CONCLUSION: Although including pharmacists on primary care teams improves clinical outcomes, reduces health care costs, and enhances patient and provider experience, colocation appears to be unevenly dispersed across the United States, with lower rates in rural areas. As the integration of pharmacists in primary care continues to expand, knowing the prevalence and facilitators of growth will be helpful to policymakers, researchers, and clinical administrators. [...]

In February 2022, the North Carolina legislature expanded pharmacist dispensing authority without a prescription. We conducted a cross-sectional interview of currently licensed pharmacy managers of outpatient pharmacies located in five counties in southeastern North Carolina. Pharmacy managers were eligible to participate if their pharmacy was either a community pharmacy, clinic-based pharmacy, or outpatient health system pharmacy. Forty-four of 116 eligible pharmacy managers participated (38%... [...]

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This presents variations in U.S. population health in rural areas across all Census regions and states. Where the data allow, we also present rural population health findings stratified by sex, race, and ethnicity. This chartbook presents a full range of data across multiple geographic areas. When looking at data like these it is important to... Read more » [...]

In the brief, , the NC Rural Health Research Program, examines differences between patients discharged to swing beds versus SNFs, stratifying by admitting hospital type (i.e., rural CAH versus rural PPS hospital). Identification of key differences between patients discharged to swing beds versus SNFs can help inform further discourse on this financially and clinically important... Read more » [...]

Unpredictable Demand and Low-Volume Hospitals background This Findings Brief assesses the degree to which the annual number of patient discharges varies from year to year for low volume hospitals. To the extent that demand for inpatient services is unpredictable, it is hard for administrators to set budget and recruitment goals, which are generally based on... Read more » [...]