Evaluating the Impact of the Pennsylvania Rural Health Model on Cancer Surgery Outcomes in Rural Hospitals

Highlight

• Implementation of the Pennsylvania Rural Health Model (PARHM), a global budget program, aimed to stabilize rural hospitals financially without compromising care quality.
• The study analyzed over 17,000 cancer surgery admissions in rural Pennsylvania comparing outcomes before and after PARHM implementation.
• No significant changes were observed in short-term surgical outcomes including mortality and readmission rates post-PARHM.
• Findings suggest that global budget models alone may be insufficient to improve short-term oncologic surgical outcomes in rural settings.

Study Background