Abstract
To identify organizational and environmental correlates to rural health clinics' preventive quality of care in the United States. A retrospective observational cohort study design was applied under Donabedian's Structure-Process-Outcome framework. Three structure measures of care (proportion of nonphysicians, absence of physicians, and provider affiliation) and three measures of process (total clinical visits, prevention use for congestive heart failure and diabetes) were used as explanatory variables. Five environmental correlates were included. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services National Medicare Chronic Care Condition Data Warehouse for 2007 was used to obtain clinical data. Preventive quality of care outcomes were measured through Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality prevention quality indicators. The indicators were risk adjusted for age, sex, race, severity, and comorbidity of patients. Structural equation modeling with maximum likelihood estimation was used. Provider affiliation (P = .03), absence of physicians (P = .007), and higher proportion of nonphysicians (P = .007) were negatively related to preventive quality of care. Lower cause-specific mortality rate at the county level as compared to the United States average (P = .05) and rural location (P = .001) were positively related to quality of care. The results of the study showed the need to attract and retain physicians in rural health clinics. The positive relationship between rural location and quality of care reflects more on the limited access to hospitals in remote areas.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.