affordability After Subsidy Payment Cuts"
Abigail Barker, Research Assistant Professor, Washington University in St. Louis, and Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis at the Rural Policy Research Institute, University of Iowa, on "Effect Of Population Size On Rural Health Insurance Premiums In The Federal Employees Health Benefits Program"
Michael Lawrence Barnett, Assistant Professor of Health Policy and Management, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, on "Adoption of Buprenorphine Waivers by Advanced Practice Providers Highest in Rural Areas with Expanded Scope of Practice"
Kevin Bennett, Associate Professor, Director of the Research Center for Transforming Healthcare, and Director of the South Carolina Center for Rural & Primary Healthcare, University of South Carolina School of Medicine, on "What is Rural, Anyway?"
Hayley Germack, Assistant Professor, Acute & Tertiary Care, University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing, on "When Rural Hospitals Close, the Physician Workforce Goes"
Carrie Henning-Smith, Assistant Professor, Division of Health Policy and Management, University of Minnesota School of Public Health, on "Rural Counties With Majority Black Or Indigenous Populations Suffer Highest Rates Of Premature Death"
Kenton Johnston, Assistant Professor, Health Management and Policy, College for Public Health and Social Justice, St. Louis University, on "Why Do Rural Medicare Beneficiaries Have Higher Rates of Preventable Hospitalization and Mortality?"
James Kirby, Senior Researcher, Center for Financing, Access, and Cost Trends, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, on "Rural Residents With Mental Health Needs Have Fewer Care Visits Than Urban Counterparts"
Katy Backes Kozhimannil, Associate Professor, Division of Health Policy and Management, University of Minnesota School of Public Health, on "Rural-Urban Differences In Severe Maternal Morbidity And Mortality In The US, 2007-15"
Leighton Ku, Professor, Department of Health Policy and Management, Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University, on "Enhancing Staffing In Rural Community Health Centers Can Help Improve Behavioral Health Care"
Claire O'Hanlon, Advanced Fellow in Health Services Research, Veterans Affairs Center for the Study of Healthcare Innovation, Implementation & Policy and Adjunct Policy Researcher, RAND Corporation, on "Access, Quality, And Financial Performance Of Rural Hospitals Following Health System Affiliation"
Scott G. Phillips, Editor-in-Chief, Rural Health Quarterly, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, on "Higher US Rural Mortality Rates Linked To Socioeconomic Status, Physician Shortages, And Lack Of Health Insurance"
Janice Probst, Distinguished Professor Emerita, Rural and Minority Health Research Center, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, on "Structural Urbanism Contributes To Poorer Health Outcomes For Rural America" and "Declines In Pediatric Mortality Fall Short For Rural Children"
Scott Shipman, Director of Clinical Innovations; Director of Primary Care Initiatives, Association of American Medical Colleges, on "The Decline In Rural Medical Students: A Growing Gap In Geographic Diversity Threatens The Rural Physician Workforce"
Sirin Yaemsiri, Senior Statistician, U.S. Government Accountability Office, on "Healthy People 2020: Rural Areas Lag In Achieving Targets For Major Causes Of Death"

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TODAY ON THE BLOG

CONSIDERING HEALTH SPENDING

Untangling The Relationship between Social Service And Health Care Spending And Health Outcomes
By Elizabeth H. Bradley and Amanda Brewster

As policy makers, researchers, and practitioners, we would do well to find the language to discuss health care and social services that does not invoke a zero-sum game but rather considers carefully how to better support upstream services while encouraging efficiency and value for downstream services. Read More >>

LEGAL AND REGULATORY ISSUES

United States v. Gilead: Can a Lawsuit Yield Better Access To PrEP?
By Christopher J. Morten and Amy Kapczynski

This lawsuit comes after a wave of pressure, beginning in spring 2019, from a coalition of activists, HIV care providers, and civil society groups organized by the PrEP4All Collaboration, urging HHS and its constituent agency, the CDC, to assert government-owned "patents for PrEP" against Gilead. Read More >>

HOSPITALS

A Look Inside The Hospital Transparency Final Rule
By Billy Wynne, Josh LaRosa, and Taylor Cowey

CMS finalized a controversial set of requirements for the disclosure of hospital pricing data to degrees heretofore not seen. While the original proposal faced substantial backlash from stakeholders, CMS’ final decision is nearly identical to what the agency originally proposed. Read More >>

IN THE JOURNAL

HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Are Patients Electronically Accessing Their Medical Records? Evidence From National Hospital Data
By Sunny C. Lin, Courtney R. Lyles, Urmimala Sarkar, and Julia Adler-Milstein

Substantial policy effort has been directed at improving patients’ ability to access and use electronic health records. Using nationwide data from 2,410 hospitals for the period 2014–16, Sunny Lin and coauthors examined associations between patient- and hospital-level characteristics and access to and use of electronic health record data among discharged patients. Read More >>

Listen to author Sunny Lin interviewed about this article on WTOP-FM

HOSPITALS

Did Hospital Readmissions Fall Because Per Capita Admission Rates Fell?
By J. Michael McWilliams, Michael L. Barnett, Eric T. Roberts, Pasha Hamed, and Ateev Mehrotra

In general, readmission rates should fall as admission rates fall because the probability of an admission occurring soon after another is lower when there are fewer admissions per patient. J. Michael McWilliams and coauthors examined this relationship by conducting a simulation in which they removed random samples of admissions from Medicare claims data and recalculated readmission rates. Read More >>

MEDICAID

Medicaid Expansion Associated With Reductions In Preventable Hospitalizations
By Hefei Wen, Kenton J. Johnston, Lindsay Allen, and Teresa M. Waters

To examine the impact of Medicaid expansion under the ACA, Hefei Wen and coauthors reviewed inpatient databases for the years 2009–15. The authors found that the Medicaid expansion states saw greater reductions, compared to non-expansion states, in the number of patients hospitalized for conditions that could have been treated by ambulatory care interventions. Read More >>

About Health Affairs

Health Affairs is the leading peer-reviewed journal at the intersection of health, health care, and policy. Published monthly by Project HOPE, the journal is available in print and online. Late-breaking content is also found through healthaffairs.org, Health Affairs Today, and Health Affairs Sunday Update.

Project HOPE is a global health and humanitarian relief organization that places power in the hands of local health care workers to save lives across the globe. Project HOPE has published Health Affairs since 1981.

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