Maine Rural Health Research Center
What's New
Professor David Hartley has been appointed by Secretary Mike Leavitt of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to the National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services. This 21-member panel of nationally recognized experts provides recommendations on rural health and human services issues to the secretary. Read more about Hartley's appointment.
Consortium Receives Award to Evaluate the Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program
The Rural Health Research Centers at the Universities of Minnesota, North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and Southern Maine are the recipients of a 5-year cooperative agreement award from the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy to continue to monitor and evaluate the Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Grant Program. Learn more about the Consortium's award.
Federal Grant Award
The Maine Rural Health Research Center is one of 6 national rural health research centers awarded a 4-year grant by the federal Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP). These Centers constitute the Rural Health Research Center (RHRC) Program which is administered by ORHP.
New Publications
- Hanrahan, N. P., & Hartley, D. (2008). Employment of advanced-practice psychiatric nurses to stem rural mental health workforce shortages. Psychiatric Services, 59(1), 109-111.
- Harris, D.E., Aboueissa, A.-M., & Hartley, D. (2008, June). Myocardial infarction and heart failure hospitalization rates in Maine, USA—variability along the urban-rural continuum. Rural and Remote Health [Online Journal], 8(980), online.
- Lambert, D. (2008). Meeting the mental health needs of rural older people. In Caring for the older person in rural communities. (pp. 28-35). Kansas City, MO: National Rural Health Association.
- Lambert, D., Gale, J.A., & Hartley, D. (2008, Summer). Substance abuse by youth and young adults in rural America. Journal of Rural Health, 24(3), 221-8.
- Ziller, E.C., Coburn, A.F., Anderson, N.J., & Loux, S.L. (2008). Uninsured rural families. The Journal of Rural Health, 24(1), 1-11.
About the Center
Established in 1992, the Maine Rural Health Research Center draws on the multidisciplinary faculty, research resources and capacity of the Institute for Health Policy within the Edmund S. Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine. Rural health is one of the primary areas of research and policy analysis within the Institute for Health Policy, and builds on the Institute's strong record of research, policy analysis, and policy development.
The mission of the Maine Rural Health Research Center is to inform health care policymaking and the delivery of rural health services through high quality, policy relevant research, policy analysis and technical assistance on rural health issues of regional and national significance. The Center is committed to enhancing policymaking and improving the delivery and financing of rural health services by effectively linking its research to the policy development process through appropriate dissemination strategies. The Center's portfolio of rural health services research addresses critical, policy relevant issues in health care access and financing, rural hospitals, primary care and behavioral health. The Center's core funding from the federal Office of Rural Health Policy is targeted to behavioral health.
