Rural Health

What is Rural Health?

Perhaps the leading question is, "What is rural?"

There is no one definition of rural in the United States. Often, definitions are really for what is urban and everything else is considered rural.  Different federal agencies have different thresholds, and these are used to determine how funding and resources are allocated. 

Regardless of definition, the 46 million Americans, or 15 percent of the U.S. population, who live in rural communities generally experience increased challenges for delivering or receiving health services and resources. Rural populations also have:

• A higher percentage of older adults, who are more likely to have chronic health problems.
• More residents without health insurance.
• Less access to health care. For example, clinics and hospitals may be far away.
• Higher rates of certain substance use, such as cigarette smoking and opioid and methamphetamine misuse.
• Higher rates of chronic health problems such as high blood pressure and obesity.
• More exposure to environmental hazards, such as chemicals used for farming.

Source: Rural Health Concerns | MedlinePlus.gov | Retrieved October 21, 2024. 

However, there are solutions to address and improve health outcomes in rural areas, and NNLM can help access health information. Select an NNLM Reading Club book to discuss and learn more. 

Discover Resources for Rural Health Information

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the nation's leading research agency. It recognizes that one-fifth of all people in the United States live in rural areas where health disparities are a pressing issue. While the underlying causes are complex, social determinants of health play an important role. For example, an estimated 22.2 million rural residents live in area with a shortage of health care providers. That's why NIH has created the Pathways to Prevention (P2P) Program to help identify gaps in a scientific area of broad public health importance. P2P workshops lead to:

• Funding opportunities to address important questions
• Improvements in data resources and methodologies
• New collaborative prevention research projects

You can use P2P workshop publications—like the systematic evidence review, independent panel report with recommendations for future research, and federal partners meeting report—to help fill research gaps such as Improving Rural Health Through Telehealth-Guided Provider-to-Provider Communication. You can also subscribe to their online consumer health newsletter, NIH News in Health for articles such as Connecting to Care |  NIH Health in Rural America | March 2022.

The Network of the National Library of Medicine (NNLM) is the education outreach arm of the NIH National Library of Medicine. NNLM offers training, funding and collaborative programming to improve access to rural health information for health literacy.

The NNLM Rural Health Webinar Series hosted in November 2024 featured expert guest speakers addressing the unique health needs of rural populations in the United States. The aim of the series was to provide practical evidence-based solutions that support librarians, health educators, community leaders, and direct care providers. 

• Building Healthy, Resilient Communities in Florida’s Rural Panhandle | This presentation provides an overview of preliminary data from opioid users and library directors across the nation. Watch the recording.
• Facilitating Rural Access to Quality Health Information through Little Free Libraries | This presentation addresses an NNLM grant-funded community partnership between a public library and a university health science library. Watch the recording.
• When Your Community Is Your Hospital | This presentation shares an overview of a partnership that connected organizations in the rural northern region of California with a bilingual health educator and delivered local trainings, both in English and Spanish, that allowed community health workers to learn among their peers about the health information resources from the National Library of Medicine and other resources in their communities. Watch the recording.
• Promoting Walking for Health in Rural Communities | Rural American adults have higher rates of chronic physical activity-related illness and are less active than their urban counterparts, with less than 20% meeting U.S. physical activity guidelines of 150-300 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity per week. Watch the recording.
• Palmetto Connect: Fostering Digital Inclusion in Rural South Carolina | This session will cover a program designed to help close the digital divide ­for residents in rural and underserved areas of­ South Carolina by increasing internet access and affordability, training people in digital literacy, and connecting individuals to quality-of­-lif­e resources such as telehealth through digital inclusion. Watch the recording.
• Social Connectedness and Improving the Health of Rural Communities | This presentation reviews possible interventions for improving rural community health through social connectedness. Watch the recording.
• Rural Health Resources | This webinar describes hallmarks of rural America, identifies access challenges of living in rural communities, and equips participants with tools to service the health information needs of those living in rural communities. Watch the recording.

Bridging the Digital Divide: Telehealth and Libraries Webinar Series, “Implementation of Telehealth Services in Rural Public Libraries.” April 3, 2024. Watch the recording

In 2023, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) established the Office of Rural Health (ORH) to advance rural public health and lead the development of CDC’s Rural Public Health Strategic Plan. The rural strategic plan defines actionable steps CDC can take to collaborate across the agency and with external and federal partners to improve and advance rural public health. Learn more about how the CDC is supporting rural health.

Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) provides equitable health care to the nation’s highest-need communities. Their programs support people with low incomes, people with HIV, pregnant people, children, parents, rural communities, transplant patients, and the health workforce.

Rural Health Information Hub (RHIhub), funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy, is an online website to access reliable resources and tools to help you learn about rural health needs. The RHIhub is a clearinghouse of information on rural health issues. It also provides current resources on rural health care and population health including toolkits and models for programs that work in rural communities.