Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Healthcare business and finance
Global Budgets for Rural Hospitals
Discusses the financial and budgetary challenges faced by rural hospitals, explains how some rural hospitals have responded, and presents the case for using global budgets as an alternative payment model. Includes information on some of the proposed policy solutions such as Maryland's all-payer system and the Save Rural Hospitals Act.
Author(s): Joshua M. Sharfstein
Citation: The Milbank Quarterly, 94(2), 255-259
Date: 06/2016
view details
Discusses the financial and budgetary challenges faced by rural hospitals, explains how some rural hospitals have responded, and presents the case for using global budgets as an alternative payment model. Includes information on some of the proposed policy solutions such as Maryland's all-payer system and the Save Rural Hospitals Act.
Author(s): Joshua M. Sharfstein
Citation: The Milbank Quarterly, 94(2), 255-259
Date: 06/2016
view details
Stroudwater Population Health
An 8-part video series designed to help rural healthcare organizations transition from payment for volume to payment for value and advance population health strategies. Each part discusses an important strategy for achieving population health, including: quality and efficiency, network relationships and service rationalization, employer-sponsored health plans and fee-for-service payments, shared savings plans, and full risk payments and capitation.
Date: 06/2016
Sponsoring organization: Stroudwater Associates
view details
An 8-part video series designed to help rural healthcare organizations transition from payment for volume to payment for value and advance population health strategies. Each part discusses an important strategy for achieving population health, including: quality and efficiency, network relationships and service rationalization, employer-sponsored health plans and fee-for-service payments, shared savings plans, and full risk payments and capitation.
Date: 06/2016
Sponsoring organization: Stroudwater Associates
view details
Breaking the Barriers to Specialty Care: Practical Ideas to Improve Health Equity and Reduce Cost
Collection of briefs focused on how to improve access to specialty care for rural and low-income patients. Discusses telehealth, developing primary care capacity to provide appropriate specialty care, and coordinated specialist networks as approaches to improve specialty care access. Free, but registration required to download.
Date: 06/2016
Sponsoring organizations: Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation, FSG
view details
Collection of briefs focused on how to improve access to specialty care for rural and low-income patients. Discusses telehealth, developing primary care capacity to provide appropriate specialty care, and coordinated specialist networks as approaches to improve specialty care access. Free, but registration required to download.
Date: 06/2016
Sponsoring organizations: Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation, FSG
view details
MedPAC Report to the Congress: Medicare and the Health Care Delivery System, June 2016
Includes chapters on pricing and payment systems, Medicare drug spending, Part B drug and oncology payment policy issues, improving Part D, improving efficiency and preserving access to emergency care in rural areas, telehealth services and Medicare, and issues affecting dual-eligible beneficiaries. Rural providers and rural patient populations are discussed throughout the report.
Date: 06/2016
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
view details
Includes chapters on pricing and payment systems, Medicare drug spending, Part B drug and oncology payment policy issues, improving Part D, improving efficiency and preserving access to emergency care in rural areas, telehealth services and Medicare, and issues affecting dual-eligible beneficiaries. Rural providers and rural patient populations are discussed throughout the report.
Date: 06/2016
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
view details
Impact of the Affordable Care Act Coverage Expansion on Rural and Urban Populations
Discusses the advances supported by provisions in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) related to health insurance coverage, premium tax credits, and healthcare access for rural and urban populations with a special focus on rural individuals.
Author(s): Kelsey Avery, Kenneth Finegold, Xiao Xiao
Date: 06/2016
Sponsoring organization: HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation
view details
Discusses the advances supported by provisions in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) related to health insurance coverage, premium tax credits, and healthcare access for rural and urban populations with a special focus on rural individuals.
Author(s): Kelsey Avery, Kenneth Finegold, Xiao Xiao
Date: 06/2016
Sponsoring organization: HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation
view details
Are Rural Older Adults Benefiting from Increased State Spending on Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services?
Discusses the availability and use of home and community-based services (HCBS) by rural and urban elderly receiving Medicaid funding for long-term services and supports (LTSS) using national Medicaid Analytical Extract claims data.
Author(s): Andrew F. Coburn, Eileen Griffin, Deborah Thayer, Zachariah T. Croll, Erika C. Ziller
Date: 06/2016
Sponsoring organization: Maine Rural Health Research Center
view details
Discusses the availability and use of home and community-based services (HCBS) by rural and urban elderly receiving Medicaid funding for long-term services and supports (LTSS) using national Medicaid Analytical Extract claims data.
