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Exploring the Relationship Between Critical Access Hospitals and Rural County Health

Received: 20 May 2021    Accepted: 8 June 2021    Published: 16 June 2021
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Abstract

Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) were developed as a model to improve the access and availability of hospital services in rural counties. There has been limited research on clinical outcomes to evaluate the impact of CAHs since they were authorized through the Balanced Budget Act. This study evaluates CAH’s performance on clinical outcomes, and compares health outcomes between rural counties with CAHs and rural counties without established federally supported hospitals. The American Hospital Association’s (AHA) Annual Survey Database was used to identify CAHs within rural counties and their characteristics. The County Health Rankings (CHR) data were used to quantify health outcomes by county. US rural counties with CAHs versus remaining US rural counties without CAHs were correlated with measures of Clinical Care (p < 0.001). US rural counties with CAHs presented greater health status with regard to All Health Outcomes, p < 0.0001; Length of Life, p < 0.0001; Quality of Life, p < 0.0001; All Health Factors, p < 0.0001; Health Behaviors, p < 0.0001; Social and Economic Environment, p < 0.0001 and Physical Environment, p < 0.0001, than compared to US rural counties without CAHs. Rural counties serviced by CAHs demonstrate better overall health status scores, on several CHR metrics, as compared to rural counties without CAHs. The only exception to this conclusion being that rural counties without CAHs performed superiorly in the CHR metrics related to primary care and mental health services, demonstrating capacities in which CAHs could improve the impact on health in the counties they serve.

Published in International Journal of Biomedical Science and Engineering (Volume 9, Issue 2)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijbse.20210902.13
Page(s) 27-36
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

US Hospitals, County Health, Social Determinants, Community Benefit, Critical Access Hospitals

References
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[12] American Hospital Association. AHA Annual Survey Database for Fiscal Year 2016. Health Forum LLC. Accessed July 1, 2018.
[13] Remington, PL, Catlin, BB, & Gennuso, K. The County Health Rankings: Rationale and methods. Population Health Metrics. 2015; 13 (1), 11.
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Kirtan Patel, Amber Maraccini, Timothy Grunert, Wei Yang, Anthony Slonim. (2021). Exploring the Relationship Between Critical Access Hospitals and Rural County Health. International Journal of Biomedical Science and Engineering, 9(2), 27-36. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijbse.20210902.13

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    ACS Style

    Kirtan Patel; Amber Maraccini; Timothy Grunert; Wei Yang; Anthony Slonim. Exploring the Relationship Between Critical Access Hospitals and Rural County Health. Int. J. Biomed. Sci. Eng. 2021, 9(2), 27-36. doi: 10.11648/j.ijbse.20210902.13

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    AMA Style

    Kirtan Patel, Amber Maraccini, Timothy Grunert, Wei Yang, Anthony Slonim. Exploring the Relationship Between Critical Access Hospitals and Rural County Health. Int J Biomed Sci Eng. 2021;9(2):27-36. doi: 10.11648/j.ijbse.20210902.13

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijbse.20210902.13,
      author = {Kirtan Patel and Amber Maraccini and Timothy Grunert and Wei Yang and Anthony Slonim},
      title = {Exploring the Relationship Between Critical Access Hospitals and Rural County Health},
      journal = {International Journal of Biomedical Science and Engineering},
      volume = {9},
      number = {2},
      pages = {27-36},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijbse.20210902.13},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijbse.20210902.13},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijbse.20210902.13},
      abstract = {Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) were developed as a model to improve the access and availability of hospital services in rural counties. There has been limited research on clinical outcomes to evaluate the impact of CAHs since they were authorized through the Balanced Budget Act. This study evaluates CAH’s performance on clinical outcomes, and compares health outcomes between rural counties with CAHs and rural counties without established federally supported hospitals. The American Hospital Association’s (AHA) Annual Survey Database was used to identify CAHs within rural counties and their characteristics. The County Health Rankings (CHR) data were used to quantify health outcomes by county. US rural counties with CAHs versus remaining US rural counties without CAHs were correlated with measures of Clinical Care (p < 0.001). US rural counties with CAHs presented greater health status with regard to All Health Outcomes, p < 0.0001; Length of Life, p < 0.0001; Quality of Life, p < 0.0001; All Health Factors, p < 0.0001; Health Behaviors, p < 0.0001; Social and Economic Environment, p < 0.0001 and Physical Environment, p < 0.0001, than compared to US rural counties without CAHs. Rural counties serviced by CAHs demonstrate better overall health status scores, on several CHR metrics, as compared to rural counties without CAHs. The only exception to this conclusion being that rural counties without CAHs performed superiorly in the CHR metrics related to primary care and mental health services, demonstrating capacities in which CAHs could improve the impact on health in the counties they serve.},
     year = {2021}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Exploring the Relationship Between Critical Access Hospitals and Rural County Health
    AU  - Kirtan Patel
    AU  - Amber Maraccini
    AU  - Timothy Grunert
    AU  - Wei Yang
    AU  - Anthony Slonim
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    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijbse.20210902.13
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    T2  - International Journal of Biomedical Science and Engineering
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    JO  - International Journal of Biomedical Science and Engineering
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    PB  - Science Publishing Group
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    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijbse.20210902.13
    AB  - Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) were developed as a model to improve the access and availability of hospital services in rural counties. There has been limited research on clinical outcomes to evaluate the impact of CAHs since they were authorized through the Balanced Budget Act. This study evaluates CAH’s performance on clinical outcomes, and compares health outcomes between rural counties with CAHs and rural counties without established federally supported hospitals. The American Hospital Association’s (AHA) Annual Survey Database was used to identify CAHs within rural counties and their characteristics. The County Health Rankings (CHR) data were used to quantify health outcomes by county. US rural counties with CAHs versus remaining US rural counties without CAHs were correlated with measures of Clinical Care (p < 0.001). US rural counties with CAHs presented greater health status with regard to All Health Outcomes, p < 0.0001; Length of Life, p < 0.0001; Quality of Life, p < 0.0001; All Health Factors, p < 0.0001; Health Behaviors, p < 0.0001; Social and Economic Environment, p < 0.0001 and Physical Environment, p < 0.0001, than compared to US rural counties without CAHs. Rural counties serviced by CAHs demonstrate better overall health status scores, on several CHR metrics, as compared to rural counties without CAHs. The only exception to this conclusion being that rural counties without CAHs performed superiorly in the CHR metrics related to primary care and mental health services, demonstrating capacities in which CAHs could improve the impact on health in the counties they serve.
    VL  - 9
    IS  - 2
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Renown Health, Reno, USA

  • Renown Health, Reno, USA

  • Renown Health, Reno, USA

  • School of Community Health Sciences, University of Nevada, Reno, USA

  • Renown Health, Reno, USA

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