Policymakers are concerned that some rural hospitals have suffered significant losses under the Balanced Budget Act (BBA) of 1997 and that access to inpatient and emergency care may be at risk. This article projects that the median total profit margin for rural hospitals will fall from 4 percent in 1997 to between 2.5 and 3.7 percent after the BBA, Balanced Budget Refinement Act (BBRA) of 1999,...

Sameer is a farmer who subsists on three acres in rural India. While much of the land is fertile, nearly 50% of his income goes towards just the interest payments from money-lender loans, loans which are necessary to finance the crops he plants. Moreover, some of his land is unused because he cannot profitably finance irrigation at the money-lender’s rates (5 to 10% per month). As a result, his...

Key Findings. (1) Based on analysis of 2009 Medicare claims data, more than 70% of rural primary care physicians (PCP) and non-physician practitioners (NPP) qualify for payments under the Primary Care Incentive Payment Program (PCIP) threshold (i.e., meet the > 60% of allowable Medicare charges). (2) The average incentive payment for qualifying rural PCPs would result in an additional $8,000 in...

in recent years, farming section of south khorasan province faces different limitations such as increasing shortage of water resources and continuous reduction of weather showers.considering consecutive droughts and water crisis in agricultural plain of the province, it is necessary to use water resources optimally and increase productivity of water shortage input. comparison of water productiv...

BACKGROUND This study will provide detailed specification of those variables and determinants of unpredictable health expenditure in Iran, and the requirements to reduce extensive effects of the factors affecting households' payments for health and other goods and services inappropriately. METHOD This study aims to identify measures of fair financing of health services and determinants of fai...