Am I Rural?

This site can be used to help determine whether a specific location is considered rural based on various definitions of rural, including definitions that are used as eligibility criteria for federal programs. The information provided by this service addresses only the rural aspect of a program's requirements. Your "Am I Rural?" report is not a guarantee of your eligibility status. Please check with the program contacts directly to verify your eligibility for specific federal programs.

Rural Healthcare Facilities

UTMB Family Medicine Residency - Rural Training Track

Directed by Dr. Tricia Elliott.

Critical Access Hospital (CAH)

A Critical Access Hospital (CAH) is a hospital certified to receive cost-based reimbursement from Medicare. The reimbursement that CAHs receive is intended to improve their financial performance and thereby reduce hospital closures.  Listing of CAHs in Texas.

Rural Health Clinic (RHC)

A clinic certified to receive special Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement. The purpose of the RHC program is improving access to primary care in underserved rural areas.

Rural Healthcare Organizations

Area Health Education Centers (AHEC)
A national non-profit organization that is both federally and state funded. The AHEC specializes in healthcare workforce development.  The main link above leads to the National AHEC website.  For more information on the Texas AHEC system, please visit one of the following sites:  Texas AHEC East Program; West Texas AHEC program; South Texas AHEC Program.

 

Rural Assistance Center (RAC)
A product of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Rural Initiative, the Rural Assistance Center (RAC) was established in December 2002 as a rural health and human services "information portal." RAC helps rural communities and other rural stakeholders access the full range of available programs, funding, and research that can enable them to provide quality health and human services to rural residents.

National Rural Health Association (NRHA)

An organization that brings together rural health care professionals from around the country who are working toward a common goal of improving the health of rural Americans.

Texas Rural Health Association (TRHA)

The Texas Rural Health Association is a nonprofit organization whose primary goal is to improve the health of rural Texans. The TRHA is composed of individuals and organizations dedicated to providing leadership on rural health care issues through advocacy, communication, and education.

State Office of Rural Heatlh (SORH)
The Texas State Office of Rural Health (SORH) joined the Texas Department of Agriculture in October 2011. Dedicated to serving the health needs of rural Texas, SORH staff work closely with local health care providers, county leaders and state partners to support access to quality health care for rural Texans. SORH works to assist rural health providers through a variety of programs including technical assistance, grants and educational awards that are available to individual clinicians, health care institutions and other organizations.

National Health Service Corps (NHSC)
Loan repayment is offered to physicians who are willing to spend an allotted amount of time in an underserved rural area in need of physicians.  This link will take you to information about this program.

The World of Rural Medical Education
Site author - Robert C. Bowman, M.D., Professor in Family Medicine at ATSU School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona.  This site has links to many rural health care related websites.