International Journal of Health Sciences

Shortage of Healthcare Providers in Rural Home Health Care: A Health Systems Analysis Recommendation for Health Care Providers
Jewel Goodman Shepherd , CHES, MPA, MTh, PHD; Robert Mogire ; Ndaya Kisongo2; Nassib Aden

Abstract
The United States currently faces great challenges in the healthcare industry, particularly in rural home-based healthcare delivery subsystem. Consumers who are living in these remote locations have very little access to quality healthcare services and thus have poorer health outcomes compared to their urban counterparts. The purpose of this work is to describe the types of challenges experienced by the home healthcare sub-system and provide recommendations on how to correct these issues using evidence-based research that indicates positive outcomes. Some of the obstacles specific to rural home healthcare to be discussed include: ineffective or nonexistent use of health information technology (HIT); lack of hospital networks; poor financial incentives and reimbursement system; and lack of evaluation for continuous improvement. This work will present recommendations to address these challenges using the health systems analysis approach.

Full Text: PDF     DOI: 10.15640/ijhs.v7n2a2