title: Uncompensated care and quality assurance among rural hospitals.
abstract: Health care disparities in rural areas remain significant in the U.S. health care industry. Uncompensated care makes health care disparities in rural areas worse, and rural hospitals are unfavorably positioned to compete with urban hospitals in the economic-downturn marketplace. How uncompensated care affects quality care among rural hospitals has been lightly investigated. Given that many rural residents experience difficulty accessing high quality care and given the importance of establishing quality care practice standards in a rural setting, we conducted a systematic literature review to identify some quality-care barriers and opportunities and suggested strategies to strengthen the position of rural hospitals in response to uncompensated care.
authors.affiliation: Lewis College of Business, Marshall University Graduate College, Charleston, West Virginia 25303, USA. leed@marshall.edu
authors.forename: Doohee
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dixon
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kruszynski
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Coustasse
mesh_terms: D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities / Q000191:economics; D002567:Certificate of Need / Q000191:economics; D004465:Economic Competition; D005377:Financial Management, Hospital; D006780:Hospitals, Rural / Q000191:economics; D006801:Humans; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000191:economics; D017664:Uncompensated Care; D014481:United States