Similarities and differences between an urban and a rural hospital based home care program

Over a 3 month period, 116 patients assigned on the basis of geographical proximity to an urban or rural Hospital Based Home Care Program were examined to determine whether services provided by an urban-based HBHC team could be extended by a rural-based team to a similar but rural, chronically ill patient population. Variables reflecting medical and socio-economic patient characteristics and level of services provided were gathered to test for significant differences between the two programs. Two-tailed difference of group means t-tests of the data revealed that only number of medications and supplies dispensed attained significance; patients in the urban program received more than their rural counterparts, a result probably due to the greater proximity of the program physician to the urban-based team. The results appear to indicate that it is possible to maintain severely disabled patients in their own homes in rural as well as urban settings.