Biodemography of Exceptional Longevity in the United States.
This project proposes to investigate why some people manage to survive to extreme old age (100+ years) and what are the biological and social correlates of exceptional longevity. These are important issues not only for demographic forecasts of human mortality and population aging, and the policy implications on health-care and pension expenditures, but also for improving our understanding of the fundamental mechanisms of human aging and longevity. The project proposes to explore the effects of early-life living conditions, adult physical characteristics, marriage, and reproductive history on exceptional longevity, and will test a number of related biomedical and social hypotheses. The project is designed as an interdisciplinary study of exceptional human longevity. To contribute to the research infrastructure for subsequent longevity studies world-wide, a database with integrated, matched information on longevity predictor variables will be developed, and made available to the research community on the Internet. More
Outpatient Payment Policy Under Medicare: Recent Policy Developments from the Rural Perspective.
This study was designed to examine outpatient payment options for rural hospitals, the advantages and disadvantages of each, and their potential impact on hospital revenue and rural access to health services. More
Roadmap for the Adoption of Health Information Technology in Rural Communities.
The goal of this project was to develop a reference document that would be provided to attendees at the Office of Rural Health Policy's September 2006 conference and widely distributed to other interested parties following the conference. Based on a review of the relevant literature as well as exhaustive review of relevant web sites, this document compiles information designed to help all types of rural health care providers along the road to adoption of health information technology. More
Rural Health Reform Policy Research Center.
The NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis and the University of North Dakota Center for Rural Health partnered to establish the Rural Health Reform Policy Research Center (RHR-PRC), one of seven rural health research centers funded by the HRSA Federal Office of Rural Health Policy. More
Rwanda LAND Project.
Rwanda’s population density is the highest in sub-Saharan Africa and continues to grow at a rate of nearly three percent per year. Scholars and researchers frequently cite land pressure and conflicts as contributing factors to the 1994 genocide which continue to be of concern. USAID will implement a program in Rwanda which will develop local research capacity in land- related issues, and support the government’s ability to improve access to justice for Rwandans, particularly vulnerable populations, on land-related issues. Chemonics International has been awarded a contract to implement a number of capacity building measures under this program and has retained NORC to assist in developing the policy research and development capacities of Rwandan civil society and state organizations. More