Janet Sutton, PhD

Completed Projects - (13)
Publications - (16)

Completed Projects - (13)

Achieving Equity in Disproportionate Share Payments to Rural Hospitals: An Examination of MedPAC's Revised Disproportionate Share Formula
Research center: NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis
Topics: Healthcare financing, Hospitals and clinics, Legislation and regulation
Burdens of HIPAA on Rural Hospitals
Research center: NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis
Topics: Hospitals and clinics, Legislation and regulation
Determinants of Quality of Care in Rural Communities: How Does The Health Care Infrastructure Affect Quality of Care in Rural America?
Research center: NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis
Topics: Health services, Quality, Workforce
Effective Strategies for Achieving HIPAA Compliance Among Rural Hospitals
Research center: NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis
Topics: Hospitals and clinics, Legislation and regulation
Impact of CAH Conversion on Hospital Costs and Mix of Services
This study examined Medicare Cost Report and claims data for hospitals before and after CAH conversion in order to better understand changes in hospital costs associated with CAH conversion, factors associated with any cost growth, and changes in the mix of services provided by the facility.
Research center: NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis
Topics: Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs), Health services, Healthcare financing
Impact of the Home Health PPS on Access in Rural America
This study is designed to help policymakers understand whether patterns of home care use in rural communities have been affected by the PPS. Analyses will provide information on the characteristics of the patients served, the number and mix of services rendered, and quality of care.
Research center: NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis
Topics: Home health, Medicare Prospective Payment System (PPS)
Medicare Beneficiary Outcomes in Rural and Urban Home Health Agencies
This study will compare the performance of rural and urban home care agencies, and identify agency characteristics that contribute to better patient care outcomes.
Research center: NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis
Topics: Home health, Medicare Prospective Payment System (PPS), Quality
Options for Structuring Disproportionate Share (DSH) Payments to Account for Uncompensated Care: Impact on Rural Hospitals
This study will identify options for development of an equitable DSH payment adjustment that accounts for hospital uncompensated care costs and determine the financial impact of each of these proposals on rural hospitals, using simulations with data from Washington, West Virginia, Texas, and Iowa.
Research center: NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis
Topics: Healthcare financing, Hospitals and clinics
Outpatient Payment Policy Under Medicare: Recent Policy Developments from the Rural Perspective
This study was designed to examine outpatient payment options for rural hospitals, the advantages and disadvantages of each, and their potential impact on hospital revenue and rural access to health services.
Research center: NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis
Topics: Healthcare financing, Hospitals and clinics
Post-Acute Care: A Rural and Urban Comparison
This multi-phase analysis examines whether discharge patterns for and use of post-acute care services by rural and urban hospitalized Medicare beneficiaries differ and, if they do, what are the sources of these different patterns.
Research center: NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis
Topics: Home health, Long-term care, Medicare, Post-acute care
Quality Improvement Organizations' Contributions to Rural Hospital Performance
This qualitative study is designed to gather information on best-practices in Quality Improvement Organization (QIO)-rural hospital partnerships. Specifically, this study will identify successful and replicable examples in which QIOs have worked with rural and critical access hospitals to improve processes of care, implement health information technology and promote organizational safety culture.
Research center: NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis
Topics: Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs), Health information technology, Hospitals and clinics, Quality
Rapid Response: Elimination of Bad Debt Payments to Rural PPS Hospitals
The purpose of this project is to examine: (1) the extent to which elimination of Medicare Bad Debt payments will reduce reimbursement to rural prospective payment system (PPS) hospitals and (2) how rural hospitals would respond to this reduction in reimbursement.
Research center: NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis
Topics: Healthcare financing, Hospitals and clinics, Medicare Prospective Payment System (PPS)
Rural Dimensions of Medicare Payment Policies
This project examines major Medicare fee-for-service payment policies from the rural perspective.
Research center: NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis
Topics: Medicare, Post-acute care

Publications - (16)

2009

Achieving Success in QIO and Rural Hospital Partnerships (Final Report)
NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis
Date: 02/2009
This report describes four case studies that highlight the strategies employed by Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs) to help small rural hospitals implement successful quality-improvement initiatives.

2008

Experiences of Critical Access Hospitals in the Provision of Emergency Medical Services (Policy Brief)
NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis
Date: 10/2008
This brief presents research conducted to better understand critical access hospitals' (CAHs') experiences in operating emergency medical service (EMS) units. The benefits and challenges that CAH providers face in operating EMS services are discussed.
Impact of CAH Conversion on Hospital Finances and Mix of Inpatient Services (Final Report)
NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis
Date: 08/2008
This study examined Medicare Cost Report and claims data for hospitals before and after critical access hospital (CAH) conversion in order to better understand changes in hospital costs associated with CAH conversion, factors associated with any cost growth, and changes in the mix of services provided by the facility.

