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Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Hospitals

Rural Health Care in America: Challenges and Opportunities
Presents the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance full committee hearing on improving rural healthcare across the country. Addresses access to emergency services, rural hospital financial challenges and closures, Accountable Care Organizations, and regulatory and workforce challenges. Features testimonies from representatives of the NC Rural Health Research Program Sheps Center for Health Services Research, the RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis, San Luis Valley Health, UnityPoint Health, and Geisinger Health.
Additional links: Statement by James E. Mathews, Statement by Orrin G. Hatch, Statement by Ron Wyden, Testimony by George H. Pink, Testimony by Karen M. Murphy, Testimony by Keith J. Mueller, Testimony by Konnie Martin, Testimony by Susan K. Thompson
Date: 05/2018
Sponsoring organization: Senate Committee on Finance
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Ensuring Access and Improving Population Health Through Collaboration and Patient-Centered Care Columbia Memorial Hospital, Astoria, OR
Describes Columbia Memorial Hospital (CMH), an independent Critical Access Hospital (CAH), in Astoria, Oregon, that works to ensure access to specialty and primary care for Pacific North Coast and Lower Columbia regions of northwest Oregon. Shares strategies and collaborative efforts to address the community's needs by ensuring access to care, improving population health, and designing consumer driven patient-centered care.
Date: 05/2018
Sponsoring organization: American Hospital Association Rural Health Services
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Ensuring Access to Care: Wagner Community Memorial Hospital – Avera, Wagner, S.D.
Describes Wagner Community Memorial Hospital – Avera (WCMH-A), a 20-bed Critical Access Hospital (CAH) in Wagner, South Dakota, that works to ensure access to care while addressing the social determinants of health for the populations they serve. Shares strategies and collaborative efforts to address the community's needs through the use of telemedicine, housing and economic development, population health, and access to primary care.
Date: 05/2018
Sponsoring organization: American Hospital Association Rural Health Services
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Rural Post-Acute Care: Healthcare Leaders Offer Practical Solutions to Workforce Challenges
Describes methods for preparing and supporting healthcare workers who provide post-acute care in rural areas. Highlights programs that empower and train staff, maximize community partnerships, involve community health workers, and use telemonitoring.
Author(s): Jenn Lukens
Citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 05/2018
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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OSF HealthCare – Peoria, IL: Connecting Health Systems and Community-Based Organizations to Improve Outcomes
Features a faith-based, 13-hospital health care system serving Illinois and Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Describes OSF Center for Health - Streator, which will feature the first rural freestanding emergency department in Illinois. Discusses how OSF HealthCare is using a case management platform and working with community-based organizations to meet a wide range of patient needs.
Date: 05/2018
Sponsoring organization: American Hospital Association
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Is Bigger Better? Exploring the Impact of System Membership on Rural Hospitals
Describes how system membership affects financial performance and transfer patterns of rural hospitals in California. Shows what financial benefits are involved and examines whether membership increases or decreases likelihood of closure. Includes appendices with lists of system and nonsystem hospitals by county, and rural hospital intercompany transfer statistics from 2011-2015.
Author(s): Glenn Melnick, Katya Fonkych
Date: 05/2018
Sponsoring organization: California Health Care Foundation
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Rural Post-Acute Care: Improving Transitions to Enhance Patient Recovery
Highlights approaches that are improving patient transitions from acute care to post-acute care (PAC) in rural settings. Features a tertiary facility's communication with skilled nursing facilities in Tennessee and Kentucky, a Nebraska Critical Access Hospital's swing bed program, and a home health agency serving rural Maine.
Author(s): Jenn Lukens
Date: 05/2018
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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Changes in Hospital Utilization Three Years into Maryland's Global Budget Program for Rural Hospitals
Examines the impact of Maryland's global budget program for acute care hospitals, with a focus on Medicare beneficiaries served by rural hospitals. Compares changes in hospital use and hospital spending between the rural hospitals participating in the global budget program and a control group during a 3-year period. Discusses the policy implications for other states considering alternate payment models.
Author(s): Eric T. Roberts, Laura A. Hatfield, J. Michael McWilliams, et al.
Citation: Health Affairs, 37(4), 644-653
Date: 04/2018
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Market Characteristics Associated with Rural Hospitals' Provision of Post-Acute Care
Findings brief summarizing hospital- and market-level factors related to post-acute care (PAC) provided in rural hospitals from 2012-2015. Features statistics from 2012-2015 rural Medicare cost reports, PAC provision by census region in 2015, and percent of hospitals in frontier and remote areas in 2015 with breakdowns by type and PAC provision.
Author(s): Abby F. Hoffman, Randy K. Randolph, Alex R. Schulte, George H. Pink
Date: 04/2018
Sponsoring organization: North Carolina Rural Health Research Program
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Rural and Urban Provider Market Share of Inpatient Post-Acute Care Services Provided to Rural Medicare Beneficiaries
Findings brief examining rural patients' access to rehabilitation and skilled nursing care, using claims data from January 2013 through March 2014. Features statistics including numbers of patient days and discharges and average length of stay, with breakdowns by type and location of facility and type of care.
Author(s): Alex R. Schulte, Denise A. Kirk, Randy K. Randolph, George H. Pink
Date: 04/2018
Sponsoring organization: North Carolina Rural Health Research Program
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