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Rural Health
Research Gateway

Long-term care

Completed Projects

Listed by project completion date. You can also view these projects alphabetically.

2022

  • Factors Predicting Swing Bed Versus Skilled Nursing Facility Use
    This project updated our 2014 brief: Discharge to Swing Bed or Skilled Nursing Facility: Who Goes Where? In addition to examining health conditions of patients discharged from rural Prospective Payment System hospitals and Critical Access Hospitals to swing beds and skilled nursing facilities, this project also looked to see what has changed over time and whether demographic factors explain differences.
    Research center: North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center
    Topics: Hospitals and clinics, Long-term care, Medicare
  • Healthcare Use and Expenditures Among Rural and Urban Medicare Beneficiaries Aged 85 and Over
    The proportion of U.S. residents ages 85+ is expected to grow substantially in the coming decades with the impact of this growth in rural areas likely to be pronounced. This project used data from the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey to examine rural-urban differences in healthcare use and expenditures among Medicare enrollees ages 85+.
    Research center: Maine Rural Health Research Center
    Topics: Aging, Healthcare access, Long-term care, Medicare
  • Location and Characteristics of Nursing Homes in the Rural and Urban U.S.
    This project examined rural and urban nursing home availability; assessed the nursing home bed supply relative to the elderly population in rural and urban counties; summarized resident and nursing home characteristics; and analyzed the relationship between the rural location of nursing homes and resident and nursing home characteristics.
    Research center: RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
    Topics: Aging, Health services, Healthcare access, Healthcare financing, Long-term care, Medicare

2021

  • How Do Costs for Rural Medicare Beneficiaries Using Swing Beds Compare to Those Using Skilled Nursing Facilities?
    This study estimated and compared total Medicare expenditures for episodes of care that include post-acute stays in either swing beds or skilled nursing facilities (SNFs). Results informed federal and state agencies, rural providers and communities as to how post-acute care in swing bed versus a SNF affects the trajectory of costs and utilization for rural Medicare beneficiaries.
    Research center: North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center
    Topics: Long-term care, Medicare, Post-acute care
  • Rural Nursing Home Closures - Trends, Characteristics, and Impact on Access
    This project built a database of nursing home closures across rural and urban areas in the U.S. and evaluated the changes in access to post-acute and/or long-term care providers. It also described the differences in organizational, financial, and market characteristics between open vs. closed nursing homes in rural vs. urban areas.
    Research center: RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
    Topics: Aging, Healthcare access, Long-term care, Medicare

2019

  • Financial Impact of Reimbursing CAH Swing Bed Days at the SNF PPS Rate
    This study assessed the financial impact of changing Critical Access Hospital (CAH) swing bed reimbursement from the cost-based system to the skilled nursing facility (SNF) prospective payment system (PPS).
    Research center: North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center
    Topics: Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs), Healthcare financing, Long-term care, Medicare, Post-acute care

2018

  • Post-Acute Care for Rural Medicare Beneficiaries
    This project described the variation in the volume, mix and financial importance of post-acute services to rural hospitals; identified hospital and community characteristics associated with variation in post-acute services provided by rural hospitals; and determined where rural Medicare beneficiaries receive post-acute services.
    Research center: North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center
    Topics: Hospitals and clinics, Long-term care, Post-acute care

2016

  • Access To and Use of Home and Community-Based Services in Rural Areas
    This study will use data from the 2010 Medicaid Analytic eXtract (MAX) file and in-depth policy reviews and interviews in four states to examine differences in the use of institutional and home and community-based service (HCBS) use by older adults across urban and rural areas, and the policy and community factors that contribute to differences or comparability in use.
    Research center: Maine Rural Health Research Center
    Topics: Aging, Home health, Long-term care

2013

  • Challenges and Opportunities for Improving Rural Long-Term Services and Supports under the Affordable Care Act
    This project will examine strategies, models, and policy options for improving access to, and quality of, rural long-term services and supports. Through focused policy analyses, we will highlight the rural options, opportunities, and barriers of implementing the coordinated care, health home, and long-term services and supports provisions in the Affordable Care Act.
    Research center: Maine Rural Health Research Center
    Topics: Aging, Care management, Long-term care

2007

  • Rural-Urban Differences in Nursing Home Admissions, Service Usage and Discharge
    An in-depth examination of rural-urban differences in recent nursing home first admissions, their service utilization patterns, and their discharge status over 12 months will be conducted to determine whether persons from rural areas admitted to rural nursing homes have higher functioning, receive fewer special nursing home services, and remain in care longer than rural admissions to urban nursing homes, urban admissions to urban nursing homes, or urban admission to rural nursing homes.
    Research center: FORHP-funded Individual Grantees
    Topic: Long-term care
  • Tribal Long-Term Care: Barriers to Best Practices in Policy and Programming for a National Sample of Rural Tribes
    This project will examine barriers experienced by rural American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) tribes in developing long term care policy and service provision, identify tribes which exemplify best practices in the area of long term care policy, and document what other tribes would need to know to develop successful long term care programs (i.e., lessons learned).
    Research center: FORHP-funded Individual Grantees
    Topics: Aging, Long-term care

2005

  • Native Elder Care Needs Assessment: Development of a Long Term Care Planning Tool Kit
    A long term care planning tool kit will assist tribes with interpreting long term care data obtained through a national Native Elder Care Needs Assessment. It will also assist tribes in using the data to develop long term care infrastructure and comprehensive services that respond to local needs and services.
    Research center: FORHP-funded Individual Grantees
    Topics: Aging, Long-term care
  • Post-Acute Care: A Rural and Urban Comparison
    This multi-phase analysis examines whether discharge patterns for and use of post-acute care services by rural and urban hospitalized Medicare beneficiaries differ and, if they do, what are the sources of these different patterns.
    Research center: NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis
    Topics: Home health, Long-term care, Medicare, Post-acute care
  • Rural and Urban Differences in Utilization of Formal Home Care
    This project uses the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey and other data sources to examine rural and urban differences in the utilization and costs of formal home care, including changes in utilization patterns and costs across residence types over time.
    Research center: FORHP-funded Individual Grantees
    Topics: Home health, Long-term care
  • Trends in Swing Bed and Skilled Nursing Facility Use in Rural Hospitals, 1996-2003
    This study will examine trends in the distribution of skilled nursing facility (SNF) services in rural hospitals during a period of dramatic change in Medicare reimbursement, most notably the transition from cost-based reimbursement to SNF prospective payment system (PPS).
    Research center: North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center
    Topics: Aging, Hospitals and clinics, Long-term care, Medicare Prospective Payment System (PPS)

2004

2003

2002

1999