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What are the issues that are unique to rural health and health IT?

Health IT is health care information technology - the use of computer applications to record, store, protect, retrieve, and transfer clinical, administrative, and financial information electronically within health care settings. The ultimate goal of health IT is to improve the quality and efficiency of patient care.

Advances in information technology hold great promise for helping rural residents and rural providers overcome some of the problems of distance and personnel shortages. The adoption and utilization rates of many clinical health IT systems tend to be lower in rural areas than in urban areas. Over 95 percent of critical access hospitals (CAHs) use administrative health IT systems but less than 1/3 use health IT for clinical care. Rural communities face many challenges in adopting clinical health IT including limited access to capital and infrastructure, lack of workforce expertise in IT, and difficulty in obtaining community buy-in. However, smaller rural practices can benefit substantially from the support of a few key personnel - a physician health IT champion or a dedicated IT expert can make a big difference.

Resources:

• FLEX Critical Access Hospital- Health Information Technology Network Implementation Grant Program
• HRSA: Rural Health Grants Eligibility Advisor
• Addressing Pending HIT Workforce Shortages (PPT - 1.1 MB)
• Montana Office of Rural Health Health Information Technology Services (PDF - 68KB) 
• Oregon Federally Certified Rural Health Clinic Assessment 2008: Technology Survey Results and Recommendations on pages 39-42 (PDF - 9.3MB)
• Networking for Rural Health: Quality Improvements in Rural Hospitals - How Networking Can Help (PDF - 740KB)
• USDA: Rural Health Information Center
• USDA: Rural Digital Economy
• Rural Assistance Center: Rural Health Policy
• Utah Telehealth Network
• Roadmap for the Adoption of Health Information Technology in Rural Communities (PDF - 575KB)
• The Adoption of Health Information Technology by Rural Hospitals Policy Brief   (PDF - 207KB)
• The Adoption of Health Information Technology by Rural Hospitals Full Report   (PDF - 604KB)