Research Alert: October 30, 2015

Rural Hospital and Physician Participation in Private Sector Quality Initiatives

Some private sector quality initiatives could potentially have a significant impact on the quality of rural health care, particularly in rural markets that are dominated by a single large insurer, as these insurers are likely to have both the resources to implement an initiative and sufficient leverage to motivate rural provider participation. This project examined private sector quality reporting and quality improvement initiatives being implemented by dominant insurers in states with significant rural populations. The policy brief profiles twelve different initiatives (half focused on physician quality improvement, half focused on hospital quality improvement).

Additional Resources of Interest:

• More information about the University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center
• More information from the Rural Health Information Hub's topic guides: Healthcare Quality, Healthcare Workforce, Hospitals