Question

Describe how the financial bailout offered by the health care providers models their commitment to

delivering health care services to their rural community. Give an example of when providers,

professionals and patients have pooled their collective resources to either create or maintain a

health care delivery system.

Answer 1

Ans) To determine what policies and programs have been most effective in improving access to hospital and clinical services, improving quality of care, and helping to increase the supply of practitioners as well as influence their distribution across the country.

- It was hampered by the lack of evaluation, mixed results, and methodological challenges included geographic comparisons.

- In developing their findings and recommendations, committee members developed a consensus on what the evidence base suggests.

- It was identified some promising new areas of policy and program development where changes in payment policies have the potential to expand beneficiaries’ access to care.

1.Medicare policies intended to preserve beneficiary access to hospital care may not be efficiently targeted.

2.The effectiveness of bonus payments to improve Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) has not been adequately evaluated, and it will take time before there is enough information and experience to evaluate other recently introduced bonus payments.

3.Medicare’s payment policies related to quality of care are important, but there is no evidence that geographic adjustment is related to quality of care.

4.Current information on public programs related to workforce is inadequate to assess whether current needs are being met. Consistent national data on workforce distribution and independent evaluations of public programs pertaining to distribution are lacking, and there are no nationally accepted distribution targets.

5.Evidence suggests some success of federal loan repayments in placing practitioners in underserved areas. Retention rates appear to be comparable to retention of other practitioners in similar areas without special programs, but more studies with consistent definitions of retention are needed for comparison.

6.New payment models are being introduced to encourage providers to improve care coordination through team-based approaches, but the extent to which an increased emphasis on care coordination will provide new opportunities for nurse practitioners and physician assistants to practice to the full extent of their educational preparation is unclear.