Health Resources and Services Administration May 3, 2007 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Health Resources and Services Administration's (HRSA) Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP) has sought to identify clear, consistent, and data-driven methods of defining rural areas in the Metropolitan counties of the United States. ORHP has funded development of Rural-Urban Commuting Area (RUCA) codes as the latest version of the Goldsmith Modification. HRSA is seeking comments on ORHP's use of RUCAs to better target Rural Health funding and projects. While other agencies of HHS may choose to adopt ORHP's definition of ``rural'' there is no requirement that they do so and they may choose other, alternate definitions that best suit their program requirements.