2007

Spontaneous Evacuation Following a Dirty Bomb or Pandemic Influenza: Highlights From a National Survey of Urban Residents' Intended Behavior
NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis
Date: 11/2007
This policy analysis brief reports the results of a national survey to assess the evacuation intentions of urban citizens following emergency scenarios. It includes information on how likely it would be for evacuees to go to rural or urban areas and discusses the potential impact of an urban evacuation on rural areas.
How Will Elimination of Hospital Bad Debt Reimbursement Affect Rural PPS Hospitals?
Policy Brief
NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis
Date: 07/2007
This policy brief examines the financial effect that changes in current Medicare bad debt payment policy, as proposed in the FY2007 budget, might have on rural hospitals.

2006

Performance of Rural and Urban Home Health Agencies in Improving Patient Outcomes
NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis
Date: 05/2006
This study was conducted to determine whether rural and urban home care agencies differ in terms of patient care outcomes and to ascertain whether there are agency characteristics that are associated with better or worse outcomes.

2005

Revisions to Medicare's Disproportionate Share Payment Policy to Incorporate Bad Debt and Charity Care
NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis
Date: 09/2005
This report investigates the impact of possible changes to the Medicare disproportionate share payment policy, designed to incorporate information on the hospital's uncompensated care burden as well as to improve the payment formulae.
Utilization of Home Health Services Among Rural Medicare Beneficiaries Before and After the PPS
NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis
Date: 08/2005
This report describes a study conducted on the rural effects of the PPS, including whether the PPS contributed to changes in the demographic and clinical characteristics of home care users, the likelihood of using each of six home care disciplines, and the intensity of services.
Home Health Payment Reform: Trends in the Supply of Rural Agencies and Availability of Home-Based Skilled Services
NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis
Date: 03/2005
Findings from this study suggest that changes in home health reimbursement were associated with dramatic reductions in the supply of home care agencies; however those reductions appear to have occurred primarily during the time in which the Interim Payment System was in place.
Patterns of Post-Acute Utilization in Rural and Urban Communities: Home Health, Skilled Nursing, and Inpatient Medical Rehabilitation
NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis
Date: 03/2005
This report describes rural Medicare beneficiaries' patterns of post-acute utilization of home health services, skilled nursing facilities, and inpatient rehabilitation facilities.

2004

Rural Perspective Regarding Regulations Implementing Titles I and II of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA)
NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis, RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
Date: 08/2004
This policy paper provides, in chart form, sections of the MMA that were identified as having special concern to rural Medicare beneficiaries, medical care providers, and policy makers.
Access To Primary Care and Quality of Care in Rural America
NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis
Date: 06/2004
This report provides findings from a population-based study addressing the impact of the availability of healthcare resources on the rate of potentially avoidable hospitalizations. It suggests shortcomings with previous research conducted in communities that experienced problems accessing primary care services.

2002

Rural Dimensions of Medicare Reimbursement for Inpatient and Outpatient Institutional and Physician Services
NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis
Date: 12/2002
This report examines major Medicare payment policies from the rural perspective and summarizes major payment policies with explicit rural dimensions that directly affect physicians and hospitals. It looks at whether direct rural impacts are consistent with legislative and regulatory intentions.
Achieving Equity in Medicare Disproportionate Share Payments to Rural Hospitals: An Assessment of the Financial Impact of Recent and Proposed Changes to the Disproportionate Share Hospital Payment Formula
Journal Article
NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis
Date: 09/2002
Examines how Benefits Improvement and Protection Act revisions to the Medicare disproportionate share hospital (DSH) program are likely to affect rural hospital financial performance. The study shows that paying rural hospitals based on the rules used for urban hospitals could improve access to care in rural communities.

2001

Is the Rural Safety Net at Risk? Analyses of Charity and Uncompensated Care Provided by Rural Hospitals in Washington, West Virginia, Texas, Iowa, and Vermont
NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis
Date: 01/2001
This study examines recent trends in the provision of charity care and uncompensated care by rural hospitals in five states. It also identifies rural communities whose charity and uncompensated care may diminish if their hospitals face more intense financial pressures as a result of the Balanced Budget Act.

2000

Rural and Urban Patterns of Home Health Use: Implications for Access Under the Interim Payment System
Policy Brief
NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis
Date: 03/2000
This policy analysis brief compares patterns of home health utilization among rural and urban Medicare beneficiaries in order to estimate the potential impact of an interim payment system on access to home care in rural areas of the country.