Access to primary care in rural counties, particularly those with high concentrations of minority persons, is handicapped by two factors: proportionately more poor and uninsured persons, coincident with fewer health care providers. In this environment, safety net providers can have notable effects on population health, as measured by rates of ambulatory care sensitive (ACS) hospitalization. The purpose of the study is to determine if the presence of a community health center or rural health clinic reduces ambulatory care sensitive hospitalizations for children, working age adults, and older adults. A cross sectional design will be used, with rural counties as the unit of analysis. It is hypothesized that rural counties with a community health center or rural health clinic will have lower rates of admission for ACS diagnoses, and that these effects will be additive, that is, that a county with both types of facility will have the lowest rates.

Publications

• Community Health Center and Rural Health Clinic Presence Associated With Lower County-Level Hospitalization Rates for Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions (Fact Sheet)
  Rural and Minority Health Research Center
  Date: 08/2009
  This study examines the contribution that community health centers and rural health clinics make to access to healthcare, as measured by rates of ambulatory care sensitive hospitalizations.
• Community Health Center and Rural Health Clinic Presence Associated With Lower County-Level Hospitalization Rates for Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions (Full Report)
  Rural and Minority Health Research Center
  Date: 08/2009
  Using data from eight states, this report examines the effect of the presence of a federally qualified community health center or rural health clinic within a county on population rates of hospitalization for ambulatory care sensitive conditions.