Christianson J
Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA.
J Rural Health. 1998 Summer;14(3):169-79. doi: 10.1111/j.1748-0361.1998.tb00620.x.
This article has provided a conceptual framework regarding the implications of a growing MCO presence in rural areas. This framework addresses factors likely to influence the degree of MCO presence in any given rural community, as well as the possible effects of that presence on rural consumers, employers, providers, and the uninsured. These factors vary across communities and will result in variation in the nature and importance of MCOs among rural communities. The arguments and considerations presented are based on analysis of MCO, employer, and consumer behavior, informed by research findings relating to MCOs in urban areas. The issues discussed raise a number of questions that deserve to be addressed through empirical research focused specifically on rural populations. The appendix contains a summary list of these questions. The next article reviews the results of existing research studies as they bear on these research questions and other issues raised in this article.
本文提供了一个概念框架，阐述了医疗保健机构（MCO）在农村地区日益增加所带来的影响。该框架探讨了可能影响MCO在任何特定农村社区存在程度的因素，以及这种存在对农村消费者、雇主、医疗服务提供者和未参保者可能产生的影响。这些因素因社区而异，将导致MCO在农村社区中的性质和重要性存在差异。所提出的论点和考虑因素基于对MCO、雇主和消费者行为的分析，并参考了与城市地区MCO相关的研究结果。所讨论的问题提出了一些值得通过专门针对农村人口的实证研究来解决的问题。附录包含了这些问题的汇总清单。下一篇文章将回顾现有研究的结果，这些结果与这些研究问题以及本文中提出的其他问题相关。
