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Rural Health
Research Gateway

Hospitals and clinics

Research Findings

View publications, including policy briefs, working papers, and journal articles, on Hospitals and clinics:

Recaps

View one-page summary Recaps of key findings from the Rural Health Research Centers on Hospitals and clinics:

  • Post-Acute Care in Rural Areas: The Role of Swing Beds and Nursing Homes
    Date: 03/2024
    Patients who have received acute care services, but are not ready to safely return home, may transition to post-acute care (PAC). The PAC phase acts as a bridge between the hospital and the next steps to recovery. This Recap examines the roles that swing beds and nursing homes have in PAC.
  • Quality of Care in Rural Hospitals
    Date: 01/2019
    This Rural Health Research Recap looks at hospital quality-of-care measures and the difficulties of developing quality measures, especially for rural hospitals with low patient volumes.
  • Quality Star Ratings: Hospitals, Skilled Nursing Facilities, and Home Health Agencies
    Date: 03/2024
    In 2021, 41.6% of rural hospitals lacked an overall quality star rating compared to only 12.0% of urban hospitals. The absence of a star rating may be misinterpreted by patients as an indicator of low-quality care. This Recap examines star ratings among hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, and home health agencies.
  • Rural Hospital Closures
    Date: 12/2017
    From January 2005 through early November 2017, 124 rural hospitals closed in the U.S. This Recap, one of two, provides a summary of the Rural Health Research Centers' most recent research on hospital closures.

Projects on this Topic

Learn more about the research questions guiding each study, the lead researcher for each, and when the Research Center anticipates releasing completed product(s) under each project.