Do Children in Rural Areas Still Have Different Access to Health Care? Results from a Statewide Survey of Oregon's Food Stamp Population

Characteristics of Rural Children Admitted to Pediatric Hospitals

“…This finding should be interpreted with caution, because our study was not intended to assess differences in underlying disease prevalence between nonrural and rural children. Rural areas are associated with higher rates of certain chronic medical and behavioral diseases than urban areas 1,3,4 ; however, the relationship between rurality and medical complexity is unclear. It is likely that some rural children with medical complexity preferentially seek hospital care at urban, freestanding children's hospitals more so than rural children without medical complexity, which might occur in situations when a local hospital proficient in treating health problems for children with medical complexity does not exist.…”

“…1,2 Children living in rural areas have higher rates of obesity, tobacco exposure, and chronic medical conditions compared with urban children. 1,3,4 Rural children are also more likely to live in poverty, have unmet medical needs, and rely on Medicaid for their health care. 1,3,5 The White House Rural Council recently launched "Rural Impact, " a large initiative aimed at addressing rural child poverty and health disparities.…”

“…1,3,4 Rural children are also more likely to live in poverty, have unmet medical needs, and rely on Medicaid for their health care. 1,3,5 The White House Rural Council recently launched "Rural Impact, " a large initiative aimed at addressing rural child poverty and health disparities. 6 Delivering high-quality health care to children living in rural areas, particularly children with special health care needs, can be challenging.…”

Exposing some important barriers to health care access in the rural USA

“…It has been shown that there is disparity in insurance policy coverage between rural and urban areas, 24,42,45,62 greater poverty in rural areas, 13,16 and that this has led to inefficient coping mechanisms by rural residents. 31,39,40,63 Disparities in insurance policy between urban and rural populations Kilmer et al asked residents in Arkansas the following questions: 'Do you have any kind of health insurance coverage for eye care?' 'When was the last time you had an eye exam in which the pupils were dilated?'…”

Supply and Utilization of Pediatric Subspecialists in the United States

“…Fourth, we used rural-urban status (using 2003 Rural-Urban Continuum Codes 29 ) instead of PSSQ as a measure of access on the basis of previous work associating rural-urban status with differences in access and acute care utilization. [30][31][32][33][34][35][36] Finally, we examined pediatric subspecialty supply deciles to explore whether quintiles provided adequate discrimination.…”