Smaller Hospitals in Rural Areas

Springer Gabler Verlag has published Prof. Dr Steffen Fleßa’s new book “Smaller Hospitals in Rural Areas - Model Solutions for Affordable Care”.

Hospitals with up to 200 beds are faced with very specific strategic and organisational issues. This book contains an analysis of the challenges and solution strategies of smaller hospitals in rural areas from business management and healthcare science perspectives.

The book opens with a discussion of the status quo of the hospital sector in Germany; the focus is on smaller hospitals in rural areas. It then texplains the principles and special framework conditions for these hospitals and uses these to derive first approaches to the solution.

The author uses a case study to explore how the solution strategies presented in this book have been implemented at a specific hospital (Kreiskrankenhaus Wolgast) in recent years. The study demonstrates how small hospitals can provide reliable and affordable care for the rural population.

The book was written by Prof. Dr Steffen Fleßa, who holds the Chair of General Business Administration: Health Care Management at the University of Greifswald. He has been researching healthcare provision in rural areas in Europe, Africa and South East Asia for 25 years.