Rural-Urban Differences in Workers' Access to Paid Sick Leave.

Paid sick leave (PSL) is associated with health care access and health outcomes. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of PSL as a public health strategy, yet PSL is not guaranteed in the United States. Rural workers may have more limited PSL, but research on rural PSL has been limited. We estimated unadjusted and adjusted PSL prevalence among rural versus urban workers and identified characteristics of rural workers with lower PSL access using the 2014-2017 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. We found rural workers had lower access to PSL than urban workers, even after adjusting for worker and employment characteristics. Paid sick leave access was lowest among rural workers who were Hispanic, lacked employer-sponsored insurance, and reported poorer health status. Lower rural access to PSL poses a threat to the health and health care access of rural workers and has implications for the COVID-19 public health emergency and beyond.

Engaging At-Risk Rural Residents in Secondary Lung Cancer Prevention.

INTRODUCTION: Rural residents are at elevated risk for lung cancer and related mortality, yet limited research has explored their perspectives on cancer risk or prevention options, including tobacco treatment and lung cancer screening with low-dose computed tomography (LDCT). This qualitative study examined attitudes and beliefs among rural adults who reported either current or former tobacco use, as well as disengagement from the health care system. METHODS: We conducted 6 focus groups with rural Maine residents at risk for lung cancer based on age and smoking history (n = 50). Semistructured interviews explored participants' knowledge, perceptions, and attitudes regarding lung cancer risk, LDCT screening, and patient provider relationships. Inductive qualitative analysis of interview transcripts was conducted to identify key themes. RESULTS: Participants were cognizant of their elevated lung cancer risk, yet few were aware of LDCT screening. When informed about LDCT, most participants indicated a willingness to undergo screening, although a substantial minority indicated reluctance related to fear and fatalism. Participants generally expressed the belief that relationships with a primary care provider could support their health and identified several provider factors that influence these relationships, including attention and time for patient concerns; respect and non-judgmental, nonstigmatizing attitudes; treating patients as individuals; and provider empathy and emotional support. CONCLUSIONS: Rural residents at risk for lung cancer report limited knowledge and substantial ambivalence regarding LDCT screening, but identify provider behaviors that may promote patient-provider relationships and greater engagement with their health. More research is needed to confirm these findings and understand how to help rural residents and healthcare providers work together to reduce lung cancer risk.

Acuity Differences Among Newly Admitted Older Residents in Rural and Urban Nursing Homes.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Our primary objective was to assess rural-urban acuity differences among newly admitted older nursing home residents. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Data included the 2015 Minimum Data Set v3.0, the Area Health Resources File, the Provider of Services File, and Rural-Urban Commuting Area codes. Activities of daily living, the Cognitive Function Scale, and aggression/wandering indicators were used to assess functional, cognitive, and behavioral status, respectively. Excluding assessments for short stays (less than 90 days), assessments for 209,719 newly admitted long-stay residents aged 65 and older across 14,834 facilities in 47 states were evaluated. Difference in differences (DID) generalized linear models with state-fixed effects and clustering by facilities were used to assess the interaction effect of older age (75 plus) on rural-urban acuity differences, controlling for socioeconomic factors, admission source, and market characteristics. RESULTS: Residents admitted to rural facilities were less functionally impaired (incidence rate ratio: 0.973-0.898) but had more cognitive (odds ratio [OR]: 1.03-1.22) and problem behaviors (OR: 1.19-1.48) than urban. Although older age was predictive of higher acuity, in DID models, the expected decline in functional status was comparable in rural and urban facilities, while the cognitive and behavioral status for older admissions was 8.0% and 8.5% lower in rural versus urban facilities, respectively. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: Although the higher prevalence of cognitive impairment and problem behaviors among rural admissions was attributable in part to older age, rural facilities admitted less complex individuals among older age residents than urban facilities. Findings may reflect less capacity to manage older, complex individuals in rural facilities.

Developing Program Performance Measures for Rural Emergency Medical Services.

BACKGROUND: The development of measures to monitor and evaluate the performance and quality of emergency medical services (EMS) systems has been a focus of attention for many years. The Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program (Flex Program), established by Congress in 1997, provides grants to states to implement initiatives to strengthen rural healthcare delivery systems, including better integration of EMS into those systems of care. OBJECTIVE: Building on national efforts to develop EMS performance measures, we sought to identify measures relevant to the rural communities and hospitals supported by the Flex Program. The measures are intended for use in monitoring rural EMS performance at the community level as well as for use by State Flex Programs and the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) to demonstrate the impact of the Flex Program. METHODS: To evaluate the performance of EMS in rural communities, we conducted a literature search, reviewed research on performance measures conducted by key EMS organizations, and recruited a panel of EMS experts to identify and rate rurally-relevant EMS performance measures as well as emergent protocols for episodes of trauma, ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI), and stroke. The rated measures were assessed for inclusion in the final measure set. RESULTS: The Expert Panel identified 17 program performance measures to support EMS services in rural communities. These measures monitor the capacity of local agencies to collect and report quality and financial data, use the data to improve agency performance, and train rural EMS employees in emergent protocols for all age groups. CONCLUSION: The system of care approach on which this rural EMS measures set is based can support the FORHP's goal of better focusing State Flex Program activity to improve program impact on the performance of rural EMS services in the areas of financial viability, quality improvement, and local/regional health system performance.

Understanding the Business Case for Telemental Health in Rural Communities.

Telemental health has been promoted to address long-standing access barriers to rural mental health care, including low supply and long travel distances. Examples of rural telemental health programs are common; there is a less clear picture of how widely implemented these programs are, their organization, staffing, and services. There is also a need to understand the business case for these programs and assess whether and how they might realize their promise. To address these gaps, a national study was conducted of rural telemental health programs including an online survey of 53 programs and follow-up interviews with 23 programs. This article describes the current landscape and characteristics of these programs and then examines their business case. Can rural telemental health programs be sustained within current delivery systems and reimbursement structures? This question is explored in four areas: need and demand, infrastructure and workforce, funding and reimbursement, and organizational fit and alignment.