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Rural Matters

Rural Matters

Michelle Rathman

Rural Matters is a biweekly, 30-minute podcast about rural education, business, and health. The podcast’s mission is to increase awareness, inform discussion, and expand the dialogue on the most important issues facing rural stakeholders every day. Guests on the podcast include rural education decision-makers, rural business owners and entrepreneurs, and rural health care representatives. The National Rural Education Association and the Center for Rural Affairs are marketing partners.
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Top 10 Rural Matters Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Rural Matters episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Rural Matters for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Rural Matters episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

Michelle chats with Brian Doerr, Senior Vice President of Information Technology and Security, and Privacy Officer for Community Hospital Corporation of Plano, Texas; Carrie Zbierski, Chief Nursing Officer at North Texas Medical Center; and Andra Smith, Director of Practice Management at North Texas Medical Center about the evolving telemedicine presence in rural America and its capability to deliver specialty health services. Before the pandemic, Doerr notes, rural areas accesses telemedicine in a limited way, due to regulatory and reimbursement restrictions and lack of flexibility. But those barriers are being relaxed now, says Doerr. For example, he explains, remote telehealth visits by rural hospitals can be reimbursed by CMS or other payors, including commercial payors, who are moving cautiously in this area. Doeer expects continuing growth in this area, even after COVID-19, Zbierski says that more hospitals are interested in the use of telemedicine access specialty care providers, such as cardiologists and pulmonologists, to treat patients without them having to come into hospitals. Smith notes that because patients within her clinics are now learning how to use this new technology, their care management can becomes more than just annual visits. This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in the challenges and opportunities of telehealth and its incredibly dramatic use in rural areas. This episode is sponsored by CHCH, www.communityhospitalcorp.com.

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In this sixth and final installment of our excellent series, Living in Rural America —2022 and Beyond, produced in collaboration with and supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Michelle discusses the future of rural with three outstanding guests: Dee Davis, Founder and President of the Center for Rural Strategies; David Lipsetz, President and CEO of the Housing Assistance Council (HAC); and Valerie Lefler. Founder and Executive Director of Feonix — Mobility Rising.

Davis discusses the best options for small towns facing economic challenges, the political divide between urban and rural communities and its effect on democratic institutions, and the impact of divergent media in the rural space. Lipsetz talks about the impact of housing issues on health, wealth, and education in rural communities, and how his organization is helping rural communities take advantage of opportunities in this space. Lefler discusses transportation barriers faced by rural communities, the connection between rural healthcare and mobility challenges, and how Feonix is working to provide solutions in these areas. This episode and the entire six-part series is sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation., the nation’s largest philanthropy dedicated solely to health. For more information on RWJF, visit rwjf.org or on Twitter @rwjf.

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In this second in our four-part series, Rural Communities: Conquering Challenges, Optimizing Opportunities, in partnership with and supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Michelle chats with Nancy Dickey and David Lipsetz.  Dickey spent almost a dozen years as president of the Texas A&M Health Science Center and vice chancellor for health affairs for The Texas A&M University System and currently serves in several academic and administrative roles at the College of Medicine and as executive director of the Rural and Community Health Institute. She also is part of the leadership team at the Center for Optimizing Rural Health, which was created last year with funding provided through the Vulnerable Rural Hospitals Assistance Program. Lipsetz is Chief Executive Officer at the Housing Assistance Council, a national nonprofit that has been helping rural America address poverty and hardship since 1971. Less than 7 percent of the philanthropic work conducted in the United States is done in rural America, notes Lipsetz, and less than 6 percent of mortgage deductions were filed by residents in rural communities. Lipsetz invites listeners to get in touch with his organization to talk about how to link the potential capacity of high-quality housing in rural and small towns offered by his organization with recruitment of providers that needs to be done by hospitals. Dickey notes that, in certain communities, hospitals have become “landlords” for intermediate housing because they’re forced to, in order to attract providers. In addition, Dickey says, sometimes hospitals arrange for apartment sharing among providers and also to provide tertiary care through telehealth services. Lipsetz notes that poverty clearly is a social determinant for quality of care since it limits access for rural patients, leading to unacceptable infant mortality and increased morbidity rates. This episode was sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, www.rwjf.org and Thomas USAF, which on December 4 is sponsoring the 20th Annual National Rural Lenders Roundtable in Washington, D.C, www.nrlrt.com.

