Bridging a Care Gap: Policy Opportunities for Improving Access to Home-Based Primary Care for Rural Populations

Home-based primary care can help address health needs and advance health equity, particularly for older adults and those with complex health and social needs who struggle to access care in traditional care settings. With 7.5 million older adults in the U.S. either completely or partially homebound, there is significant demand for receiving care in the home. Yet there remains a significant gap between the demand and supply of home-based primary care services, which will further increase with an aging population. This gap is exacerbated in rural areas, with rural adults 78 percent less likely than those in the largest metropolitan counties to receive home-based medical care.

This webinar will explore practical opportunities to increase home-based primary care access in rural settings. In particular, the speakers will discuss:

• Unique challenges of implementing home-based primary care in rural areas,
• Care delivery considerations for supporting rural home-based primary care, and
• Policy opportunities to support rural home-based primary care providers and the communities they serve.

The webinar is supported by The John A. Hartford Foundation and is part our project, Leveraging Policy Reforms to Scale Home-Based Primary Care.