Trends in rural healthcare delivery in the United States, 1990-1999

This article describes the results of a literature search of pertinent professional literature written on issues important to rural healthcare delivery in the United States. The purpose of the literature review was to provide journal articles to practicing rural healthcare leaders who, because of time and economic constraints, claimed they were unable to research their own relevant journal articles. The authoring team is composed of individuals who work as full-time faculty members at institutions that offer courses in health administration. Because the nature of their professional work and research dictates that they focus on areas of rural health, the authoring team offered to share their findings with rural administrators as a means to assist them. The intent was to form a working collaboration between health services management professionals in academia, representatives of the state's healthcare organizational affiliate associations, and professionals practicing in the industry. This ten-year collaboration resulted in a unique wedding of resources that helped both in the delivery of rural healthcare services in a western state and in the advancement of the field of health services administration through original research. Thus, the product of this literature search is a comprehensive study of the trends in rural healthcare delivery. The variety of topics discussed were gleaned from over 500 articles found in and summarized from 70 professional healthcare journals published between 1990 and 1999.