Analysis of the Medicare provider analysis record (MEDPAR) data during fiscal years 1984 through 1989 indicates that the proportion of rural Medicare beneficiaries hospitalized in urban hospitals has remained constant during the prospective payment system (PPS). Much of the use of urban hospitals by rural beneficiaries during this period was to obtain specialized care or surgery, as suggested b...

The objective of this research is to assess the multitemporal very high resolution single polarization SAR data for urban land cover/land-use mapping using a novel knowledge-based SEM algorithm. Three-date RADARSAT-2 ultra-fine beam SAR data were collected over the rural-urban fringe of Greater Toronto Area. A modified Stochastic Expectation-Maximization (SEM) algorithm which employs an adaptiv...

Studies on urban–rural fringes, which represent regions facing various urbanization problems caused by rapid expansion, have steadily increased in recent years. However, persist the quantitative delimitation of such regions. Based characteristics abrupt urbanization-level changes fringe areas, we propose a constraint-based method this study to detect fringes cities with spatial polycentric stru...

BACKGROUND The potential impact of shortages of the surgical workforce on both urban and rural hospitals is undefined. There is a predicted shortage of 30,000 surgeons by 2030 and the need to train and hire more than 100,000 surgeons. The aim of this study is to estimate the average recruitment needs in our nation's hospitals for 7 surgical specialties to ensure adequate access to surgical care...

Objective. To assess whether acute stroke patients in rural hospitals receive less occupational therapy and physiotherapy than those in metropolitan hospitals. Design. Retrospective case-control study of health data in patients ≤10 days after stroke. Setting. Occupational therapy and physiotherapy services in four rural hospitals and one metropolitan hospital. Participants. Acute stroke patient...

Health care disparities in rural areas remain significant in the U.S. health care industry. Uncompensated care makes health care disparities in rural areas worse, and rural hospitals are unfavorably positioned to compete with urban hospitals in the economic-downturn marketplace. How uncompensated care affects quality care among rural hospitals has been lightly investigated. Given that many rura...