Care Across the Continuum: Access to Health Care Services in Rural America (2006)
Date
2006
Journal
Journal of Rural Health
Description
Proposes a continuum of care that serves as a framework
with which to assess public and private policies designed
to ensure that rural residents receive appropriate
healthcare services, in a timely manner, and in a place
that optimizes care effectiveness. Community leaders and
policymakers can use this healthcare continuum as a
design framework to help reduce system complexity and
implement a patient- and community-focused, rather than
provider-focused, healthcare system. The article is
divided into 3 sections: 1) basic principles that
determine services to be included in the continuum and
how success in providing those services is judged; 2)
definition of the continuum and its basic stages based on
the health systems research literature; 3) applications
of the continuum and policy implications of the
framework.
Center
RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
Authors
Keith Mueller, A. Clinton MacKinney
Topics