Author(s): Andrew F. Coburn, Eileen Griffin, Deborah Thayer, Zachariah T. Croll, Erika C. Ziller
Date: 06/2016
Sponsoring organization: Maine Rural Health Research Center
view details
Does ACA Insurance Coverage Expansion Improve the Financial Performance of Rural Hospitals?
Findings brief discussing perceptions of rural hospital administrators, state hospital associations, and State Offices of Rural Health, concerning changes in payer mix, changes in uncompensated care and unreimbursed cost, and financial performance in their respective hospitals or states.
Author(s): Kristie Thompson, Kristin Reiter, Rebecca Whitaker, Sharita Thomas
Date: 06/2016
Sponsoring organization: North Carolina Rural Health Research Program
view details
Findings brief discussing perceptions of rural hospital administrators, state hospital associations, and State Offices of Rural Health, concerning changes in payer mix, changes in uncompensated care and unreimbursed cost, and financial performance in their respective hospitals or states.
Author(s): Kristie Thompson, Kristin Reiter, Rebecca Whitaker, Sharita Thomas
Date: 06/2016
Sponsoring organization: North Carolina Rural Health Research Program
view details
Association Between the Value-Based Purchasing Pay for Performance Program and Patient Mortality in US Hospitals: Observational Study
Examines the impact of Medicare's Hospital Value-Based Purchasing (HVBP) program on mortality for pneumonia, heart failure, and acute myocardial infarction by comparing data from acute care hospitals participating in the program to data from over 1,300 Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) and 44 hospitals in Maryland not in the program.
Author(s): Jose F. Figueroa, Yusuke Tsugawa, Jie Zheng, E. John Orav, Ashish K. Jha
Citation: BMJ, 9(353), i2214
Date: 05/2016
view details
Examines the impact of Medicare's Hospital Value-Based Purchasing (HVBP) program on mortality for pneumonia, heart failure, and acute myocardial infarction by comparing data from acute care hospitals participating in the program to data from over 1,300 Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) and 44 hospitals in Maryland not in the program.
Author(s): Jose F. Figueroa, Yusuke Tsugawa, Jie Zheng, E. John Orav, Ashish K. Jha
Citation: BMJ, 9(353), i2214
Date: 05/2016
view details
Utilization of Telemedicine Among Rural Medicare Beneficiaries
Demonstrates the trends in the use of telemedicine utilization by rural Medicare beneficiaries between 2004 and 2013. Data is derived from Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes or telemedicine-specific codes, using Medicare's definition for rural. Includes a table comparing patient characteristics for Medicare beneficiaries with and without a telemedicine visit in 2013.
Author(s): Ateev Mehrotra, Anupam B. Jena, Alisa B. Busch, et al.
Citation: JAMA: Journal of the American Medical Association, 315(18), 2015–2016
Date: 05/2016
view details
Demonstrates the trends in the use of telemedicine utilization by rural Medicare beneficiaries between 2004 and 2013. Data is derived from Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes or telemedicine-specific codes, using Medicare's definition for rural. Includes a table comparing patient characteristics for Medicare beneficiaries with and without a telemedicine visit in 2013.
Author(s): Ateev Mehrotra, Anupam B. Jena, Alisa B. Busch, et al.
Citation: JAMA: Journal of the American Medical Association, 315(18), 2015–2016
Date: 05/2016
view details
Pender Community Hospital Surpassing Project Goals
Explains how Pender Community Hospital (PCH), a 21-bed Critical Access Hospital (CAH) located in Pender, Nebraska, improved its financial and operational performance through the Small Rural Hospital Transition (SRHT) Project. Focuses discussion on relocating the clinic, enhancing retail pharmacy and swing bed services, increasing marketing efforts, and restructuring therapy programs.
Date: 05/2016
Sponsoring organization: National Rural Health Resource Center
view details
Explains how Pender Community Hospital (PCH), a 21-bed Critical Access Hospital (CAH) located in Pender, Nebraska, improved its financial and operational performance through the Small Rural Hospital Transition (SRHT) Project. Focuses discussion on relocating the clinic, enhancing retail pharmacy and swing bed services, increasing marketing efforts, and restructuring therapy programs.
Date: 05/2016
Sponsoring organization: National Rural Health Resource Center
view details