The visiting specialist model of rural health care delivery: a survey in Massachusetts
Document Type
Journal ArticlePublication Date
2006-09-01Keywords
AdultFemale
Health Care Surveys
Health Services Accessibility
Hospitals, Rural
Humans
Male
Massachusetts
Medically Underserved Area
Middle Aged
Personnel Staffing and Scheduling
Rural Health Services
Specialties, Medical
Community Health and Preventive Medicine
Preventive Medicine
Primary Care
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CONTEXT: Hospitals in rural communities may seek to increase specialty care access by establishing clinics staffed by visiting specialists. PURPOSE: To examine the visiting specialist care delivery model in Massachusetts, including reasons specialists develop secondary rural practices and distances they travel, as well as their degree of satisfaction and intention to continue the visiting arrangement. METHODS: Visiting specialists at 11 rural hospitals were asked to complete a mailed survey. FINDINGS: Visiting specialists were almost evenly split between the medical (54%) and surgical (46%) specialties, with ophthalmology, nephrology, and obstetrics/gynecology the most common specialties reported. A higher proportion of visiting specialists than specialists statewide were male (P = .001). Supplementing their patient base and income were the most important reasons visiting specialists reported for having initiated an ancillary clinic. There was a significant negative correlation between a hospital's number of staffed beds and the total number of visiting specialists it hosted (r =-0.573, P = .032); study hospitals ranged in bed size from 15 to 129. CONCLUSIONS: The goal of matching supply of health care services with demand has been elusive. Visiting specialist clinics may represent an element of a market structure that expands access to needed services in rural areas. They should be included in any enumeration of physician availability.Source
J Rural Health. 2006 Fall;22(4):294-9. Link to article on publisher's siteDOI
10.1111/j.1748-0361.2006.00049.xPermanent Link to this Item
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/30956PubMed ID
17010025Related Resources
Link to article in PubMedae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1111/j.1748-0361.2006.00049.x
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