The Office of Rural Health Policy has issued a new
list of areas eligible for Rural Health Grant Programs based on 2000
Census data.
This list represents the recent modification of the Goldsmith
Modification.
In June 2003, OMB published a new list of Core Based Statistical
Areas (CBSAs) which are made up of Metropolitan and Micropolitan
statistical areas. For more information on how Metropolitan
and Micropolitan Areas are designated, see the Census Bureau's webpage
Metropolitan
and Micropolitan Statistical Areas. All counties that are not identified
as part of a Metropolitan Area are included on the eligibility
list. Counties that are part of a Micropolitan Area are eligible
for Rural
Health grants.
Due to the
fact that entire counties are designated as Metropolitan when,
in fact, large parts of many counties may be rural in nature,
the Office of Rural Health Policy has sought an alternative method
of looking at sub-county areas of these Metropolitan counties that
would allow sections to be designated rural. The Goldsmith
modification was originally developed and used to identify rural Census tracts
in large Metropolitan counties.
The Office
of Rural Health Policy has funded the development of the Rural
Urban Commuting
Area Codes (RUCAs), by the WWAMI Rural
Research Center at the University of Washington and the Department
of Agriculture's Economic Research Service, to designate "Rural" areas
within MAs. Census tracts with RUCA codes 4 through 10 are considered
rural for the purposes of Rural Health grants. For more information,
see Rural-urban
commuting area codes (RUCAs).
Within the Metropolitan counties, all Census Tracts that are assigned
a RUCA code of 4-10 are eligible for Rural Health grants. In addition,
Census Tracts within MAs with RUCA codes 2 and 3 that are larger
than 400 square miles and have population density of less than
30 people per square mile are also considered rural. |