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Providing Patient-Centered Enhanced Discharge Planning And Rural Transition Support: Building A Rural Transitions Network Between Regional Referral And Critical Access Hospitals, Tom Seekins, University Of Montana Rural Institute

Health and Wellness

Residents of rural and frontier counties experience significant disparities in healthcare access and outcomes when compared to their urban counterparts. The organization of health care delivery contributes significantly to these disparities. Simply put, rural residents can face many challenges when they have to go to a hospital in a distant city for treatment and then return home to recover. The transition back home is also problematic because discharge planning generally does not adequately account for limited access to care in rural areas. The specific aim of this research project was to ascertain rural patients’ actual experience of the discharge planning …