• Browse By Topic
• Primary Care
• Racial/Ethnic Diversity
• Geographic Distribution
• Related Topics
• Browse MEFS Items
• New School Tracking
• Policy Briefs
• Publications
• Related Events and Links
• Newsletter Archive
• MEFS Blog
• Featured Programs

Geographic Distribution: Reports

Geographic Variation in Health Care Spending
Congressional Budget Office, February 2008
"Large differences across the country in spending for the care of similar patients could indicate a health care system that is not as efficient as it could be, particularly if that higher spending does not produce commensurately better care or improved health outcomes. Given the importance of health care spending in the nation's long-term fiscal outlook, identifying and encouraging patterns of care that are more efficient is clearly important." Read More...

Falling Behind: Americans' Access to Medical Care Deteriorates, 2003-2007
Center for Studying Health System Change, June 2008
"One in five Americans—59 million people—reported not getting or delaying needed medical care in 2007, up from one in seven—36 million people—in 2003. While access deteriorated for both insured and uninsured people, insured people experienced a larger relative increase in access problems compared with uninsured people. Moreover, access declined more for people in fair or poor health than for healthier people." Read More...

"Many Underserved Areas Lack a Health Center Site, and the Health Center Program Needs More Oversight"
Government Accountability Office, August 2008
"Health centers funded through grants under the Health Center Program—managed by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), an agency in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)—provide comprehensive primary care services for the medically underserved. Grant awards for new health center sites in 2007 reduced the overall percentage of MUAs lacking a health center site from 47 percent in 2006 to 43 percent in 2007. In addition, GAO found wide geographic variation in the percentage of MUAs that lacked a health center site in both years." Read More...

New Mexico Residents Struggle to Navigate Health Care System in Crisis
PBS News Hour with Jim Lehrer, October 15, 2008
"The health professional shortage in New Mexico is acute. Primary care physicians are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week in a small community. They may not have anybody who can substitute for them."  Read More...

The Northern Ontario School of Medicine: Responding to the Needs of the People and Communities of Northern Ontario
Education for Health - December 2008
Northern Ontario, like many rural and remote regions around the world, has a chronic shortage of health professionals. Recognizing that medical graduates who have grown up in rural areas are more likely to practice in rural settings, the Government of Ontario, Canada established a new medical school with a social accountability mandate to contribute to improving the health of the peoples and communities of Northern Ontario."  Read More…

Hard Times in the Heart Land: Health Care in Rural America
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services - May 2009
"Throughout rural America, there are nearly 50 million people who face challenges in accessing health care. The past several decades have consistently shown higher rates of poverty, mortality, uninsurance, and limited access to a primary health care provider in rural areas. With the recent economic downturn, there is potential for an increase in many of the health disparities and access concerns that are already elevated in rural communities. Hard Times in the Heartland provides insight into the current state of health care in rural areas and the critical need for health care reform."  Read More…

Access to and Affordability of Care in Massachusetts as of Fall 2008: Geographic and Racial/Ethnic Differences
The Urban Institute - May 2009
"Massachusetts continues to move forward on comprehensive health reform, with improvements in coverage, access to care and the affordability of care in the state. This policy brief provides a supplement to a recent Health Affairs article on health reform in Massachusetts, examining geographic and racial/ethnic differences in access to care and affordability of care across the commonwealth in Fall 2008."  Read More…

Rural Health Care Workforce: Opportunities to Improve Care Delivery
Center for Rural Affairs - August 2009
"Today the Center for Rural Affairs released a report entitled, Rural Health Care Workforce: Opportunities to Improve Care Delivery. The report examines the critical shortage of primary care providers in rural America, the importance of nurse practitioners as rural primary care providers, opportunities for rural nursing, and ultimately, how health care reform presents opportunities for nurses to improve access to and quality of health care for rural residents."
To read the news release, click here.
To read the report, click here.

Striving Toward Excellence: Faculty Diversity in Medical Education
November 2009 – Association of American Medical Colleges
"The Association of American Medical Colleges' (AAMC) report, 'Striving Toward Excellence: Faculty Diversity in Medical Education,' presents an evolutionary paradigm to increase and support faculty diversity that calls on learning institutions "to develop programs not based solely on the current lack of diversity but rather to eradicate inhibitors of institutional excellence."  Read More…

The Economic Stimulus: Gauging the Early Effects of ARRA Funding on Health Centers and Medically Underserved Populations and Communities
February 16, 2010 – The George Washington University and RCHN Community Health Foundation
"During times of economic crisis, community health centers and other health care safety net providers become even more vital to the communities they serve. The current downturn, with its high levels of unemployment and enormous impact on family incomes, carries major implications for health insurance coverage."  Read More…

County Health Rankings
February 17, 2010 – Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute
"The County Health Rankings—the first set of reports to rank the overall health of every county in all 50 states—were released today by the University of Wisconsin's Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation at a briefing in Washington, D.C and on www.countyhealthrankings.org. The 50 state reports help public health and community leaders, policy-makers, consumers and others to see how healthy their county is, compare it with others within their state and find ways to improve the health of their community."  Read More…