introduction: health care industry consists of an unexpected and confusing environment in which quality events play the important role. in such conditions, the necessary changes should be made. excellence models are general oriented frameworks that are able to achieve the above intention. materials & methods: this study is a descriptive cross-sectional study. data gathered by a standard checkli...

This Policy Brief presents characteristics contributing to the formation of four accountable care organizations (ACOs) that serve rural Medicare beneficiaries. Doing so provides considerations for provider organizations contemplating creating rural-based ACOs. Key Findings. (1) Previous organizational integration and risk-sharing experience facilitated ACO formation. (2) Use of an electronic he...

Research suggests that there is some confusion among quality improvement managers about the differences between quality management and traditional quality assurance. This lack of understanding would appear to be the same among rural and urban health staff, although there is a higher percentage of staff engaged in multidisciplinary activities in the rural health services. Education of staff and ...

This paper, derived from The role and function of the rural nurse in Australia study, describes the effects of organisational change upon the rural nurses participating in the study. It appears that whilst change is an inevitable and regular feature of rural health service delivery, it does not necessarily benefit rural nurses or communities for reasons unique to rural life. Nurses in the study...

This policy brief shares insights gained from site visits in 2013 to four Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) serving rural Medicare beneficiaries. Initial strategic decisions made and challenges faced as the ACOs were being developed can inform development of other rural ACOs. Key Findings. (1) The rural ACOs we studied were formed as a step toward a value-driven rural delivery system, recog...

Ethics questions and conflicts will always be commonplace in rural health care practices. Despite the ethics knowledge and skills that clinicians and administrators may possess, ethics conflicts are stressful and time-consuming because of the inherent uncertainty surrounding such conflicts. To manage the potential negative effect of ethics conflicts, health care professionals and institutions s...

INTRODUCTION An estimated 2.8 million cancer survivors reside in rural areas in the United States. We compared the risk behaviors, psychosocial factors, health outcomes, quality of life, and follow-up care of rural and urban cancer survivors in Missouri. METHODS We used 2009-2010 Missouri Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data to examine various health outcomes, behaviors, and psycho...

BACKGROUND Rural-urban disparities in health and healthcare are often attributed to differences in geographic access to care and health seeking behavior. Less is known about the differences between rural locations in health care seeking and outcomes. This study examines how commuting patterns in different rural areas are associated with perforated appendicitis. RESULTS Controlling for age, se...

abstract background: improving the utilization rate of antenatal care is a critical strategy for achieving the reproductive health goals in iran. the aim of this study was to assess the utilization rate of antenatal care (anc) by women after health sector reform (hsr) interventions in rural areas of islamic republic of iran (ir iran). materials and methods: this is a retrospective cross-section...

The need for nursing home care will increase for the next several decades. Rural areas will be impacted in particular, as many older adults live in rural areas. Daily oral infection control changes when a person moves from independent living to institutional living. Oral care to dependent individuals is influenced by many factors. The purpose of this study is to determine the association of ora...