Michelle Casey
Biographic Data
| ID | 5536588 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Michelle Casey |
| GIVEN NAMES | Michelle |
| FAMILY NAME | Casey |
| SIGNATURE | CASEY M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Minnesota |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9111-4182 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 31 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 25 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 31 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1995 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2019 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Rural‐Urban Differences in Medicare Quality Scores Persist After Adjusting for Sociodemographic and Environmental Characteristics
PURPOSE: Quality scores are strongly influenced by sociodemographic characteristics and health behaviors, many of which lie outside of the clinician's control. As a result, there is vigorous debate about whether, and how, to risk-adjust quality measures. Yet, rurality has been largely missing from this debate, even though population and environmental characteristics are demonstrably different by rurality. We addressed this gap by examining the in…
Association Between Loss of Hospital-Based Obstetric Services and Birth Outcomes in Rural Counties in the United States
Importance: Hospital-based obstetric services have decreased in rural US counties, but whether this has been associated with changes in birth location and outcomes is unknown. Objective: To examine the relationship between loss of hospital-based obstetric services and location of childbirth and birth outcomes in rural counties. Design, Setting, and Participants: A retrospective cohort study, using county-level regression models in an annual inter…
Rural Hospital Employment of Physicians and Use of Cesareans and Nonindicated Labor Induction
OBJECTIVE: Workforce issues constrain obstetric care services in rural US hospitals, and one strategy hospitals use is to employ physicians to provide obstetric care. However, little is known about the relationship between hospital employment of maternity care physicians and use of obstetric care procedures in rural hospitals. We examined the association between obstetric physician employment and use of cesareans and nonindicated labor induction.…
A National Examination of Caregiver Use of and Preferences for Support Services
Objective: The objective of this study was to assess rural-urban differences in caregiver use of and preferences for support services. Method: Using the 2015 Caregiving in the U.S. survey data ( n = 1,389), we analyzed rural-urban differences by caregiver residence in use of and preferences for support services. We analyzed bivariate differences in service use and preferences, as well as in sociodemographic and caregiving relationship characteris…
Access To Obstetric Services In Rural Counties Still Declining, With 9 Percent Losing Services, 2004–14
Recent closures of rural obstetric units and entire hospitals have exacerbated concerns about access to care for more than twenty-eight million women of reproductive age living in rural America. Yet the extent of recent obstetric unit closures has not yet been measured. Using national data, we found that 9 percent of rural counties experienced the loss of all hospital obstetric services in the period 2004-14. In addition, another 45 percent of ru…
Does the Medicare Part D Decision‐Making Experience Differ by Rural/Urban Location
PURPOSE: Although much has been written about Medicare Part D enrollment, much less is known about beneficiaries' personal experiences with choosing a Part D plan, especially among rural residents. This study sought to address this gap by examining geographic differences in Part D enrollees' perceptions of the plan decision-making process, including their confidence in their choice, their knowledge about the program, and their satisfaction with a…
Rural-Urban Differences in Medicare Quality Outcomes and the Impact of Risk Adjustment
BACKGROUND: There has been considerable debate in recent years about whether, and how, to risk-adjust quality measures for sociodemographic characteristics. However, geographic location, especially rurality, has been largely absent from the discussion. OBJECTIVE: To examine differences by rurality in quality outcomes, and the impact of adjustment for individual and community-level sociodemographic characteristics on quality outcomes. DATA SOURCES…
Ensuring Access to High-Quality Maternity Care in Rural America
Implementation of Emergency Department Transfer Communication Measures in Minnesota Critical Access Hospitals
PURPOSE: Previously published findings based on field tests indicated that emergency department patient transfer communication measures are feasible and worthwhile to implement in rural hospitals. This study aims to expand those findings by focusing on the wide-scale implementation of these measures in the 79 Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) in Minnesota from 2011 to 2013. METHODS: Information was obtained from interviews with key informants invo…
The Rural Obstetric Workforce in US Hospitals
PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to describe the types and combinations of clinicians who are delivering babies in rural hospitals, their employment status, the relationship between hospital birth volume and staffing models, and the staffing challenges faced by rural hospitals. METHODS: We conducted a telephone survey of 306 rural hospitals in 9 states: Colorado, Iowa, Kentucky, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and Wis…
Rural Primary Care Practices and Meaningful Use of Electronic Health Records
PURPOSE: To examine the role of Regional Extension Centers (RECs) in helping rural physician practices adopt electronic health records (EHRs) and achieve meaningful use. METHODS: Using data from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, we conducted a county-level regression analysis using ordinary least squares to better understand rural-urban differences in REC participation, EHR implementation, and meaningful us…
Birth Volume and the Quality of Obstetric Care in Rural Hospitals
BACKGROUND: Childbirth is the most common reason for hospitalization in the United States. Assessing obstetric care quality is critically important for patients, clinicians, and hospitals in rural areas. METHODS: The study used hospital discharge data from the Statewide Inpatient Databases, Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, for 9 states (Colorado, Iowa, Kentucky, New York, North Carolina, Oregon,…
Rural-Urban Differences in Obstetric Care, 2002–2010, and Implications for the Future
BACKGROUND: Approximately 15% of the 4 million annual US births occur in rural hospitals. OBJECTIVE: To (1) measure differences in obstetric care in rural and urban hospitals, and to (2) examine whether trends over time differ by rural-urban hospital location. RESEARCH DESIGN AND SUBJECTS: This was a retrospective analysis of hospital discharge records for all births in the 2002-2010 Nationwide Inpatient Sample, which constitutes 20% sample of US…
Are the CMS Hospital Outpatient Quality Measures Relevant for Rural Hospitals
Context: Quality measures focused on outpatient settings are of increasing interest to policy makers, but little research has been conducted on hospital outpatient quality measures, especially in rural settings. Purpose: To evaluate the relevance of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) outpatient quality measures for rural hospitals, including Critical Access Hospitals. Methods: Researchers analyzed Medicare hospital outpatient claim…
Meaningful Use of Health Information Technology by Rural Hospitals
PURPOSE: This study examines the current status of meaningful use of health information technology (IT) in Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs), other rural, and urban US hospitals, and it discusses the potential role of Medicare payment incentives and disincentives in encouraging CAHs and other rural hospitals to achieve meaningful use. METHODS: Data from the American Hospital Association (AHA) Annual Survey IT Supplement were analyzed, using t test…
A Farewell to Thomas C. Rosenthal, MD, Editor, and Andrew Danzo, Associate Editor
Rural Emergency Department Staffing and Participation in Emergency Certification and Training Programs
Context: The practice of emergency medicine presents many challenges in rural areas. Purpose: We describe how rural hospitals nationally are staffing their Emergency Departments (EDs) and explore the participation of rural ED physicians and other health care professionals in selected certification and training programs that teach skills needed to provide high‐quality emergency care. Methods: A national telephone survey of a random sample of rural…
Pharmacist Staffing, Technology Use, and Implementation of Medication Safety Practices in Rural Hospitals
Context: Medication safety is clearly an important quality issue for rural hospitals. However, rural hospitals face special challenges implementing medication safety practices in terms of their staffing and financial and technical resources. Purpose: This study assessed the capacity of small rural hospitals to implement medication safety practices, with particular focus on pharmacist staffing and the availability of technology. Methods: A telepho…
Assuring Rural Hospital Patient Safety
Context: Since reports on patient safety were issued by the Institute of Medicine, a number of interventions have been recommended and standards designed to improve hospital patient safety, including the Leapfrog, evidence‐based safety standards. These standards are based on research conducted largely in urban hospitals, and it may not be possible to generalize them to rural hospitals. Purpose: The absence of rural‐relevant patient safety standar…
Quality Improvement Strategies and Best Practices in Critical Access Hospitals
Context: Critical access hospitals (CAHs) face many challenges in implementing quality improvement (QI) initiatives, which include limited resources, low volume of patients, small staffs, and inadequate information technology. A primary goal of the Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program is to improve the quality of care provided by CAHs. Purpose: This article describes key quality improvement initiatives for a national sample of CAHs that ar…
Improving Access to Primary Care for a Growing Latino Population
Context: Many rural Midwestern communities are experiencing rapid growth in Latino populations with low rates of health insurance coverage, limited financial resources, language and cultural differences, and special health care needs. Purpose: We report on 2‐day site visits conducted in 2001 and 2002 in 3 communities (Marshalltown, Iowa; Great Bend, Kansas; and Norfolk, Nebraska) to document successful strategies to meet Latino health care needs.…
