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Efforts by critical access hospitals to increase health equity through greater engagement with social determinants of health.
- Source :
- Journal of Rural Health; Sep2023, Vol. 39 Issue 4, p728-736, 9p
- Publication Year :
- 2023
-
Abstract
- Purpose: Greater health care engagement with social determinants of health (SDOH) is critical to improving health equity. However, no national studies have compared programs to address patient social needs among critical access hospitals (CAHs), which are lifelines for rural communities. CAHs generally have fewer resources and receive governmental support to maintain operations. This study considers the extent to which CAHs engage in community health improvement, particularly upstream SDOH, and whether organizational or community factors predict involvement. Methods: Using descriptive statistics and Poisson regression, we compared 3 types of programs (screening, in‐house strategies, and external partnerships) to address the patient social needs between CAHs and non‐CAHs, independent of key organizational, county, and state factors. Findings: CAHs were less likely than non‐CAHs to have programs to screen patients for social needs, address unmet social needs of patients, and enact community partnerships to address SDOH. When we stratified hospitals according to whether they endorsed an equity‐focused approach as an organization, CAHs matched their non‐CAH counterparts on all 3 types of programs. Conclusions: CAHs lag relative to their urban and non‐CAH counterparts in their ability to address nonmedical needs of their patients and broader communities. While the Flex Program has shown success in offering technical assistance to rural hospitals, this program has mainly focused on traditional hospital services to address patients' acute health care needs. Our findings suggest that organizational and policy efforts surrounding health equity could bring CAHs in line with other hospitals in terms of their ability to support rural population health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- RURAL hospitals
HEALTH policy
HOSPITALS
SOCIAL determinants of health
HEALTH services accessibility
EVALUATION of human services programs
COMMUNITY health services
REGRESSION analysis
COMPARATIVE studies
HUMAN services programs
DESCRIPTIVE statistics
RURAL health
HEALTH equity
NEEDS assessment
MEDICAL needs assessment
POISSON distribution
MEDICARE
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 0890765X
- Volume :
- 39
- Issue :
- 4
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Journal of Rural Health
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 172022375
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1111/jrh.12771