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Hospital Community Benefit in Rural Appalachia: One More Gap *
Author(s) -
Cronin Cory E.,
Franz Berkeley,
Gran Brian K.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
rural sociology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.083
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1549-0831
pISSN - 0036-0112
DOI - 10.1111/ruso.12329
Subject(s) - appalachia , public health , community health , health equity , appalachian region , health care , business , environmental health , multilevel model , economic growth , medicine , geography , nursing , economics , paleontology , physical geography , machine learning , computer science , biology
Non‐profit hospitals are important anchors in Appalachian communities, in part because of the concentration of health care dollars within these institutions. Community benefit efforts of these hospitals, therefore, have the potential to fill gaps in public health and social service provision in underserved areas with documented health disparities and access barriers. To date, however, we do not fully understand how community benefit practices vary by hospital setting. Employing hierarchical linear modeling using a multilevel mixed‐effects approach, this study analyzes data from the years 2010 to 2016 to assess community benefit practices and spending between hospitals in Appalachia and non‐Appalachian counties. Findings indicate that hospitals within Appalachian counties, and rural hospitals in this region, in particular, spent less on community benefit than hospitals, not in this region. Given the potential for community benefit to impact health outcomes and access to care, this disparity is important to state and local public health efforts and suggests the need for additional support for hospitals to engage their communities around critical health needs.