Providing Health Care to Latino Immigrants
We examined case studies of 3 rural Midwestern communities to assess local health care systems’ response to rapidly growing Latino populations. Currently, clinics provide free or low-cost care, and schools, public health, social services, and religious organizations connect Latinos to the health care system. However, many unmet health care needs result from lack of health insurance, limited income, and linguistic and cultural barriers. Targeted s…
Pharmacy Services in Rural Areas
Access to pharmacy services is an important rural health policy issue but limited research has been conducted on it. This article describes rural retail pharmacies in Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota, including their organizational characteristics, staffing, services provided, and planned future changes; examines the availability of pharmacy services and pharmacy closures in rural areas of these three states; and briefly discusses policy…
Are rural residents less likely to obtain recommended preventive healthcare services?
State HMO Accreditation and External Quality Review Requirements
The purpose of this article is to analyze state regulations regarding health maintenance organization (HMO) accreditation and external quality review; to briefly describe states’experiences implementing these regulations; and to discuss the implications of these regulations for HMOs serving rural areas. The incorporation of HMO accreditation and external quality review requirements into state HMO licensure processes and state employee contracting…
Providing Health Care to Latino Immigrants
We examined case studies of 3 rural Midwestern communities to assess local health care systems’ response to rapidly growing Latino populations. Currently, clinics provide free or low-cost care, and schools, public health, social services, and religious organizations connect Latinos to the health care system. However, many unmet health care needs result from lack of health insurance, limited income, and linguistic and cultural barriers. Targeted s…
A National Examination of Caregiver Use of and Preferences for Support Services
Objective: The objective of this study was to assess rural-urban differences in caregiver use of and preferences for support services. Method: Using the 2015 Caregiving in the U.S. survey data ( n = 1,389), we analyzed rural-urban differences by caregiver residence in use of and preferences for support services. We analyzed bivariate differences in service use and preferences, as well as in sociodemographic and caregiving relationship characteris…
Availability of Rural Minnesota Obstetric Services
In the late 1980s several published articles predicted a crisis in the availability of obstetric care due to declining numbers of rural obstetrical providers. Several state and national studies documented the adverse impact of malpractice and time demands on both urban and rural physicians. But only limited information is available to document current trends in rural obstetrical practice and assess whether or not the predicted crisis occurred. Th…
Research on Managed Care Organizations in Rural Communities
Regence HMO Oregon
Regence HMO Oregon is a large IPA‐model HMO based in Portland, Ore. It serves commercial, Medicaid, and Medicare cost enrollees throughout Oregon and southern Washington. An affiliate of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Oregon, Regence HMO Oregon built its rural enrollment by acquiring Capitol Health Care, an HMO with rural enrollment; by encouraging rural employers with traditional Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Oregon indemnity and PPO coverage to …
Missouri Advantage
Missouri Advantage HMO is a newly developed, small HMO based in a rural area. Strongly committed to local control, Missouri Advantage has a highly decentralized organizational structure. Its four rural hospital owners have built Missouri Advantage's initial enrollment base with hospital employees, capitalizing on their positions as the largest employers in their communities. The HMOs future plans include recruitment of additional rural hospitals …
United Health Care of North Carolina
Physicians. While many of the rural physicians interviewed in North Carolina would prefer not to deal with HMOs at all, they are generally positive about their relationships with United Healthcare of North Carolina. These physicians chose to contract with the HMO to obtain new patients and to retain existing patients. They are satisfied that their participation has accomplished these goals. Their reimbursement arrangements are easy to understand,…
The Rural Health Care Workforce Implications of Practice Guideline Implementation
BACKGROUND: Rural health care workforce forecasting has not included adjustments for predictable changes in practice patterns, such as the introduction of practice guidelines. PURPOSE: To estimate the impact of a practice guideline for a single health condition on the needs of a rural health professional workforce. METHODS: The current care of a cohort of rural Medicare recipients with diabetes mellitus was compared with the care recommended by a…
Are rural residents less likely to obtain recommended preventive healthcare services?
