Issue Papers and Policy Briefs
Guide to the Development of Issue Papers and Policy Briefs
This guide was developed to aid in the development of Issue Papers and Policy Briefs through the Rural Health Policy Board Process. The guide may be downloaded in Portable Document Format (.pdf-24k) by clicking here - Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader to open.
NRHA Policy Statements
Policy Statement - May 2007
Health Disparities
A population having health disparities is one that exhibits/demonstrates significantly poorer health status, life expectancy, access to and quality of health care such as those associated with lifestyle and health behaviors, social and ethnic discrimination, poverty, geography or marginalization.
Policy Statement - June 2006
Dental Health Professionals in Rural Communities
The National Rural Health Association believes
rural communities should have access to the most appropriately trained dental
health professionals relative to the size and demographics of the community.
In frontier Alaska, tribal programs experience a 25 percent annual vacancy
rate and 30 percent annual turnover rate for dentists. And, Alaska Native
children have 2.5 times more dental disease than all US races. Additionally,
the geography of Alaska increases the cost of providing dental care and
many villages face economic conditions that make support of a full-time
dentist unfeasible. Therefore, the National Rural Health Association fully
endorses the provision of oral health care via dental health aides and therapists
in small, frontier communities in Alaska.
Click Here for the
full text
Policy Statement - November 2005
Definition of Rural
The National Rural Health Association strongly recommends that definitions of rural be specific to the purposes of the programs in which they are used and that these are referred to as programmatic designations and not as definitions. Programs targeting rural communities, rural providers, and rural residents do so for particular reasons, and those reasons should be the guidance for selecting the criteria for a programmatic designation (from among various criteria and existing definitions, each with its own statistical validity). This will ensure that a designation is appropriate for a specific program while limiting the possibilities that other unrelated programs adopt a definition, which is not created to fit that program.
Policy Statement - August 2005
Pharmacist's Right to Refuse Service
While the NRHA respects a pharmacist’s right to refuse to fill some prescriptions, these refusals cannot obstruct both a prescribing clinician’s authority and the ability of rural patients to access prescribed medications. NRHA supports the American Medical Association resolution of June 20, 2005 and encourages state laws that would allow prescribing clinicians to dispense medication directly to patients when no willing pharmacist is located within 30 miles. AMA Resolution
Policy Briefs
Medicare Advantage for Rural America?—February
2007
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Brief in PDF Format
Rural/Frontier Women's Access to Health Services—November
2005
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the Policy Brief in PDF Format
Niche (Limited-Service)
Hospital Providers—May 2005
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Policy Brief in PDF Format
Public Reporting of
Hospital Quality in Rural Communities: An Initial Set of Key Issues—May
2005
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the Policy Brief in PDF Format
Meeting Oral Health Care Needs in Rural
America—April 2005
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the Policy Brief in PDF format
Rural Public Health—June 2004
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the Policy Brief in PDF
Federal Medicaid Reform, A Rural Perspective—April
2004
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the Policy Brief in PDF
Health Insurance Access in Rural America—March
2004
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the Policy Brief in PDF
Rural Health Professions—January 2004
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the Policy Brief in PDF
Quality of Rural Health Care—December
2003
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the Policy Brief in PDF
Rural Graduate Medical Education —June
2003
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the Policy Brief in PDF format
Reforming the Universal Service Fund—May
2003
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the Policy Brief in PDF format
Federal Medicaid Reform:
A Rural Perspective—May 2003
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the Policy Brief in PDF format
Professional Liability Reform-April 2003
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the Policy Brief in PDF format
Strengthening the Role
of International Medical Graduates in Providing Access to Health Care for
Rural America - March 2003
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the Policy Brief in PDF format
Health Care Workforce Distribution and Shortage
Issues in Rural America - March 2003
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the Policy Brief in PDF format
Access To Automatic External
Defibrilation - February 2003
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the Policy Brief in PDF format
Rural Health Preparedness - January 2002
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the Policy Brief in PDF format
Issue Papers
Medicaid Reform: A Rural Perspective - May 2007
Download the Full Issue Paper in PDF Format
Rural Veterans: A Special Concern for Rural
Health Advocates —
February 2007 (An update of a paper passed in February 2004)
Download the Full
Issue Paper in PDF Format
Rural Health Clinics — November 2006 (An update of a paper passed February 1997)
Download the Full
Issue Paper in PDF Format
Farm Bill Reauthorization: Implications for
the Health of Rural Communities—November 2006
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Issue Paper in PDF Format
American Indian and Alaska Native Health —
November 2006
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Issue Paper in PDF Format
Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities —
May 2006
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the Full Issue Paper in PDf Format
Rural Health Information Technology—February
2006
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Issue Paper in PDF Format
Recruitment and Retention of a Quality Health Workforce in Rural Areas
A series of policy papers on The Rural Health Careers
Pipeline
(These
will be posted as they are approved)
Introduction: Defining the Issues and the Principles of Recruitment and Retention—June 2005
Number 1: Physicians — November 2006
Number 2: Nursing — December 2005
Number 3: Pharmacists
and Pharmacy Technicians
— May
2006
Number 4: Oral Health — November 2006
Number 6: Rural Public Health—April 2007>
Number 7: Rural Health Careers Pipeline: Kindergarten to 12th Grade Education — February 2006
Number 10: Hospital Administration — August 2007
Number 13: Emergency Medical Services — November 2005
Number 14: Issues of Preserving Rural Professional Quality of Life —May 2006
HIV/AIDS in Rural America: Disproportionate
Impact on Minority and Multicultural Populations—Epidemiology of
AIDS in Rural America—July 2004
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the Full Issue Paper in PDF format
Rural America's Health Care Safety Net Providers
—March 2002
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Issue Paper in PDF format
National Agenda for Rural Minority
Health
The Need For Responsive Rural Health Delivery Systems—July
2001
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Issue Paper in PDF format
Long-Term Care in Rural
America —May 2001
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the Full Issue Paper in PDF format
National Agenda for Rural Minority
Health
The Need for Standardized Data and Information Systems—April
2001
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the Full Issue Paper in PDF format
National Agenda for Rural Minority
Health
Recruitment and Training of Health Professionals—April
2001
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the Full Issue Paper in PDF format
Community Health Advisor Programs—November
2000
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the Full Issue Paper in PDF format
Access to Health Care
for the Uninsured in Rural and Frontier America— May 1999
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the Full Issue Paper in PDF format
Mental Health in Rural America—May
1999
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the Full Issue Paper in PDF format
Facilitating
the Use of National Surveys in Rural Health Research—May 1998
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the Full Issue Paper in PDF format
A Vision for Health Reform Models for
America's Rural Communities — February 1998
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the Full Issue Paper in PDF format
Funding of Graduate Medical Education
Updated— February 1998
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the Full Issue Paper in PDF format
