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NRHA Policy
NRHA advocates for policy positions developed by the association’s membership on behalf of rural health stakeholders. Find NRHA's annual policy agenda, policy briefs, background papers, and more below.
Policy agenda
NRHA’s annual policy agenda reflects the mission and priorities of the association. Individual policy recommendations are developed through NRHA's policy briefs authored and approved by association members.
Policy Papers
NRHA members set the policies and positions that the association advocates for at a national level through the development of policy papers. The NRHA values statement serves as a foundation for all NRHA policy documents.
2026 NRHA Policy Papers
2025 NRHA Policy Papers
2024 NRHA Policy Papers
Document Title | Type | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Impacts of telehealth on rural health care access | Policy Brief | 2024 |
| Preserving rural health care: the impact of site-neutral payments | Policy Brief | 2024 |
| 340B Legislative Reform Principles | Policy Statement | 2024 |
| Maternal Health in Rural America | White Paper | 2024 |
| Rural Nursing Home Landscape | Fellows Program Policy Paper | 2024 |
Fellows Program Policy Paper | 2024 | |
Fellows Program Policy Paper | 2024 | |
Fellows Program Policy Paper | 2024 | |
Fellows Program Policy Paper | 2024 | |
Fellows Program Policy Paper | 2024 | |
| Addressing the national rural health care worker shortage with a focus on kindergarten through 12th grade educational strategies | Fellows Program Policy Paper | 2024 |
2023 NRHA Policy Papers
Document Title | Type | Year |
|---|---|---|
Policy Brief | 2023 | |
Policy Brief | 2023 | |
Policy Brief | 2023 | |
Policy Brief | 2023 | |
Fellows Program Policy Paper | 2023 | |
How Broadband Can Improve Health Outcomes: Health Care's Role in Rural Economic Development | Fellows Program Policy Paper | 2023 |
Addressing Health Workforce Needs: Health Care's Role in Rural Economic Development | Fellows Program Policy Paper | 2023 |
Fellows Program Policy Paper | 2023 | |
Policy Brief | 2023 | |
Policy Brief | 2023 | |
Fellows Program Policy Paper | 2023 | |
Fellows Program Policy Paper | 2023 | |
Fellows Program Policy Paper | 2023 | |
| Integrating Z coding for Social Determinants of Health and its Impact on Rural Areas | Fellows Program Policy Paper | 2023 |
2022 NRHA Policy Papers
Document Title | Type | Year |
|---|---|---|
Policy Brief | 2022 | |
Policy Brief | 2022 | |
Policy Brief | 2022 | |
Fellows Program Policy Paper | 2022 | |
Fellows Program Policy Paper | 2022 | |
| Rural Health Clinics | Fellows Program Policy Paper | 2022 |
Fellows Program Policy Paper | 2022 | |
Fellows Program Policy Paper | 2022 | |
Fellows Program Policy Paper | 2022 |
2021 NRHA Policy Papers
Document Title | Type | Year |
|---|---|---|
Fellows Program Policy Paper | 2021 | |
Policy Brief | 2021 | |
Fellows Program Policy Paper | 2021 | |
Fellows Program Policy Paper | 2021 | |
| Rural EMS Workforce | Fellows Program Policy Paper | 2021 |
Fellows Program Policy Paper | 2021 | |
Fellows Program Policy Paper | 2021 |
2020 NRHA Policy Papers
Document Title | Type | Year |
|---|---|---|
Policy Brief | 2020 | |
Policy Brief | 2020 | |
White Paper | 2020 | |
Fellows Program Policy Paper | 2020 | |
Fellows Program Policy Paper | 2020 | |
| Rural Obesity | Fellows Program Policy Paper | 2020 |
Fellows Program Policy Paper | 2020 | |
Fellows Program Policy Paper | 2020 |
2019 NRHA Policy Papers
Document Title | Type | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Access to Rural Maternity Care | White Paper | 2019 |
| Emergency Preparedness for Rural Communities | Fellows Program Policy Paper | 2019 |
| Rural Palliative Care | Policy Brief | 2019 |
