Managed Care in Rural Health: The Stroke Survivor on Horseback

Abstract

Managed care has been slow to come to underserved rural areas, where profits may not be as large as in metropolitan areas. In the last decade, increased threat of takeover by out-of-state managed care organizations (MCOs) has prompted rural community hospitals and providers to develop some new models of managed care that fit both their economic and health care needs. Stroke survivors in rural areas have the same need for coordinated, ongoing care during their lifetime, but it is more difficult to deliver it in rural areas. Rehabilitation providers are urged to be proactive in creating innovative managed care approaches that will improve both the health and recovery outcomes of rural stroke survivors.

Keywords:

• information technology (IT)
• managed care organization (MCO)
• referral relationships