Adams Graham L, Holloman Curtis E, Nye Jeannie M, Salain Rita, Glenn Kelli G, Harrison Sally, Patterson Mary M
South Carolina Office of Rural Health, 220 Stoneridge Dr, Suite 402, Columbia, SC 29210, USA.
J Rural Health. 2003;19 Suppl:314-20.
Many state, federal, and foundation resources have been invested in improving the recruitment of primary care providers to rural communities. The Southern Rural Access Program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has provided varying levels of support to several southern states to assist with retention of those providers.
This study describes the strategies that 6 states used to develop and implement practice management technical assistance services for rural health care providers.
Practice managers in each of the 6 states were surveyed regarding how their service was structured, what types of entities were eligible, and the nature of the technical assistance offered. Information regarding what types of entities used the service, characteristics of the practices, and the number of practices served was also collected.
The survey results showed that almost half (46%) of all practices assisted were private stand-alone physician practices, with overall practice assessments being the practice management service rendered most often. Although the type of organisational home for the technical assistance services varied by state, overall states employed an average of 1.67 full-time equivalent practice managers (0.81 full-time equivalent supported by RWJF) and received an average of $136,055 per state from the RWJF for the 2-year period beginning April 2002 for practice management support.
Overall, the study found that the type of organizational home did not appear to affect the type of technical assistance services offered. However, the type of orgnizational home did appear to affect what types of providers used the service, with trade associations assisting their members or constituents at least half the time.
许多州、联邦和基金会资源已投入到改善向农村社区招募初级保健提供者的工作中。罗伯特·伍德·约翰逊基金会（RWJF）的南方农村医疗服务项目已向几个南方州提供了不同程度的支持，以帮助留住这些提供者。
本研究描述了6个州用于为农村医疗保健提供者开发和实施实践管理技术援助服务的策略。
对6个州的每个州的实践管理人员进行了调查，内容涉及他们的服务是如何构建的、哪些类型的实体有资格获得服务以及所提供技术援助的性质。还收集了有关哪些类型的实体使用了该服务、实践的特征以及所服务的实践数量的信息。
调查结果显示，所有获得援助的实践中，近一半（46%）是独立的私人医生诊所，总体实践评估是最常提供的实践管理服务。虽然技术援助服务的组织归属类型因州而异，但总体而言，各州平均雇用了1.67名全职等效的实践管理人员（其中0.81名全职等效人员由RWJF提供支持），并且在2002年4月开始的两年期间，每个州平均从RWJF获得136,055美元用于实践管理支持。
总体而言，该研究发现组织归属类型似乎并未影响所提供的技术援助服务的类型。然而，组织归属类型似乎确实影响了哪些类型的提供者使用该服务，贸易协会至少有一半时间协助其成员或选民。
