Rural hospitals and the adoption of managed care strategies

This research examined the performance of rural hospitals engaged in differ ent levels of managed care activities and identified factors related to per formance and competition that affected rural hospitals' likelihood of pursu ing managed care as a strategy. The sample cd consisted of 139 rural hospit als in Nebraska. Results showed that a relatively high percentage of hospit als were engaged ill managed care activities, mainly through contractual ar rangements. The study found that high competition in the marketplace increa sed the likelihood of hospitals pursuing managed care strategies, Wilde hig h demand markets had a negative association with the likelihood of pursuing a managed care strategy, No significant relationship ars detected between poor performance and pursuing an managed care strategy.