Rural Health in the United States

by Ricketts, Thomas C.

• ISBN13: 9780195131277
• ISBN10: 0195131274
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-10-07
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Many of the 61 million people who live in rural America have limited access to health care. Almost a quarter of the nation's population lives in rural places yet only an eighth of our doctors work there. Sponsored by the U.S. Office of Rural Health Policy, this unique book provides the factsabout this imbalance and interprets them in the context of government programs that promote the placement of doctors and the operation of hospitals in rural places while paying them less to treat Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries. The authors' comprehensive analysis of rural health care deliveryshows where there are differences in rates of death and disease between rural areas using maps, graphs, and plain-English descriptions. The book provides a thorough look at health care in rural America, giving a snapshot of how doctors, hospitals, and technology are unevenly distributed outside thenation's metropolitan areas.

Table of Contents

Contributors	xiii
Introduction	1	(6)
Populations and Places in Rural America	7	(18)
Thomas C. Ricketts III
Karen D. Johnson-Webb
Randy K. Randolph
Access to Health Care	25	(13)
Claudia L. Schur
Sheila J. Franco
Physicians and Rural America	38	(14)
Roger A. Rosenblatt
L. Gary Hart
Nonphysician Professionals and Rural America	52	(9)
Leonard D. Baer
Laura M. Smith
Federal Programs and Rural Health	61	(9)
Thomas C. Ricketts III
The Medicare Program in Rural Areas	70	(14)
Curt D. Mueller
Julie A. Schoenman
Elizabeth Dorosh
State Laws and Programs That Affect Rural Health Delivery	84	(11)
Rebecca T.Slifkin
Medicaid Managed Care in Rural Areas	95	(6)
Rebecca T. Slifkin
Michelle M. Casey
Hospitals in Rural America	101	(12)
Thomas C. Ricketts III
Paige E. Heaphy
Rural Managed Care	113	(6)
Michelle M. Casey
Rural Health Care Networks	119	(15)
Anthony Wellever
Rural Maternal and Perinatal Health	134	(16)
Denise M. Lishner
Eric H. Larson
Roger A. Rosenblatt
Sarah J. Clark
Rural Children's Health	150	(9)
Sarah J. Clark
Lucy A. Savitz
Randy K. Randolph
Rural Mental Health and Substance Abuse	159	(20)
David Hartley
Donna C. Bird
Patricia Dempsey
The Rural Elderly and Long-Term Care	179	(11)
Andrew F. Coburn
Elise J. Bolda
Epilogue: Rural Health Policy and Data	190	(3)
Index	193