rural health

As evidence supporting medication treatment for opioid addiction mounts, judges, district attorneys and law enforcement officials in rural America are increasingly open to it after years of insisting on abstinence only.

Non-Hispanic Black women — regardless of income or education level — die at nearly three times the rate of non-Hispanic white women.

They offer basic care traditionally provided by dentists, but opposition from interest groups and the profession’s relative newness mean more than two-thirds of states don’t yet have them.

The number of doctors of osteopathy is surging, and more than half of them practice in primary care, including in rural areas hit hard by doctor shortages.

Family planning clinics are getting caught between state abortion bans and a federal requirement to refer patients for abortion care on request.

Advocates for improving rural health pushed for the CDC to extend its rural health focus. They hope the Office of Rural Health will commit to research and provide analyses that lead to good policies.

They can no longer can be denied lifesaving care, including surgeries for heart defects. But now, aging adults with Down syndrome face a health system unprepared to care for them.

At least eight states have implemented or are considering limits on what patients can be billed for the use of a hospital’s facilities even without having stepped foot in the building.

The May 11 expiration of the federal government’s pandemic emergency declaration will affect patient care across a broad range of settings, including telemedicine, hospitals, and nursing homes.

Coastal and politically progressive states have passed stronger paid sick and family leave policies than many states with larger rural populations.