Accession Number:

ADA604497

Title:

Rural Health, Center of Excellence for Remote and Medically Under-served Area (CERMUSA)

Descriptive Note:

Final rept. 5 Jan 2006-21 Apr 2007

Corporate Author:

SAINT FRANCIS UNIV LORETTO PA

Personal Author(s):

• Roberts, Jay B.
• Bapat, Ashok

Report Date:

2007-05-01

Pagination or Media Count:

201.0

Abstract:

Appropriate healthcare services remain a major challenge for rural America. Underdeveloped infrastructure and lack of well qualified healthcare providers including specialists remain the major root causes. Factors such as geography and race contribute to the disparities in proper and adequate medical services. A number of rural hospitals have been operating without modern facilities. Less than 10 of the countrys physicians and specialists practice in rural areas. The spending on Medicare and Medicaid services which has increased from 370 billion in 2001 to 477 billion in 2004 is the living testimony in support of high cost of medical services. It is clear that spending more money is not enough to solve all the healthcare problems. The lack of good healthcare systems is impeding their economic growth. Thus rural regions continue to face unprecedented and great challenges. For the past eight years, CERMUSA through its initiatives has been helping the rural hospitals to establish an infrastructure to enable them to provide modern care and education to their clients, employees, and healthcare professionals. It is helping them to generate a network of healthcare providers to fulfill the unmet need of a robust and vibrant healthcare center in remote and rural western Pennsylvania.

Descriptors:

• *RURAL AREAS
• *TELEMEDICINE
• COSTS
• DISTANCE LEARNING
• ECONOMICS
• EDUCATION
• MEDICAL SERVICES
• NETWORKS
• OFF THE SHELF EQUIPMENT
• PENNSYLVANIA
• PHYSICIANS

Subject Categories:

• Medicine and Medical Research
• Biomedical Instrumentation and Bioengineering

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE