U.S. Maternal Mortality Crisis: An International Comparison
Pregnancy and childbirth are far more dangerous for American women — especially Black women — than for women in other high-income nations, according to a Commonwealth Fund study of maternal health outcomes across 14 countries.
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27 Hospitals Have Converted to Rural Emergency Hospitals since January 2023
Since January 2023, 27 rural hospitals in the U.S. have converted to emergency hospitals in order to remain in operation. Under the new designation, these facilities continue to provide emergency and outpatient services but offer no inpatient care. A report by the Commonwealth Fund and the Bassett Research Institute explored some of the other strategies rural hospitals are pursuing to stay afloat.
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New Research on Rural Hospital Profitability from 2018 to 2023
Profitability of rural hospitals in 2020-21 and 2021-22 was influenced by the Public Health Emergency (PHE) funding distributed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The following briefs examine hospital profitability from 2018 to 2023, taking PHE funding into account.
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Psychiatric Nursing Workforce Survey: Results and Implications
Nursing must plan for significant retirements in the PMH workforce in next 5 years. Hospital-based practice continues to dominate PMH-RN roles but might be expanded to community-based settings teaming with PMH-APRNs in outpatient sites. Increasing the diversity of the workforce should be prioritized.
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Recruitment and retention of rural allied health professionals: a scoping review
The purpose of this study was to understand what literature exists to comprehend demographics and predicted trends of rural allied health professionals (AHPs), person factors of rural AHPs, and recruitment and retention of rural AHPs.
Maternal health in rural America
This white paper highlights the decline of maternal services in rural areas, the financial barriers to providing OB services in rural areas, the rural maternal health workforce shortage, the barrier of traveling long distances to obtain OB services, the challenge of accessing prenatal and postpartum care for rural mothers, the quality of care and birth outcomes in rural communities, and policy considerations to combat these challenges.
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HHS launches Maternal Mental Health Task Force’s National Strategy to improve maternal mental health care.
The vision set forth by this national strategy is one in which maternal mental health (also known as perinatal mental health) and substance use care is seamless and integrated across medical, community, and social systems. The vision includes models of care and support that are innovative and sensitive to individuals’ experiences, culture, and community and does not distinguish between physical health care and mental health care. Building upon existing federal government efforts, the task force outlines a path to achieve the vision within a framework consisting of the following five pillars, each with supporting priorities and recommendations.
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How Upfront, Predictable Payments Can Improve Primary Care
Experts increasingly agree that to strengthen primary care in the U.S., we should promote “prospective payment” in which providers are given upfront payments to care for each patient for a particular period of time.
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Rural Hospitals’ Perspectives On Health System AffiliationThis brief explores the current trend in hospital affiliation from a rural perspective and offers guidance to rural hospital leaders in navigating a potential affiliation.
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Physician and Advanced Practice Clinician Burnout in Rural and Urban SettingsRecruiting rural-practicing clinicians is a high priority. In this study, we explored burnout and contributing work conditions among rural, urban, and family practice physicians and advanced practice clinicians (APCs) in an Upper Midwestern health care system.
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Preparing behavioral health clinicians for success and retention in rural safety net practices
This study assesses how, among behavioral health clinicians working in rural safety net practices, the amount of exposure to care in rural underserved communities received during training relates to confidence in skills important in their work settings, successes in jobs and communities, and anticipated retention.
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HRSA’s National Sample Survey of Registered NursesHRSA’s Bureau of Health Workforce provides demographic, training and education, employment, COVID-19 impact, and workforce projection data for registered nurses (RNs) in the U.S.
Advancing Racial Equity in U.S. Health Care: The Commonwealth Fund 2024 State Health Disparities ReportThis report evaluates disparities in health and health care across racial and ethnic groups, both within states and between U.S. states.
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It Can’t Just Be About the Money: How to Assure an Adequate Public Health WorkforceSalary disparities emphasize the urgency of rectifying pay inequities in public health occupations. However, many public health positions are governed by state employee pay structures that cannot be changed for only one agency. Given the challenges of increasing governmental pay just for public health, additional approaches are needed for public health recruitment and retention that are within the public health sector’s control.
Interventions for health workforce retention in rural and remote areas: a systematic reviewAttracting and retaining sufficient health workers to provide adequate services for residents of rural and remote areas has global significance. High income countries (HICs) face challenges in staffing rural areas, which are often perceived by health workers as less attractive workplaces. The objective of this review was to examine the quantifiable associations between interventions to retain health workers in rural and remote areas of HICs, and workforce retention.
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Taking Action Against Clinician BurnoutPatient-centered, high-quality health care relies on the well-being, health, and safety of health care clinicians. However, alarmingly high rates of clinician burnout in the United States are detrimental to the quality of care being provided, harmful to individuals in the workforce, and costly. It is important to take a systemic approach to address burnout that focuses on the structure, organization, and culture of health care.
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Support for Vulnerable Rural Hospitals: Lessons LearnedAn overview of state and federal programs and models designed to support Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) and other rural hospitals describes challenges – including chronic workforce shortages, high operating and staffing costs, inadequate reimbursement, operational and regulatory issues, and the diverse demographics of rural communities.
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