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Michelle chats with Katrina Badger, program officer with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, about the work of the foundation to build a culture of health and her particular focus on creating the community conditions that foster improved health. Badger discusses a poll that was released at the recent Life in Rural America symposium, which was a collaboration among the Foundation, NPR, and Harvard, that focused on rural issues. Just organizing the event was a learning experience, Badger notes. One of the takeaways of the symposium, she says, was that Rural America is not a monolithic space but a diverse one. Many rural communities have won the Culture of Health prize, Badger points out. Another key point: Economic opportunity is critical for success for rural residents and communities. Yet another insight: Innovation knows no area code. Badger notes that a key question that must be asked is how can we build power for rural communities to implement what are known to be successful policies. And a final takeaway: Equity conversation, whether racial or economic or some other kind of equity, is equally critical in the rural context. This episode was sponsored by For the Win Robotics, www.ftw-robotics.com; REC Foundation, www.roboticseducation.org;  and the Rural Assembly, https://ruralassembly.org

For more on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation symposium, visit www.rwjf.org/ruralhealth

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Michelle chats with two very important advocates in the rural space: Whitney Kimball Coe, coordinator of the National Rural Assembly, a rural movement comprised of activities and partnerships geared toward building better policy and more opportunity across the country; (the Rural Assembly is part of Rural Strategies, which also includes Daily Yonder, a definite go-to read for anyone interested in rural matters); and Edyael Del Carmen Casaperalta, Fellow at the American Indian Law Program at the University of Colorado Law School in Boulder, where she researches and writes about federal Indian law, international human rights, indigenous peoples’ rights, and telecommunications and technology. Coe has established a focus on building civic courage in communities and is directly tied to a practice of participation in her hometown of Athens, TN. Del Carmen Casaperalta is a budding attorney dedicated to serving indigenous peoples and poor communities in telecommunications and technology law matters. The National Rural Assembly is holding its first Rural Women’s Summit Oct. 28-29 in Greenville SC. The Summit will begin with a panel comprising women journalists and will include sessions covering running for public office, curating your own story, gender, identity, and power. Rural Matters will be recording a podcast live from the Summit, #ruralwomenlead. For more information, visit ruralassembly.org. This episode was sponsored by Bryan Telemedicine, https://www.bryanhealth.com/services/telemedicine/; Phynd, www.phynd.com; REC Foundation, roboticseducation.org; For the Win Robotics, frw-robotic.com; and the Rural Assembly, ruralassembly.org.     

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Rural Matters - The Rural-Urban Divide with Jonathan Rodden
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08/26/19 • 38 min

Michelle chats with Jonathan Rodden, professor of political science and senior fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. Rodden is also the founder and director of the Spatial Social Science Lab and author of a new book, Why Cities Lose: The Deep Roots of the Urban-Rural Political Divide.  Geography matters in the United States, Rodden says, because we’re divided into electoral districts, which can be a good thing but has a downside in being a major determinant in who wins an election. The rural vote will be critical in the 2020 election, but economics will not be the only determinant as social issues, such as abortion, gun rights, race, and immigration, will also play a part, according to both Michelle and Jonathan. The Democratic presidential primary battle revolves basically around urban voters, but after winning the primary, there is more incentive for the nominee to focus on rural voters, he notes.  Even if an independent commission decided district boundaries, he says, it wouldn’t necessarily prevent the continuation of the urban-rural divide. Gerrymandering does add to the problem, Rodden asserts. The bottom line: Yes, geography does matter when it comes to public policy. This episode was sponsored by Bryan Telemedicine, https://www.bryanhealth.com/services/telemedicine/; REC Foundation, roboticseducation.org; For the Win Robotics, frw-robotic.com; and the Rural Assembly, ruralassembly.org.     

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Rural Matters - Interviews from NRHA’s Policy Summit
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03/23/20 • 30 min

Michelle interview three key participants at the National Rural Health Association’s Annual Policy Summit in February in Washington, D.C.: Maggie Elehwany, NRHA’s Vice President for Government Affairs and Policy; Michael Topchik, National Leader for the Chartis Center for Rural Health; and Lisa Davis, Director at the Pennsylvania Office of Rural Health.

