Potential for Increased Service Coordination Among Rural Hospitals

Center for Rural Pennsylvania
01/01/89 - 12/31/92

Larry Gamm, Associate Professor of Health Policy and Administration
S. Diane Brannon, Associate Professor of Health Policy and Administration
Mary L. Fennell, Professor of Sociology
Frederick R. Eisele, Associate Professor of Health Policy and Administration

The primary goal of this project was to provide information to policymakers about methods to increase service coordination among rural Pennsylvania hospitals and between these hospitals and other rural health services organizations. Three reports were produced through the project. The first report, Service Sharing and Coordination Among Pennsylvania's Rural Hospials and Health Service Organizations, presented results from surveys of rural hospitals and health service organizations in Pennsylvania. The extent and type of coordinative relationships maintained by hospitals, nursing homes, and home health agencies with other local providers and outside health organizations was described. The potential of these relationships for reducing gaps and duplications in health services and facilities was discussed.

The second report, Service Sharing and Coordination Among Rural Hospitals and Health Service Organizations: A Review of the Literature and Experience in Selected States, provided an overview of service-sharing and coordination arrangements, defined and described in some detail the benefits and limitations associated with particular types of service-sharing and coordination strategies, and presented examples of their applications in selected states.

The third report, Service Sharing and Coordination for Rural Hospitals and Health Service Organizations: Policy Options for Pennsylvania, compared the strengths and weakness of various service-coordinating mechanisms, compared a variety of models of rural health system coordination according to a number of policy evaluation criteria, and concluded with the presentation and discussion of 16 recommendations that focused on contributions to rural health coordination and involvement in state health policy.

Final report available: Service Sharing and Coordination Among Rural Hospitals, Gamm et al.