Inpatient hospital utilization among the uninsured near elderly: data and policy implications for West Virginia.

Objective: To inform state policy discussions about the insurance coverage of the near elderly in West Virginia (WV) and the impact of the uninsured near elderly on hospitals in the state.

Data Sources: 2003 West Virginia Uniform Bill (UB) hospital discharge data. The data represent all adult inpatient discharges in the state during the year.

Getting from here to there: evaluating West Virginia's rural nonemergency medical transportation program.

With funding from the 21st Century Challenge Fund, the West Virginia Rural Health Access Program created Transportation for Health, a demonstration project for rural nonemergency medical transportation. The project was implemented in 3 sites around the state, building on existing transportation systems--specifically, a multicounty transit authority, a joint senior center/transit system, and a senior services center. An evaluation of the project was undertaken to answer 3 major questions: (1) Did the project reach the population of people who need transportation assistance? (2) Are users of the transportation project satisfied with the service? (3) Is the program sustainable? Preliminary results from survey data indicate that the answers to questions 1 and 2 are affirmative.