Welcome to the South Carolina Rural Health Research Center.
We focus on investigating persistent inequities in health status within the population of the rural US, with an emphasis on inequities stemming from socioeconomic status, race and ethnicity, and access to healthcare services.
We strive to make our research findings useful to organizations and individuals working to improve the quality of life for rural residents.
The Center allows us to build on and expand our ongoing cooperative research partnerships with other key organizations - government, academia, health services delivery and the rural community who can join our quest to improve the health of rural Americans.
Dr. Jan Probst, director of the South Carolina Rural Health Research Center, describes results of a Center study examining mortality differences between rural and urban adults.
For more SCRHRC's videos, watch us on
State Policy Levers for Addressing Preventive Dental Care Disparities for Rural Children: Medicaid Reimbursement to Non-Dental Clinicians for Fluoride Varnish and Dental Hygiene Supervision in Primary Care Safety Net Settings
Previous work has found that rural children are less likely to receive preventive dental services or any dental services at all, during the year than are urban children. The children’s oral health care safety net can be characterized in terms of the settings in which care is offered, the clinicians who offer it, and the sources of payment. In this report we examine two questions:
(1) To what degree have states expanded access to and reimbursement of fluoride varnish applications by allowing non-dental clinicians to provide this service?
(2) To what extent can dental hygienists provide select preventive dental services in primary care safety net settings without supervision or under general, indirect, or public health supervision?.
Click here to download the Executive Summary, or to download the full report, click here.
Health Outcomes Among Children and Families Living in Rural Communities Conference webcast
The Center for information Technology at National Institutes of Health will videocast Health Outcomes Among Children and Families Living in Rural Communities Conference, December 1-2, 2011. You can click on the link
http://videocast.nih.gov/FutureEvents.asp to the NIH VideoCasting and Podcasting Website for these seminars.
The SC Rural Health Research Foundation recently sent four of our graduate students and one research assistant professor to the American Public Health Association
Annual Meeting in Washington, DC.
Students Deshia Leonhirth, MBA; Jordan Mitchell, MBA; Kristin Schuller, MHA; and Samuel Towne, MPH, CPH attended and participated in the poster presentations to include
the topics of HIV, Maternal and Child Health, and Home Health.
Dr. Jessica Bellinger, participated in a Cancer Forum session and served with Elena Ong as an
organizer for an invited Women's Caucus session. L-R: Kim Dauner (WC Policy Chair), Sarah Gareau (WC Co-Chair), Jessica Bellinger (WC Program Chair, Session Organizer), Alina Salganicoff (Vice President & Director of Women's Health Policy, Kaiser Family Foundation), Adriane Casalotti (Health & Women's Policy Advisor, Office of Congresswoman Lois Capps), Marcia Greenberger (Co-President, National Women's Law Center), Heidi Hartmann (President, Institute of Women's Policy Research), Elena Ong (Session Organizer)
South Carolina Rural Health Research Center is pleased to announce the publication of Higher Risk Of Death In Rural Blacks And Whites Than Urbanites Is Related To Lower Incomes, Education, And Health Coverage in the October 2011 issue of Health Affairs.
Health Status in the Delta: Comparisons to other urban and rural U.S. Residents
In this Fact Sheet we examined geographic differences in health behaviors, access to care, receipt of appropriate preventative services, and quality of diabetes care among residents in the Delta region. Read more...
