Evaluation Measures for Rural Mobile Healthcare Programs

Mobile healthcare programs should consider what type of information they would like to learn from an evaluation and data they would need to collect. Process evaluation questions examine how the program was implemented and what facilitated its successes as well as challenges. Outcomes evaluation questions focus on the short-term and intermediate effects of the program and whether the program met its intended goals.

Once key evaluation questions have been established, program planners should determine the measures or indicators they will use to answer those questions.

Process measures and questions focus on how mobile healthcare services are provided. Examples of process measures related to mobile healthcare programs include:

• What did the organization accomplish during the reporting period?
  • How many people were served?
  • How many sessions were completed?
  • What services were delivered (vaccinations, medication reconciliation, connections to primary care, or other services)?
  • What percentage of patients are receiving referrals to other programs or social services?
• How did community members or patients perceive the program?
• How did staff members perceive the program?
• How well did documentation systems capture program and patient data?
• How did the referral process to the program work from hospitals/providers/emergency medical services (EMS)? To partner agencies?
• What were the barriers and challenges that affected program implementation?
• Who facilitated the implementation of the program?
• What program activities were not completed and why? If activities changed, why did they change?
• What are key lessons learned?

Outcome measures or questions focus on the overall results of the program. For example:

• What were the outcomes of the program?
  • Did the program reduce the frequency of 911 calls?
  • Did the program reduce the number of emergency room visits?
  • Did the program reduce 30-day hospital readmission rates?
  • Did the program reduce medication errors or adverse drug events?
  • Did the program reduce home safety hazards, like fall risks?
  • Did the program connect patients with a primary care provider/medical home?
  • Did the program effectively teach patients how to manage their chronic health conditions?
  • Did the program connect patients with other beneficial local services (Meals on Wheels, physical therapy, and others)?
  • Did the program improve patient quality of life?
• Did the program result in cost savings to the healthcare system?
  • What aspects of the program were most cost-effective or least cost-effective?
• Which outcomes are important to the community?

Evaluation findings can help you understand the impact of your mobile integrated health program and make the case for its continuation. Using outcome measures can demonstrate the impact the program has on the community and health staff while conducting a cost analysis or using tools like an ROI (return on investment) calculator can help demonstrate the cost-benefit.

Additional information on identifying strategies and measures for gathering appropriate data and evidence can be found in the Rural Community Health Toolkit.

Resources to Learn More

Mobile Clinic Impact Tracker
Website
Tool that mobile clinics can use to help evaluate the impact of their mobile healthcare programming. The website includes a demo of how to use the online tool.
Organization(s): Mobile Health Map

Mobile Health Map Data Dashboard Creation
Document
Worksheet that programs can use to collect data for tracking and evaluation. This can be used to create a dashboard in Mobile Health Map to evaluate the impact of mobile health clinic programming.
Organization(s): Mobile Health Map
Date: 8/2024