State HMO Accreditation and External Quality Review Requirements
The purpose of this article is to analyze state regulations regarding health maintenance organization (HMO) accreditation and external quality review; to briefly describe states’experiences implementing these regulations; and to discuss the implications of these regulations for HMOs serving rural areas. The incorporation of HMO accreditation and external quality review requirements into state HMO licensure processes and state employee contracting…
Pharmacy Services in Rural Areas
Access to pharmacy services is an important rural health policy issue but limited research has been conducted on it. This article describes rural retail pharmacies in Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota, including their organizational characteristics, staffing, services provided, and planned future changes; examines the availability of pharmacy services and pharmacy closures in rural areas of these three states; and briefly discusses policy…
Assuring Rural Hospital Patient Safety
Context: Since reports on patient safety were issued by the Institute of Medicine, a number of interventions have been recommended and standards designed to improve hospital patient safety, including the Leapfrog, evidence‐based safety standards. These standards are based on research conducted largely in urban hospitals, and it may not be possible to generalize them to rural hospitals. Purpose: The absence of rural‐relevant patient safety standar…
Quality Improvement Strategies and Best Practices in Critical Access Hospitals
Context: Critical access hospitals (CAHs) face many challenges in implementing quality improvement (QI) initiatives, which include limited resources, low volume of patients, small staffs, and inadequate information technology. A primary goal of the Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program is to improve the quality of care provided by CAHs. Purpose: This article describes key quality improvement initiatives for a national sample of CAHs that ar…
Improving Access to Primary Care for a Growing Latino Population
Context: Many rural Midwestern communities are experiencing rapid growth in Latino populations with low rates of health insurance coverage, limited financial resources, language and cultural differences, and special health care needs. Purpose: We report on 2‐day site visits conducted in 2001 and 2002 in 3 communities (Marshalltown, Iowa; Great Bend, Kansas; and Norfolk, Nebraska) to document successful strategies to meet Latino health care needs.…
Providing Health Care to Latino Immigrants
We examined case studies of 3 rural Midwestern communities to assess local health care systems’ response to rapidly growing Latino populations. Currently, clinics provide free or low-cost care, and schools, public health, social services, and religious organizations connect Latinos to the health care system. However, many unmet health care needs result from lack of health insurance, limited income, and linguistic and cultural barriers. Targeted s…
Pharmacist Staffing, Technology Use, and Implementation of Medication Safety Practices in Rural Hospitals
Context: Medication safety is clearly an important quality issue for rural hospitals. However, rural hospitals face special challenges implementing medication safety practices in terms of their staffing and financial and technical resources. Purpose: This study assessed the capacity of small rural hospitals to implement medication safety practices, with particular focus on pharmacist staffing and the availability of technology. Methods: A telepho…
Rural Emergency Department Staffing and Participation in Emergency Certification and Training Programs
Context: The practice of emergency medicine presents many challenges in rural areas. Purpose: We describe how rural hospitals nationally are staffing their Emergency Departments (EDs) and explore the participation of rural ED physicians and other health care professionals in selected certification and training programs that teach skills needed to provide high‐quality emergency care. Methods: A national telephone survey of a random sample of rural…
A Farewell to Thomas C. Rosenthal, MD, Editor, and Andrew Danzo, Associate Editor
Meaningful Use of Health Information Technology by Rural Hospitals
