ASTHO engaged Oklahoma public health officials, members of the Oklahoma Harm Reduction Alliance, Health Minds Policy Initiative, and representatives of the Southern Plains Tribal Health Board, and others in a Boundary Spanning Leadership workshop.
When rural hospitals close, it increases the distance people must travel for essential healthcare services. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted and magnified the factors leading to rural hospital closures across the country. Many healthcare facilities suspended elective procedures to conserve critically needed personal protective equipment and reduce the risk of exposure to COVID-19 by patients and hospital staff. For many rural hospitals, however, the suspension of elective procedures with the reduced the use of non-urgent services by apprehensive patients meant a loss of revenue and the furloughed healthcare staff. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, approximately half of all rural hospitals are experiencing negative operating margins due to reduced outpatient revenue. The rate increases in states that have not expanded Medicaid. Unfortunately, these kinds of challenges are not new to rural hospitals.
Through the lens of the Public Health Accreditation Board's standards and measures, this report explores innovative programs and policies implemented by health departments in an effort to adopt system-wide approaches to achieving health equity.
The youth mental health crisis has created the need for a comprehensive workforce response, which requires educators and school administrative staff, school-based mental health professionals, and communities to work collaboratively to strengthen prevention systems.