BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Today, the country is celebrating rural health care providers in honor of rural health care day.
Here at home, The University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine has recently received $2.8 million to study the effect of federal policy on rural health care. As a result, a new institution is opening in Burlington.- It will be called the Northeast Rural Health Research Center. The US Census shows 65% of Vermonters live in rural areas, the highest rural population in the country. With demographic changes altering the state’s health care delivery, director of Larner’s Research Center, Erika Ziller, is studying the landscape.
“A lot of our focus will be on federal policy and state policy, but as the center grows and hires more staff we really want to be a resource for all the great rural work that’s already happening.” said Ziller
The center will work with the University of Southern Maine to study rural health insurance, emergency services, behavioral health, aging and policy strategies to support rural health care providers.