PURPOSE: This study examines the current status of meaningful use of health information technology (IT) in Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs), other rural, and urban US hospitals, and it discusses the potential role of Medicare payment incentives and disincentives in encouraging CAHs and other rural hospitals to achieve meaningful use. METHODS: Data from the American Hospital Association (AHA) Annual Survey IT Supplement were analyzed, using t test…
Are the CMS Hospital Outpatient Quality Measures Relevant for Rural Hospitals
Context: Quality measures focused on outpatient settings are of increasing interest to policy makers, but little research has been conducted on hospital outpatient quality measures, especially in rural settings. Purpose: To evaluate the relevance of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) outpatient quality measures for rural hospitals, including Critical Access Hospitals. Methods: Researchers analyzed Medicare hospital outpatient claim…
Rural Primary Care Practices and Meaningful Use of Electronic Health Records
PURPOSE: To examine the role of Regional Extension Centers (RECs) in helping rural physician practices adopt electronic health records (EHRs) and achieve meaningful use. METHODS: Using data from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, we conducted a county-level regression analysis using ordinary least squares to better understand rural-urban differences in REC participation, EHR implementation, and meaningful us…
Birth Volume and the Quality of Obstetric Care in Rural Hospitals
BACKGROUND: Childbirth is the most common reason for hospitalization in the United States. Assessing obstetric care quality is critically important for patients, clinicians, and hospitals in rural areas. METHODS: The study used hospital discharge data from the Statewide Inpatient Databases, Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, for 9 states (Colorado, Iowa, Kentucky, New York, North Carolina, Oregon,…
Rural-Urban Differences in Obstetric Care, 2002–2010, and Implications for the Future
BACKGROUND: Approximately 15% of the 4 million annual US births occur in rural hospitals. OBJECTIVE: To (1) measure differences in obstetric care in rural and urban hospitals, and to (2) examine whether trends over time differ by rural-urban hospital location. RESEARCH DESIGN AND SUBJECTS: This was a retrospective analysis of hospital discharge records for all births in the 2002-2010 Nationwide Inpatient Sample, which constitutes 20% sample of US…
Implementation of Emergency Department Transfer Communication Measures in Minnesota Critical Access Hospitals
PURPOSE: Previously published findings based on field tests indicated that emergency department patient transfer communication measures are feasible and worthwhile to implement in rural hospitals. This study aims to expand those findings by focusing on the wide-scale implementation of these measures in the 79 Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) in Minnesota from 2011 to 2013. METHODS: Information was obtained from interviews with key informants invo…
The Rural Obstetric Workforce in US Hospitals
PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to describe the types and combinations of clinicians who are delivering babies in rural hospitals, their employment status, the relationship between hospital birth volume and staffing models, and the staffing challenges faced by rural hospitals. METHODS: We conducted a telephone survey of 306 rural hospitals in 9 states: Colorado, Iowa, Kentucky, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and Wis…
Ensuring Access to High-Quality Maternity Care in Rural America
Access To Obstetric Services In Rural Counties Still Declining, With 9 Percent Losing Services, 2004–14
Recent closures of rural obstetric units and entire hospitals have exacerbated concerns about access to care for more than twenty-eight million women of reproductive age living in rural America. Yet the extent of recent obstetric unit closures has not yet been measured. Using national data, we found that 9 percent of rural counties experienced the loss of all hospital obstetric services in the period 2004-14. In addition, another 45 percent of ru…
Medicine (29 works) · Health care (21 works) · Business (18 works) · Global Health Workforce Issues (16 works) · Economic growth (15 works) · Nursing (15 works) · Rural area (13 works) · Family medicine (12 works) · Environmental health (11 works) · Primary Care and Health Outcomes (10 works)