 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Shadi S Saleh, PhD, Health Policy, Management & Behavior, SUNY-Albany, One University Place, Rensselaer, NY, NY 12144, (518) 402-0299, ssaleh@albany.edu, Thomas vaughn, PhD, Health Management and Policy, University of Iowa, Steindler Building, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, and James E Rohrer, PhD, Health Services Research, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, 1400 Wallace Blvd, amarillo, TX 79124.
Rural hospitals are actively pursuing various strategic alternatives to confront the dramatic changes in the delivery, organization, and financing of health care. One of these strategic alternatives is involvement in provider sponsored managed care organizations. Studies have argued that this form of managed care plays to the trust of the public and might improve the performance of hospitals (Crew et al, 1998; Calvaruso, 1999). This article examines the effect of the governing board composition on rural hospitals’ involvement in provider sponsored managed care organizations. The study sample consisted of 140 rural hospitals in Iowa and Nebraska whose CEOs responded to a survey conducted by the Center for Health Services Research at the University of Iowa between June and December 1997. Principal findings were that the likelihood of a hospital owning any form of a managed care organization increases with the number of community leaders and health professionals on the board. The number of business leaders had no effect on the likelihood of involvement in such an arrangement. Other factors that affected the likelihood of owning a MCO were the health status of the population and ownership type. Key recommendations are: 1) to revisit the hospital’s board composition before actively pursuing a strategic action, 2) to examine how compatible is the type of strategic activity pursued to the backgrounds of the board members and the interests of the populations they represent, 3) to use the governing board as a resource to address challenges of pursuing a new strategic activity
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Community, Hospitals
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.