New AHRQ Studies Identify Ways Rural Communities Lack Healthcare Access

Two new AHRQ-funded studies pinpoint challenges that residents of the nation’s rural areas face in getting access to mental health and hospital services. The research, published in the latest issue of the journal Health Affairs, looks at services provided in areas where about 60 million people, or one in five Americans, live. One of the studies found that rural residents with mental health needs received fewer mental health services than their urban counterparts from 2010 to 2015. The other found that rural residents often lose access to important clinical services (such as diagnostic imaging and primary care) following rural hospitals’ affiliation with larger health systems. Access the AHRQ press release or the journal for more information.