Maine Rural Health Research Center
What's New
RHRC colleagues win "Best Research Poster" Award at National Conference
May 2010
Rural Health Research Center colleagues (including Jennifer Lenardson, Erika Ziller, David Lambert, Melanie Race, and Anush Yousefian Hansen) were nationally recognized for their work on "Access to Mental Health Services and Family Impact of Rural Children with Mental Health Needs" at the 2010 National Rural Health Association Annual Conference in Savannah, GA, May 18-21. Their findings showed that a greater proportion of rural families of children with mental health needs spend six or more hours coordinating their child's care each week than do urban families, and rural children are less likely to receive all needed mental health care. For more information on this study, please contact Jennifer Lenardson at jlenardson@usm.maine.edu.
New Research & Policy Brief examines options for Rural Health Clinics to offer mental health services.
New Publications
- Yousefian, A. et al. (2010, January). Development of the rural active living assessment tools: Measuring rural environments. Preventive Medicine, 50(Supplement 1), S86-S92.
- Wallace Amy E., Young-Xu, Y., Hartley, D., & Weeks, W.B. (2010, January 6). Racial, socioeconomic, and rural-urban disparities in obesity-related bariatric surgery. Obesity Surgery, Online.
- Klingner, J., Moscovice, I., Tupper, J., Coburn, A., & Wakefield, M. (2009, Fall). Implementing patient safety initiatives in rural hospitals. Journal of Rural Health, 25(4), 352-357.
Recent Presentations
- Moving Toward Standards: PPACA Provisions Affecting Non-Profit Rural Hospitals. Presented by John Gale at the Oregon Small and Rural Hospital Summit; 2010, May 7; Salem, OR.
- Access to Mental Health Services and Family Impact of Rural Children With Mental Health Needs. Poster presentation at the National Rural Health Association Annual Meeting. Won "Best Research Poster" award.
Recent Presentations at the 2010 National Rural Health Association Annual Meeting:
- Mental Health Services in Rural Health Clinics. Presented by John Gale.
- Practical Primary Care and Behavioral Health Integration Strategies for Rural Providers. Presented by John Gale and David Lambert.
- Models for Quality Improvement in Critical Access Hospitals: Role of the Flex Program. Presented by Andrew Coburn.
- Understanding the Community Benefit Activities of Critical Access Hospitals. Presented by John Gale.
About the Center
Established in 1992, the Maine Rural Health Research Center draws on the multidisciplinary faculty, research resources and capacity of the Institute for Health Policy within the Edmund S. Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine. Rural health is one of the primary areas of research and policy analysis within the Institute for Health Policy, and builds on the Institute's strong record of research, policy analysis, and policy development.
The mission of the Maine Rural Health Research Center is to inform health care policymaking and the delivery of rural health services through high quality, policy relevant research, policy analysis and technical assistance on rural health issues of regional and national significance. The Center is committed to enhancing policymaking and improving the delivery and financing of rural health services by effectively linking its research to the policy development process through appropriate dissemination strategies. The Center's portfolio of rural health services research addresses critical, policy relevant issues in health care access and financing, rural hospitals, primary care and behavioral health. The Center's core funding from the federal Office of Rural Health Policy is targeted to behavioral health.