| Rural Veterans and their Families | Fellows Program Policy Paper | 2019 |
| Telehealth in Rural America | Fellows Program Policy Paper | 2019 |
| Utilization of the 340B Drug Pricing Program in Rural Practices | Fellows Program Policy Paper | 2019 |
2018 NRHA Policy Papers
Document Title | Type | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Physician Assistants: Modernize Laws to Improve Rural Access | Fellows Program Policy Paper | 2018 |
| Addressing Health and Health Care Needs in the United States-México Border Region | Fellows Program Policy Paper | 2018 |
| Demonstrations and Pilots: Rural Centric Transformation | Fellows Program Policy Paper | 2018 |
| EMS Services in Rural America: Challenges and Opportunities | Fellows Program Policy Paper | 2018 |
| Immigrant Health Policy | White Paper | 2018 |
| Improving Rural Oral Health Access | Fellows Program Policy Paper | 2018 |
| Telemedicine Reimbursement | Fellows Program Policy Paper | 2018 |
2017 NRHA Policy Papers
Document Title | Type | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Community Health Workers: Recommendations for Bridging Healthcare Gaps in Rural America | White Paper | 2017 |
| Health Disparities: Closing the Gaps Using Faith-Based Institutions | White Paper | 2017 |
| Rural Community Violence: An Untold Public Health Epidemic | White Paper | 2017 |
| Rural-Urban Comparison of Hospitals Participating in the Medicare Electronic Health Record Incentive Program | White Paper | 2017 |
| Treating the Rural Opioid Epidemic | White Paper | 2017 |
| Critical Elements in Rural Health Care Reform | White Paper | 2017 |
2016 NRHA Policy Papers
Document Title | Type | Year |
|---|---|---|
| American Indian and Alaska Native Health | White Paper | 2016 |
| Federal Requirement for Physician Supervision of CRNAs | Policy Brief | 2016 |
| Frontier Definition | Policy Brief | 2016 |
| Impact of Swing Beds | White Paper | 2016 |
| Responsive Rural Health Delivery System | Policy Brief | 2016 |
| Rural Communities in Crisis: Strategies to Address the Opioid Crisis | White Paper | 2016 |
| Rural Public Health | Policy Brief | 2016 |
2015 NRHA Policy Papers
Document Title | Type | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Comprehensive Quality Improvement in Rural Health Care | White Paper | 2015 |
| Designation of Frontier Health Professional Shortage Areas | Policy Brief | 2015 |
| Future of Rural Behavioral Health | Vision Piece | 2015 |
| Population Health in Rural Communities | White Paper | 2015 |
| Quality of Life Impacts the Recruitment and Retention of Rural Health Providers | White Paper | 2015 |
| Rural Economic Development | Policy Brief | 2015 |
| Rural Proofing Tool | Policy Brief | 2015 |
2014 NRHA Policy Papers
Document Title | Type | Year |
|---|---|---|
| J1 Visa Waiver Physicians and Foreign Medical Graduates | Policy Brief | 2014 |
| Future of the Frontier Extended Stay Clinic | Policy Brief | 2014 |
| Graduate Medical Education for Rural Practice | White Paper | 2014 |
| HIV/AIDS in Rural America: Disproportionate Impact on minority and Multicultural Populations | Policy Brief | 2014 |
| Rural Health Clinics | White Paper | 2014 |
| Rural Veterans: A Special Concern for Rural Health Advocates | White Paper | 2014 |
2013 NRHA Policy Papers
Document Title | Type | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Elder Health in Rural America | White Paper | 2013 |
| Future of Rural Health | Vision Piece | 2013 |
| Recruitment and Training of Racial/Ethnic Health Professionals in Rural America | White Paper | 2013 |
| Rural America's Oral Health Needs | White Paper | 2013 |
| Rural Hospital Participation in the Medicare Shared Savings Program | White Paper | 2013 |
| Rural Women's Health | White Paper | 2013 |
| Streamlining Telemedicine Licensure to Improve Health | Policy Brief | 2013 |