In the early 2000s, there were a significant number of closures in the nursing home industry. This paper analyzes the effect of rural nursing home closure on the quality of care provided by the nursing homes in the market that do not close. We develop a theoretical model that shows that the direction of quality change after a closure is dependent on how quality enters the demand and cost functi...

This is the only volume to address the pressing need for practical information about transitioning from an urban-based nursing education or practice to a rural health care environment. It provides successful strategies that nurses in rural settings can use to develop, implement, and evaluate innovative programs that will meet the needs of individual rural communities. The book details current r...

In this policy brief, we estimate and document the regional magnitudes of charges associated with hospitalizations due to ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACSCs) in rural hospitals. This research will inform policy makers about the regional magnitudes of rural preventable hospitalizations and the associated potential savings in hospital resource utilization when rural patients receive time...

Objectives The aim of the present study was to investigate healthcare provider perceptions of the impact of refugee patients at two public hospitals, one rural and one urban, in designated refugee resettlement areas. Healthcare professionals' views regarding improvements that could be made in this area were also sought. Methods Two-page anonymous questionnaires containing demographic, quantitat...

OBJECTIVE To compare outcomes of appendectomies performed in rural hospitals by specialist surgeons and GP surgeons. DESIGN Retrospective analysis of the Canadian Institute for Health Information's (CIHI) Discharge Abstract Database (DAD) 1996-1999. SETTING Rural hospitals in Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia. PARTICIPANTS All surgeons who performed appendectomies in th...

When the Health Care Financing Administration implemented the Medicare prospective payment system (PPS), the payment rates for inpatient hospital operating costs were derived on an urban and rural basis within each region. The rates were also adjusted for area wage levels and other factors affecting hospital costs. The effect of PPS on rural hospitals is of widespread interest. This article pro...

An imponant aspect of the ongoing debate on rural health policy is how to deliver inpatient care in sparsely populated rural areas. One alternative is to create a new classification of rural inpatient facility that would deliver more limited services than available in a rural hospital, have more flexibility in staffing requirements, and possibly be reimbursed differently. The support of the Hea...

BACKGROUND The loss of family physicians as obstetrics providers during the last decade has had a significant impact on access to obstetric services, especially for rural populations. The expense of malpractice premiums has been cited often as a reason for physicians' discontinuation of this service. METHODS Seventy-six family physicians in northern California who recently discontinued obstet...

BACKGROUND This study examines the opinions of health professionals about the capacity and performance of the 'técnico de cirurgia', a surgically trained assistant medical officer in the Mozambican health system. Particular attention is paid to the views of medical doctors and maternal and child health nurses. METHODS The results are derived from a qualitative study using both semi-structured...

QUALITY PROBLEM In low-income countries, medical record management is often lacking. We sought to evaluate the impact of an inexpensive business process re-engineering project on the accessibility and completeness of patient information and on physician satisfaction. DESIGN Pre-post intervention study during 2006-07, using time-motion studies, medical record audits and physician surveys. SE...