| Many frontier and rural communities are struggling to provide access to health care for their residents. Problems of access are greater in these communities than in urban areas. Unless these challenges of access to care are addressed now, chronic disease will become a colossal burden in many rural communities. This study identified critical success factors for Frontier Extended Stay Clinics (FESC). The Frontier Extended Stay Clinic demonstration project is a network of remotely located health centers in frontier or rural areas that provides primary care, emergency care, and extended stay services. Currently, there is a scarcity of research that supports this important rural healthcare delivery model. This study investigated the critical success factors necessary for Frontier Extended Stay Clinics to achieve and maintain sustainability. In addition to identifying these critical success factors, a second objective was to expand the current knowledge base of what factors contribute to FESC success, and to add to the existing knowledge base of the FESC model. Primary data was collected through interviews, surveys, and benchmarking methods. The researcher surveyed key staff, board members, and partners of the project to identify the FESCs' critical success factors.;The goal of identifying critical success factors is to provide information for administrators of FESC programs, as well as other stakeholders, and ultimately to increase the sustainability of the program. The identification of critical success factors will be helpful for potential new FESC sites and serve as the foundation of monitoring and evaluation of Frontier Extended Stay Clinics.;Several critical success factors were identified during the survey, interview, and benchmark data collection process. Overall, the critical success factors identified by representatives included organizational mission, revenue maximization, community involvement, customer service, technology, business collaboration, personnel maximization, quality leadership, recruitment and retention, quality control, and safe and healthy working environment. Organizational mission was the only CSF shared among all four groups studied. Community involvement and revenue maximization were CSFs shared among three of the four groups. Only two of the four groups identified customer service, personnel maximization, and technology as CSFs. Leadership and quality control were CSFs identified by only one of the four groups studied.;There are clearly benefits to providing emergent and inpatient care within communities, instead of relying on costly medevacs for unnecessary hospital medical interventions. There are many lessons to be learned from these pioneers in healthcare delivery. This study and the identification of FESC critical success factors will add to the pool of research on the FESC model. |
