Rural and Urban Differences in Inpatient Related Costs and Use among Medicare Beneficiaries
This recent Findings Brief from the North Carolina Rural Health Research Program finds that Medicare beneficiaries who are admitted to rural hospitals tend to have lower outpatient costs than Medicare beneficiaries admitted to urban hospitals. These differences are due to multiple factors, some of which were adjusted in the comparisons included in the Brief. The NC RHRP analysis suggests that consideration of the total cost of an acute episode of care might be considered, not just the cost of the acute inpatient stay.