Rural Policy Research Institute (RUPRI) Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
Completed Projects
Access to Services Across a Continuum of Care for Rural Beneficiaries
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topic:
Health services
Analysis of Information Networking Technology in Sustaining Rural Delivery Systems
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topics:
Networking and collaboration,
Technology
Assessment of Small Rural Hospital Activities to Report Medication Errors
This research will determine how small rural hospitals have responded to the environmental pressure to improve patient safety and quality by implementing safe medication practices and by reporting and monitoring medication errors.
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topics:
Hospitals and clinics,
Pharmacy and prescription drugs,
Quality
Changing the Medicare Program According to the Principles of Managed Competition
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topic:
Medicare
Characteristics of Low-volume Communities
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topics:
Health care financing,
Legislation and regulation,
Medicare
Comments on Regulatory and Contractor Reform Legislation
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topics:
Health policy,
Legislation and regulation,
Medicare
Developing and Using a Classification Schema to Identify Sentinel Communities in the U.S.
This project will enable rural researchers to track the effect of current policies on rural communities, anticipate the effect of proposed policies, and demonstrate policy effects that link one sector to another.
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topic:
Health policy
Discrepancies of Financial Data between Medicare Cost Report and Hospital Audited Financial Statement and Its Implication for Measuring Financial Impact of Payment Policy on Rural Hospitals
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topics:
Health care financing,
Health policy,
Hospitals and clinics
Establishing a Fair Payment for Rural Physicians
This project will analyze differences in physician payment as a function of practice location and simulate policy choices that change the current payment formula.
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topics:
Health policy,
Physicians,
Workforce
Estimating the Medicare+Choice Threshold Payment Rate
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topics:
Health care financing,
Medicare
Examining the Magnitudes, Geographic Variations, and Determinants Of Expenditures Due to Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions in Rural Hospitals
This project will document the magnitude of and variation in ambulatory care sensitive condition (ACSC) expenditures of rural hospitals and explore the relationships between rural hospital ACSC expenditure and its key determinants in the areas of population demand, health care system supply, and provider practice style.
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topics:
Chronic diseases and conditions,
Health care financing,
Hospitals and clinics
How Will Rural Hospitals Meet Requirements for Patient Privacy?
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topics:
Hospitals and clinics,
Legislation and regulation
Impact of Medicare Advantage Plan Concentration on Choices and Competition in Rural Areas
This project focuses on the analysis of Medicare Advantage (MA) plan choices for rural beneficiaries and what the concentration of plan choices in rural areas may mean in the context of how rural beneficiaries are making their choices. Using measures of concentration from the economics literature, this project will explore the relationship between market concentration in MA plans and the generosity of MA plans, and how it varies by the location of residence of Medicare beneficiaries.
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topics:
Medicare,
Medicare Advantage (MA)
Implementation of the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit: What is Available to Rural Beneficiaries?
This study will focus on the impact of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 on rural beneficiaries, based on actual prescription drug plan contracts, comparing the impact of the legislation on rural beneficiaries to their urban counterparts.
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topics:
Health policy,
Legislation and regulation,
Medicare Part D
Is Medicare Beneficiary Access to Primary Care Physicians At Risk?
This project examined the impact of changes in Medicare payment to physicians on access to care for rural beneficiaries.
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topics:
Medicare,
Physicians
J-1 Visa Project
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topics:
Health policy,
International Medical Graduates (IMGs),
J-1 Visa Waiver,
Workforce
Locating Community Pharmacies (Independent and Chain) in Rural America
A comprehensive database of all rural U.S. pharmacies including pharmacy name, pharmacy type (chain or independent), town, ZIP code, county, state, RUCA code, and Federal Information Processing Standards will be developed. The databases will be usable in most widely used statistics and geographic information systems software packages.
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topics:
Health services,
Pharmacy and prescription drugs
Medicare Modernization Act: Reality for Rural Beneficiaries and Providers
This project will focus on two areas of new activity in Medicare—beneficiary participation in Medicare Advantage (MA) plans and prescription drug plans and implementation of the new Part D benefit through private health plans. We will describe enrollment into specific types of MA prescription drug plans and other prescription drug plans, and analyze differences across regions, states, and types of counties. We will also examine the impact of the transfer to Part D coverage on rural dual eligibles and their local pharmacies.
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topics:
Health policy,
Medicare Advantage (MA),
Medicare Part D
Medicare Reform: Rural Considerations
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topics:
Health policy,
Medicare Prospective Payment System (PPS),
Medicare Wage Index
National Rural Hospital Flexibility Program Tracking Project Dissemination
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topic:
Critical Access Hospitals and Rural Hospital Flexibility Program
Nationwide Analysis of New Entrants into Medicare+Choice Demonstrations
This project will examine the effects of recent changes in the Medicare+Choice program on enrollment in rural areas and on activities of rural-based health plans.
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topic:
Medicare
Rural Provider Participation in a Statewide Health Information Project
Nebraska has recently constructed a communication infrastructure that links all the hospitals in the state with broadband, high-speed systems (using T1 lines to the Critical Access Hospitals). That infrastructure is considered to be the backbone for a statewide health information network being designed by a coalition of organizations. The aim of this project is to delineate reasons for rural providers to participate in the coalition by assessing the associated costs and benefits.
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topics:
Health information technology,
Hospitals and clinics,
Networking and collaboration
Rural Quality Improvement Focus on Diabetes
This project focused specifically on diabetes care management and quality improvement programming in rural areas as a way to understand the adaptability and policy implications of using chronic care coordination and other models in a rural environment.
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topics:
Chronic diseases and conditions,
Quality
Rural-Urban Physician Payment Differences Across the Nation: Methodological Changes
This project will simulate the effects of changes to the methodologies used to calculate the three geographic practice cost indices (GPCIs) currently used to adjust physician payment across the 89 Medicare payment areas in the U.S. and territories. Changes to the payment formula will be analyzed to determine potential impact on payment across areas and revenues for rural physician practices.
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topics:
Health policy,
Medicare,
Physicians,
Workforce
Uninsurance and Welfare Reform in Rural America
This project used widely accepted databases to examine the recent history of uninsurance rates in the U.S., focusing on the low-income population that could be eligible for welfare. Additionally, the project concentrated on how welfare reform has impacted the health insurance coverage of welfare recipients and other low-income persons over the period when welfare reform was phased in.
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topics:
Health insurance and the uninsured,
Poverty
Why Are Health Care Costs Increasing and Is There a Rural Differential in National Data?
This project will determine whether growth in health insurance premiums and out-of-pocket spending differs in rural areas as compared to urban areas.
Funder:
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topic:
Health insurance and the uninsured
