Charles D. Phillips, PhD

Southwest Rural Health Research Center

Phone: 979.458.0080
Fax: 979.458.0656
E-mail: phillipscd@srph.tamushsc.edu

Southwest Rural Health Research Center
Texas A & M University
School of Rural Public Health 1266 TAMU
Texas A&M Health Science Center
College Station, TX 77843-1266

Completed Projects

Medicaid Budget Cuts: Effects on Rural Nursing Homes and Rural Elderly and Disabled, Lead researcher
Research center: Southwest Rural Health Research Center
Funder: Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topics: Aging, Disabilities, Long term care, Medicaid and S-CHIP
This project will investigate whether nursing home quality and access to nursing home care have eroded in rural areas as a result of changes in Medicare payments or reductions in Medicaid nursing home payments from 2000-2003.

Nursing Home Quality: A Comparison between Rural and Non-Rural Nursing Homes, Lead researcher
Research center: Southwest Rural Health Research Center
Funder: Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topics: Long term care, Quality, Rural statistics and demographics
The research examines the effect of location (rural/non-rural) on the characteristics of nursing homes and residents, and on various indicators of quality of care.

Quality Differences between Rural and Non-Rural Nursing Homes, Lead researcher
Research center: Southwest Rural Health Research Center
Funder: Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topics: Long term care, Quality

Publications

• Assisted Living In Rural America: Results from a National Survey
  Author(s): Catherine Hawes, Charles D. Phillips, Scott Holan, Michael Sherman
  Research center: Southwest Rural Health Research Center
  Topics: Long term care, Rural statistics and demographics
  Date: 08 / 2003
  Provides descriptive information on the assisted living industry in metropolitan and rural areas. Results indicate that assisted living was largely a private-pay form of long-term care and was more common in metropolitan than rural areas. Findings suggest that assisted living, as currently structured, will make only a marginal contribution to meeting the needs of frail elders living in rural areas.
• Differences Between Newly Admitted Nursing Home Residents in Rural and Nonrural Areas in a National Sample
  Author(s): Jane Nelson Bolin, Charles D Phillips, Catherine Hawes
  Research center: Southwest Rural Health Research Center
  Topics: Long term care, Rural statistics and demographics
  Citation: Gerontologist, 46(1), 33-41
  Date: 2006
  This research investigates whether differences in acuity are a function of differences in resident payer status and occur for both individuals admitted for short stays, with Medicare as payer, and those needing chronic care. Results of the analyses indicated that non-Medicare residents admitted to rural nursing facilities have lower acuity scores than non-Medicare residents admitted to metropolitan nursing homes. Individuals admitted under Medicare were similar in rural and urban areas.
• Nursing Homes in Rural and Urban Areas, 2000
  Author(s): Charles D. Phillips, Catherine Hawes, Malgorzata Leyk Williams
  Research center: Southwest Rural Health Research Center
  Topic: Long term care
  Date: 02 / 2003
  This report focuses on two basic dimensions of nursing homes; Federally-certified nursing homes and the residents in those homes, and homes operating in settings that differ in their degree of rurality and their geographic location. The study found that there are higher percentages of elderly population in rural areas, and also that the utilization rates of nursing homes is higher in rural areas. Homes in rural areas are more likely to have fewer beds than urban homes and are also more likely to be government-funded and owned than urban nursing homes. Rural nursing homes are more likely to be below the nursing staff and aides' threshold than homes in urban areas. Overall, these problems put rural nursing homes at higher risk for poor outcomes in nursing homes, but it is most apparent in extremely isolated rural areas.
• Nursing Homes In Rural And Urban Areas, 2001
  Author(s): Charles D. Phillips, Catherine Hawes, Malgorzata Leyk Williams
  Research center: Southwest Rural Health Research Center
  Topics: Long term care, Quality, Rural statistics and demographics
  Date: 06 / 2004
  Chart book providing descriptive data on the entire population of longer-stay nursing home residents in the country in calendar year 2001 and categorizing them according to the rurality of the nursing home in which they receive care in an effort to address questions related to residents' characteristics and quality of care.