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Rural Matters - Rural Education Today with Allen Pratt
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04/14/20 • 29 min

Michelle chats with Dr. Allen Pratt, executive director of the National Rural Education Association, about how rural schools are responding to the pandemic on a variety of fronts, including the establishment of food programs for students in rural areas through delivery and pickup locations where contact is limited.as much as possible. As far as remote learning is concerned, both NREA and school districts have established e-learning programs, utilizing Zoom and other technology, and have coordinated delivery of educational packets to students. Regarding legislation to help students, Dr. Pratt notes the CARES Act include $13.9 billion for released to states and onto schools. That’s not really enough to support students in areas without broadband or cell connections, according to Dr. Pratt. The biggest gap involves this connectivity issue, where everyone should have access to Internet service. Hopefully we will use time to establish equitable opportunity in this area, both Michelle and Dr. Pratt agree. This episode is sponsored by Partners in Education at Berea College. To learn more, visit berea.edu/pfe or email J. Morgan at [email protected], and by the National Rural Education Association, www.nrea.org.

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Michelle chats with Valerie Lefler, the executive director of Feonix, and a recognized international expert in rural transportation and mobility service. In the last 18 months, Feonix has launched programs in five states, developing relationship with notable partners, including the National Aging and Disability Transportation Center, Easterseals, AARP’s Office of Driver Safety; and the Michigan Department of Transportation. Lefler is very familiar with rural issues having grown up on a large dairy farm in southeast Nebraska, where the family managed more than 300 cattle and 700 acres of crop producing land. In this episode, you’ll hear how Feonix helps fill the transportation gaps in rural communities; why transportation really matters in rural; and the role transportation plays in economic development and job growth in the rural sector. This episode was sponsored by the Foundation for Rural Service (FRS), frs.org; and Feonix, which is dedicated to supporting mobility for vulnerable and underserved populations. Visit feonixmobilityrising.org to learn more.

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In this kickoff to Rural Matters’ first in-depth, four-part series, Rural Communities: Conquering Challenges, Optimizing Opportunities, Michelle and three guests take a deep dive on what it’s like — and what it could be like in the future — to live in Rural America, exploring the recent findings of a survey conducted by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Harvard University School of Public Health. The three guests are Dr. Robert J. Blendon, Richard L. Menschel Professor and Senior Associate Dean for Policy Translation and Leadership Development at the Harvard School of Public Health who serves as co-director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation/Harvard School of Public Health project on understanding Americans' Health Agenda; Ed Sivak, Chief Policy and Communications Officer for Hope Enterprise Corporation/ Hope Credit Union (HOPE); and Luke Shaefer, University of Michigan Professor of Social Work in the School of Social Work and Professor of Public Policy in the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy; and Director of Poverty Solutions. The majority of those living in rural America are optimistic about the future, but many others are concerned about their economic future and, in particular, the opioid crisis, according to Blendon. The survey results show that about half in rural America say they could not pay a “surprise” bill of $1,000. In addition, Blendon notes, rural residents say they need outside help to deal with many of their problems, including that their health insurance coverage doesn’t enable them to seek certain local providers. In addition, he notes, one in five rural residents has difficulty getting Internet coverage, which creates all sorts of barriers, including in terms of health care. Sivak notes that in 9 out of 10 persistent poverty countries, many of them in the rural areas, the unemployment rate exceeds the national average. Access to a financial institution, such as Hope, really matters, he concludes. Shaefer points out that rural communities are disproportionately represented among the 100 most vulnerable communities in the United States. The bottom line, according to the guests, is that life in rural America today is indeed challenging for many residents and that outside help is needed, but because of volunteer efforts, local “superheroes,” and innovative solutions that hopefully can be sustaining, there are realistic opportunities to address the problems. This episode — and the entire four-part series — is sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, RWJF.org, @rwjf. This episode also was sponsored by Thomas USAF, who is sponsoring the 20th Annual National Rural Lenders Roundtable in Washington, DC on December 4, www.nrlrt.com.

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FAQ

How many episodes does Rural Matters have?

Rural Matters currently has 128 episodes available.

What topics does Rural Matters cover?

The podcast is about News, Business News, Podcasts and Education.

What is the most popular episode on Rural Matters?

The episode title 'Telehealth with Brian Doerr, Carrie Zbierski, and Andra Smith' is the most popular.

What is the average episode length on Rural Matters?

The average episode length on Rural Matters is 37 minutes.

How often are episodes of Rural Matters released?

Episodes of Rural Matters are typically released every 7 days.

When was the first episode of Rural Matters?

The first episode of Rural Matters was released on Aug 9, 2019.

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