For immediate release: March 18, 2009
Contact: Anne McMillin, APR
Health Science Communications
Office 702-682-9254
Mobile 702-292-4247
amcmillin@medicine.nevada.edu
School of Medicine publishes 'Nevada Rural and Frontier Health
Data Book - 2009 Edition'
In-depth current health care information contained in annual report
RENO, Nev.— A newly released University of Nevada School of Medicine report documents the diverse features of health and health care in rural and frontier counties of Nevada.
The Nevada Rural and Frontier Health Data Book – 2009 Edition contains a wide range of current information on the demography, population health, and the health care delivery system in rural and frontier regions of Nevada. It includes important data for public policy makers, health care professionals and administrators, rural health care advocates, and residents of rural and frontier Nevada.
“The primary purpose of the data book is to provide the health care community with the most comprehensive and accurate county-level data on rural health trends in Nevada,” said co-author John Packham, Ph.D., director of Health Policy Research at the School’s Center for Education and Health Services Outreach. “The data book should also be valuable to anyone interested in learning more about health and health care in Nevada.”
A few of the interesting findings presented in the report include:
• In 25 of 30 licensed health care occupations, the per capita number of professionals is greater in urban counties versus rural counties – for example, there are 50.3 primary care physicians per 100,000 residents in rural and frontier counties as compared to 79.4 per 100,000 residents in urban counties.
• 16.7% of the state’s rural population is enrolled in the Medicare program versus 12.1 in urban regions.
• The average distance between acute care hospitals in rural Nevada and the next level of care or tertiary care hospital is 115 miles.
• Since the 1990 Census, the Hispanic population in rural and frontier counties of Nevada has grown by 19,243 or 124.6% and the population aged 65 and over has increased by 22,987 or 129.3%.
• The health sector in rural and frontier Nevada – hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, pharmacies and other medical care providers – employ 6,289 individuals with a combined payroll of $308 million.
• Rural hospitals provide jobs for 2,000 health care professionals with a combined payroll of $104 million.
The Nevada Rural and Frontier Health Data Book – 2009 Edition is divided into five major sections containing the most current data on:
• Demographic characteristics of rural and frontier Nevada, including recent population estimates and projections.
• The social and economic characteristics of rural and frontier Nevada, including data on income, poverty and educational attainment.
• Population health status and health insurance coverage in rural and frontier Nevada.
• The health care workforce in rural and frontier Nevada, including estimates and projections for many licensed health care occupations across the major regions of the state.
• Health care resources and the economics of health care in rural and frontier Nevada.
A complete copy of the report can be downloaded here. For more information or to request a hard copy of the data book, please contact John Packham via email.
As the state’s only public medical school, the University of Nevada School of Medicine has been a leader in healthcare, medical education and research in Nevada since 1969. The School of Medicine includes 16 clinical departments including family medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, internal medicine, surgery, and psychiatry and behavioral sciences, and five nationally recognized departments in basic science including microbiology and biomedical engineering. The more than 185 doctors of University Health System, the school’s clinical practice, offer care in more than 40 medical specialties and subspecialties with eight physician offices in the Reno/Sparks area and seven in Las Vegas. The school is committed to a best practices approach to medicine and is dedicated to exceptional healthcare for Nevada now and in the future. For more information visit www.medicine.nevada.edu.