Lead Investigators
Saleema Karim, Ph.D.
501-526-6645
sakarim@uams.edu
Mick Tilford, Ph.D.
501-526-6642
tilfordmickj@uams.edu
Summary of Project
This project will merge data on telehealth capabilities from the American Hospital Association Annual Survey with CMS cost information and other databases to test the hypothesis that having telehealth technology is associated with both improved hospital financial performance of urban and rural hospitals. The causal pathway for improved financial performance will vary between both types of hospitals and may be attributed to either increases in hospital market share, increases in patient reimbursement, and decreases in cost inefficiency, or a combination of all three pathways. Currently, national research on the benefits of telehealth technology on hospital financial performance (and its precursors) is anecdotal and lacks empirical support to provide policy makers with evidence as to whether there is a differential impact of telehealth technology on urban versus rural hospitals.