Implementing Clinical Preventive Services Recommendations in Rural Settings

Funder:	Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
Research center:	Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis Phone: 301.634.9300
Lead researcher:	Michael Meit, MA, MPH , 301.634.9324, meit-michael@norc.org
Project funded:	September 2005
Project completed:	February 2007
Topics:	Health promotion and disease prevention Health services Physicians

NORC has been conducting an evaluation to assess the delivery of the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommendations in different types of health plans, specifically open model plans in which physicians are independent contractors, closed model plans in which physicians are health plan employees, "hybrid" plans in which some physicians are plan-affiliated employees and some are contractors, and governmental plans. In consultation with AHRQ, NORC also decided to assess unique challenges faced by plans that provide services to rural populations in rural settings. Staff from NORC’s Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis conducted site visits and key informant interviews with various leaders and decision makers within health plans to assess the degree to which USPSTF recommendations were being integrated within the various health plans, and to identify barriers to implementation related to issues of rurality and unique characteristics of rural populations. Findings will be included in NORC’s final report to AHRQ, scheduled to be released in February 2007. In addition, the Walsh Center will produce a separate research brief highlighting rural-specific findings, to be released shortly thereafter.

Publications

• Delivering the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Recommendations in a Rural Health Plan
  Author(s): Alycia Infante, Michael Meit
  Report Number: Research Brief, W Series No. 8
  Date: 02 / 2007
  Explores the challenges that one health plan faces in delivering the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommendations to its rural patient population.
• Evaluation of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Recommendations for Clinical Preventive Services
  Author(s): Alycia Infante, Michael Meit, Thomas Briggs, Caitlin Oppenheimer, Jennifer Benz
  Report Number: Final Report
  Date: 02 / 2007
  Reports findings addressing the adoption, integration, delivery, and dissemination of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommendations for clinical preventive services in different types of health plans.