Longer distances to GPs, dentists, hospitals and other health facilities mean that rural residents can experience ‘distance decay’ where service use decreases with increasing distance. • Access to health and related services Rural areas have worse access in terms of distance to health, public health and care services. Moreover, physicians providing care in rural areas often serve large geographic areas that require long travel times. These areas may be substantially underserved by hospitals and other health care facilities. I want to remind individuals and families in rural areas that the healthcare Health … By promoting access to healthcare services, CHWs can help improve health outcomes and quality of life in rural communities. Deliver services that are appropriate based on the patient's language and culture Give back to their communities Access to healthcare services is critical to good health, yet rural residents face a variety of access barriers. However, urban areas are twice as likely as rural areas to have access to copper and cable modem wireline technologies. The report says the most important elements of healthcare availability in rural areas are access to after-hours and same-day appointments, access to specialty care, and timeliness of care. Only about 11 percent of the nation’s physicians work in rural areas, despite nearly 20 percent of Americans living there. We have new evidence that the presence of federally-certified Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) is associated with greater primary care appointment availability in rural areas, thanks to a new paper in Health Services Research (early view). We need to provide access to capital through grants and loans for rural facilities to adopt new technology to meet the ever-changing requirements of health care, including all stages of meaningful use. Different models of