Evaluating Rural Healthcare Disparities and Applying Public Health Interventions

Abstract

Many people in the United States of America live in rural areas. Out of the 330 million people that live in the United States 65 million live in rural districts (Leider et al., 2020). This is why it is important to address the existing health disparities in regions where large populations are being affected and have poorer health than urban residents. For instance, rural residents’ mortality and morbidity rate is higher no matter the economic status compared to urban residents. There have been many studies performed that have determined factors of why the mortality rate is higher. The results are barriers in geographic dispersion, cost and insurance, and provider shortage. These barriers affect the quality of care and access for occupants causing them to be sicker and not recover from illness compared to urban occupants. However, the discipline of public health has different strategies to protect communities’ health status. This paper will discuss different public health solutions, such as Medicaid programs, expanding telehealth, Public Health Departments, using the Health in All Approach, and implementing partnerships in rural communities. These possible solutions will hopefully close the gap and allow many people to benefit from the strategies, not just one person. Scholarly articles were used to gather information about rural healthcare and understand how public health strategies can benefit rural communities. These sources also suggested solutions and helped with the process of coming up with new ways to approach barriers. This paper will hopefully lead people in the right direction to address disparities and better health outcomes for rural populations.