State and Rural Health Offices
LINKS TO POLICY SITES
Links to websites that provide background and policy and research on Rural Health. Some of these sites may also have data, so they may also be listed on the data source page.
National Rural Health Association
https://www.ruralhealth.us/
Non-profit membership organization with a mission to provide leadership on rural health issues through advocacy, communications, education and research. Sponsors workshops, conferences and technical assistance focused on rural health. Advocates for rural hospitals.
Publishes the Journal of Rural Health, also a magazine and a newsletter. Under the Advocacy tab on the web page has Policy Briefs on a range of issues, Legislative Tracker, and a Rural Hospital List for each state, with impacts of potential policy changes.
National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health
https://nosorh.org/
Organization to support State Offices of Rural Health. Supports policy and advocacy.
Hosts an annual meeting, and capacity building workshops and Institutes.
Has a newsletter and a “promising practices” archive.
Federal Office of Rural Health Policy
https://www.hrsa.gov/about/organization/bureaus/forhp
Funds rural health research centers and the rural health research gateway.
Rural Health Research Gateway
https://www.ruralhealthresearch.org/
A site to consolidate research conducted by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy’s Rural Health Research Centers.
Lists research publications by topics. Sign up for research alerts and listserv, review past webinars, policy briefs and fact sheets, lists of research projects.
“Other resources” tab lists other related offices and organizations, also past research listed by topic.
Under “browse research” there is a list of all the Rural Research Centers and their areas of expertise.
HRSA link to Rural Health Research Gateway
https://www.hrsa.gov/library/rural-health-research-gateway
contains a Browse by Topic panel to look for research by key topics.
Rural Health Research Centers
https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/organizations/rural-health-research-centers
Rural Health Research Centers funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy
Maine, University of North Carolina, South Carolina, RUPRI, University of Washington, University of Minnesota, Texas.
Rural Health Information HUB
https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/
A HRSA supported site that contains many resources on rural health. The site contains Topic guides and State Guides that are a good starting point for researching topics in rural health. Also has toolkits for developing rural health programs. Under the Online Library there is an Organizations list that is a good source for locating federal, state, and other organizations with a focus on rural health.
Has a topic guide on: What is Rural?
https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/topics/what-is-rural
North Carolina Office of Rural Health
https://www.ncdhhs.gov/divisions/orh
North Carolina Institute of Medicine
https://nciom.org/
Health policy institute focused on North Carolina.
Publishes the North Carolina Medical Journal. Also publishes useful reports and issue briefs.
“Data and Resources” tab, “Where to find NC health data” has list of useful sources, many are dashboards and maps rather than raw data.
UNC Chapel Hill Sheps Center for Health Services Research
https://www.shepscenter.unc.edu/
Good source for reports and projects related specifically to North Carolina.
See work on rural health workforce, rural hospitals and hospital closures, in particular.
North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center
NC Rural Center | Building Vibrant Rural Communities
Quasi-governmental agency focused on advancing economic and social development for rural communities in North Carolina. Website includes county profiles and issue factsheets.
NC DHHS Office of Health Equity
https://www.ncdhhs.gov/divisions/office-health-equity
Publishes a periodic NC Health Equity Report
https://schs.dph.ncdhhs.gov/SCHS/pdf/MinorityHealthReport_Web_2018.pdf
Maintain a page with links to health equity data and statistics websites
https://www.ncdhhs.gov/divisions/office-health-equity/health-equity-data-and-statistics
Healthy North Carolina 2030: A Path Toward Health
NC 10-year State Health Improvement Plan
Establishes health goals, indicators and targets for the state for the next decade.
Published on NC Institute of Medicine Site.
https://nciom.org/healthy-north-carolina-2030/
State Health Improvement Plan – companion document
https://schs.dph.ncdhhs.gov/units/ldas/docs/SHIP-REPORT-Final-030121.pdf
NC Dept of Health and Human Services data page.
Link to NC DHHS page where they list various data dashboards, action plans and white papers.
Data Dashboards, Action Plans/White Papers | NCDHHS
List of NC Local Health Departments
North Carolina Local Health Departments Community Health Assessments
https://www.dph.ncdhhs.gov/lhd/cha/reports.asp
Local Health Department in North Carolina complete community health assessments for their district every 3-4 years. Recent complete health assessment reports for individual counties can be downloaded from this site.
Do you know of a good resource for rural health and health disparities we haven’t listed? Send us an email and we will add it to the list.
Email: joneska@ecu.edu