Strategic planning in rural health care organizations.

Is strategic planning associated with higher levels of performance in health care organizations? Is strategic planning effective? This article examines strategic planning's impact on rural hospital and rural nursing facility performance, organizational characteristics, and strategy. The findings suggest that strategic planning in rural hospitals is strongly associated with higher profits, operating margins and planning effectiveness, and associated to a lesser extent with lower costs and higher revenues per patient day. However, strategic planning does not appear to be associated with higher performance in nursing facilities. The implications for strategic planning in rural health care organizations are discussed.