Anthony Wellever, MPA

Phone: 785.233.5443
E-mail: twellever@khi.org

Rural Health Research Center
University of Minnesota
420 Delaware Street, SE, Box 729
Minneapolis, MN 55455

Completed Projects

Rural Public Health Department Structure and Infrastructure, Lead researcher
Research center: ORHP-funded Individual Grantees
Funder: Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)
Topics: Networking and collaboration, Public health
This project is intended to generate hypotheses about the relationship of local public health department structure and infrastructure to performance. Using case studies of 12 rural public health departments in six geographically diverse states, investigators hope to identify elements of local health department (LHD) structure to serve as independent variables for future studies of LHD performance.

Publications

• Area Wage Index of the Medicare Inpatient Hospital Prospective Payment System: Perspectives, Policies, and Choices
  Author(s): Anthony Wellever, Andrew Coburn, Charles Fluharty, J. Patrick Hart, A. Clinton MacKinney, Timothy McBride, Keith Mueller, Rebecca Slifkin
  Research center: Rural Policy Research Institute (RUPRI) Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
  Topics: Health care financing, Legislation and regulation, Medicare Prospective Payment System (PPS), Medicare Wage Index
  Date: 08 / 2000
  This Policy Paper summarizes the positions of various rural health advocates and recording the actions taken by Congress and the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) to improve the wage index. Finally, it outlines the research needed to energize the policy discussion of the uses and methods of calculating the hospital wage index. Report produced by the RUPRI Rural Health Panel.
• Calculating and Using the Area Wage Index of the Medicare Inpatient Hospital Prospective Payment System
  Author(s): Anthony Wellever
  Research center: Rural Policy Research Institute (RUPRI) Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
  Topics: Medicare Prospective Payment System (PPS), Medicare Wage Index
  Date: 06 / 2000
  This policy brief explains how the area wage index is calculated and used, and identifies the major unresolved issues related to its calculation and use. Report produced by the RUPRI Rural Health Panel.
• Local Public Health at the Crossroads: The Structure of Health Departments in Rural Areas (Issue Brief)
  Author(s): Anthony Wellever
  Research center: ORHP-funded Individual Grantees
  Topic: Public health
  Date: 03 / 2006
  Overview of findings from a study of the structure of rural local public health departments. Includes policy recommendations.
• Local Public Health at the Crossroads: The Structure of Health Departments in Rural Areas (Report)
  Author(s): Anthony Wellever
  Research center: ORHP-funded Individual Grantees
  Topic: Public health
  Date: 03 / 2006
  Reports the results of a study of the structure of local health departments in rural areas. Includes case studies describing the structure of local health departments in rural areas in six geographically disparate states: Arizona, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, and Washington.
• Strategic Choices of Rural Health Networks: Implications for Goals and Performance Measurement
  Author(s): Anthony Wellever, Douglas Wholey, Tiffany Radcliff
  Research center: Minnesota Rural Health Research Center
  Topic: Networking and collaboration
  Report Number: Working Paper No. 31
  Date: 01 / 2000
  The purpose of this study is to obtain a greater understanding of rural health networks by classifying them according to their functions and purposes. Examples of performance measures that might be used for the different network types are given.