Strategic adaptation of US rural hospitals during an era of limited financial resources: A longitudinal study, 1983 to 1993

This research investigated the competing effects of environmental and organizational pressures on rural hospitals' revenue-enhancing and cost-containment strategies from 1983 to 1993. In general, organizational pressures (multihospital system membership and non-government control) exerted more influence than environmental ones. Also, strategies generally were sustained over time and were particularly interdependent with hospitals' maintenance of staffed beds. Strategies did respond to environmental pressures, however, with revenue enhancement associated with local market competition and munificence, and cost containment associated with pressures from Medicare reimbursement.