Electronic Health Records and Rural Hospitals

Nearly 20% of the U.S. population lives in rural areas and are not resistant to many of the U.S. healthcare challenges such as cost, quality, and access. In fact, the distinguishing cultural, social, economic, and geographic traits which characterize rural America place rural populations at greater risk for many diseases and health disorders. Like those in urban settings, people from rural areas have been affected by the use of health information technology, where treatment is now data-intensive, and there are more options and greater expectations of quality and accountability. Due to cost, geographic and social traits, and the digital divide between urban and rural communities, the rapid changes in health information technology have not affected rural communities in the same way they have affected more central and populous areas. The irony is that rural communities are often the ones with the poorest health outcomes and most in need of assistance. Implementation of EHRs is more difficult in rural areas, in comparison to urban ones due to certain barriers. But, with a little more time and effort on behalf of hospital staff, policy makers, and patients, these rural areas can overcome the barriers of implementation and succeed in meeting the meaningful use requirements. Ultimately, this will transform the quality of care within rural healthcare facilities and furthermore improve the health outcomes of rural patients

The Cameron-Martin Theorem for (p-)Slepian processes

We show a Cameron-Martin theorem for Slepian processes $W_t:=\frac{1}{\sqrt{p}}(B_t-B_{t-p}), t\in [p,1]$, where $p\geq \frac{1}{2}$ and $B_s$ is Brownian motion. More exactly, we determine the class of functions $F$ for which a density of $F(t)+W_t$ with respect to $W_t$ exists. Moreover, we prove an explicit formula for this density. p-Slepian processes are closely related to Slepian processes. p-Slepian processes play a prominent role among others in scan statistics and in testing for parameter constancy when data are taken from a moving window

Institutional choice in social dilemmas: An experimental approach

This paper presents an experimental study on the ability of human groups to escape the tragedy of the commons through institutional change. It shows that the groups identify institutional change as a means of resolving social dilemmas and are ready to apply it even if the change requires an unanimous vote. At the same time, the groups who were given the right to change the rules performed poorer on average than the control-groups. This result stands in contradiction to elementary economic reasoning as well as the results of previous experimental studies. --social dilemmas,common pool resource,laboratory experiment,group behavior,institutional choice