Dr. Clint MacKinney explains the challenges rural hospitals face with current payment systems and the potential that value-based payment holds for meeting rural communities’ needs.
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Topics: Critical Access Hospitals
“It’s the relationships”: Q&A with Peggy Broussard Wheeler
Peggy Broussard Wheeler, Vice President of Policy at the California Hospital Association, discusses the challenges that the hospitals in her state and nationwide have faced before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. She also shares rural hospitals’ unique strengths and the importance of collaboration and relationships.
Read MoreIt Takes a Village: Rural Recruitment and Retention
Healthcare facilities in Kansas and North Dakota and national organizations discuss the challenges of recruiting and retaining healthcare professionals in rural areas and share solutions, including partnering with local schools and businesses as well as other healthcare facilities.
Read MoreKeeping the Doors Open: Vulnerable Rural Hospitals Benefit from Federally Funded Technical Assistance
It’s a crisis: rural hospital closures. Helping at-risk hospitals thrive in order to continue to serve their communities, Texas A&M’s Center for Optimizing Rural Health (CORH) offers technical assistance through a federally funded program for vulnerable hospitals. The CORH team and an Oklahoma program participant share specifics on just how the program’s assistance can help keep doors open.
Read MoreUnderstanding the Rural Swing Bed: More than Just a Reimbursement Policy
“Swing bed” is that oft-heard phrase describing not a physical hospital bed, but post-acute care for the rural patient who is well enough to leave the acute care hospital but not well enough to be safe at home. In this 2-part story, experts and hospital administrators review the swing bed program’s historical implementation and provide stories and examples of the value this over 40-year-old healthcare delivery and reimbursement model brings to patients, to the hospitals providing their care, and ultimately to rural communities.
Read MoreHistory of the Swing Bed: A Look Through the Rural Rearview Mirror
The healthcare delivery model known as the swing bed program has allowed rural and Critical Access Hospitals to serve patients by keeping them in their rural communities for post-acute care. Reviewing the history of this program, experts describe early implementation and key program elements that have sustained its success for over 40 years.
Read MorePulmonary Rehabilitation: Benefiting Rural Individuals, Benefiting Rural Population Health
On the list of leading causes of death, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, impacts millions of rural Americans and their quality of life. Though limited treatments are available for COPD, research indicates that pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) provides major benefits, yet is currently under-prescribed and facing challenges from COVID-19 and from reimbursement policies. Researchers discuss the potential that tele-PR might bring to rural areas, and rural healthcare leaders highlight the benefits of their PR programs for service areas.
Read MoreStill Stealing Rural America’s Breath: An Update on Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, is a condition that continues to steal rural America’s breath. Researchers, philanthropists, and healthcare professionals talk about new rural research efforts and the impact of COVID-19 on COPD. Also discussed is the importance of pulmonary rehabilitation, an impactful treatment long known to improve quality of life and now backed by new research proving it decreases death rates in select patients.
Read MoreExploring the Intersection of Rural Housing Quality and Health: Healthcare Providers and Housing Experts Provide Insight
Bringing focus to rural housing quality as a social determinant of health, a healthcare organization joins a service organization and housing experts to explain housing’s impact on health and how these organizations can work together to improve rural population health.
Read MoreCritical Access Hospital in Oregon Uses Advisory Council and Trainings to Improve Cultural Competency
To improve care for its American Indian and Latino patients, St. Charles Madras, a Critical Access Hospital in Oregon, created a Patient Family Advisory Council, implemented cultural competency trainings, and installed new artwork to better represent its community.
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