Rural Health
Research Gateway

Networking and collaboration

Completed Projects

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

2024

  • Clinical-Community Linkages in Non-Metropolitan and Metropolitan Hospitals: COVID-19 Impacts and Trends
    This study examined trends in partnerships between hospitals and public health departments and other community linkages in both non-metropolitan and metropolitan hospitals with a particular focus on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
    Research center: RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
    Topics: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs), Health services, Hospitals and clinics, Networking and collaboration, Public health, Social determinants of health

2023

  • Changes in Hospital Services Offered After Mergers, Acquisition and Affiliations
    Hospitals have affiliated with systems in increasing numbers since 2007, as of 2016 reaching 56.1 percent of nonmetropolitan prospective payment system hospitals and 42.8 percent of critical access hospitals. This project examined resulting changes in services offered by rural hospitals, hypothesizing shifts of some services to regional hospitals and growth in some service lines.
    Research center: RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
    Topics: Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs), Hospitals and clinics, Networking and collaboration

2022

  • Evaluating the Rural HIV/AIDS Planning Grant Program
    The Rural HIV/AIDS Planning Grant program is administered by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy to plan and develop healthcare networks designed to address HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment in states disproportionately impacted by the virus. This project identified factors that facilitate and impede success of such planning efforts.
    Research center: University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center
    Topics: Care management, Chronic diseases and conditions, Health disparities and health equity, Healthcare access, Minority health, Networking and collaboration

2021

  • Evaluating the Rural Health Network Development Planning Grant Program
    This project identified factors that facilitate and impede success of Rural Health Network Development grantees, based on discussions with grantees from the 2019 cohort and surveys of prior grantees dating back more than 10 years, as well as with technical assistance providers.
    Research center: University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center
    Topics: Health services, Healthcare access, Healthcare financing, Networking and collaboration, Public health, Quality

2017

  • Paving the Way: Addressing Transportation as a Social Determinant of Health for Rural Residents
    This project will use a mixed-methods design to examine ways in which transportation operates as a social determinant of health for vulnerable rural residents, and to identify exemplar transportation programs that are successfully improving health and well-being of those residents.
    Research center: University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center
    Topics: Aging, Health services, Networking and collaboration, Transportation

2014

  • Use of Telehealth to Deliver Services to Rural People and Implications for Public Policy
    This project analyzes national datasets to examine the extent of use of inpatient telehealth services, organizational factors contributing to use, and payment and other policies that limit uptake. This project will identify approaches that could aid spread of this effective delivery approach throughout rural service areas.
    Research center: RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
    Topics: Health information technology, Networking and collaboration, Telehealth

2008

  • Rural Provider Participation in a Statewide Health Information Project
    Nebraska has recently constructed a communication infrastructure that links all the hospitals in the state with broadband, high-speed systems (using T1 lines to the Critical Access Hospitals). That infrastructure is considered to be the backbone for a statewide health information network being designed by a coalition of organizations. The aim of this project is to delineate reasons for rural providers to participate in the coalition by assessing the associated costs and benefits.
    Research center: RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
    Topics: Health information technology, Hospitals and clinics, Networking and collaboration

2006

  • Analyzing the Relationship Among Critical Access Hospital Financial Status, Organizational Linkages, and Scope of Services
    This project will systematically analyze the relationships among pre- and post-conversion Critical Access Hospital (CAH) financial performance, the organizational linkages in which the hospital participates (e.g., health care systems and/or networks), and the scope of services (i.e., the number and type of services) provided.
    Research center: University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center
    Topics: Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs), Health services, Healthcare financing, Networking and collaboration
  • Community Impact Assessment
    This project will evaluate the impact of the Flex program on local communities. Activities will focus on identifying the ways in which the program could have a measurable effect, as well as the ways in which Flex program coordinators intended to affect community health. A briefing paper that integrates information on scope of services, networking, and quality will be produced. Additionally, case studies will be conducted in six CAH communities.
    Research centers: Maine Rural Health Research Center, North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center
    Topics: Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs), Networking and collaboration, Rural Hospital Flexibility Program
  • Rural Public Health Department Structure and Infrastructure
    This project is intended to generate hypotheses about the relationship of local public health department structure and infrastructure to performance. Using case studies of 12 rural public health departments in six geographically diverse states, investigators hope to identify elements of local health department (LHD) structure to serve as independent variables for future studies of LHD performance.
    Research center: FORHP-funded Individual Grantees
    Topics: Networking and collaboration, Public health

2005

  • Analysis of 2004-2005 State Flex Grant Plans
    This project will analyze state Flex grant applications and related budget and work plan revisions focusing on state activities in the core Flex program areas of networks, quality improvement, and EMS.
    Research centers: Maine Rural Health Research Center, University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center
    Topics: Emergency medical services (EMS) and trauma, Networking and collaboration, Quality, Rural Hospital Flexibility Program
  • Special Study of EMS Issues
    This study will focus on state, community, and hospital level initiatives designed to build the infrastructure to support EMS service capacity and encourage the integration of these services into the rural healthcare infrastructure in the areas of quality improvement, financing, staffing, medical control, and networking and integration.
    Research centers: Maine Rural Health Research Center, North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center
    Topics: Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs), Emergency medical services (EMS) and trauma, Networking and collaboration

2003

2002

2001