Informal and formal health care systems for the rural elderly.

The preceding sections have been an attempt to touch on a broad spectrum of issues related to the health care of older persons living in the rural United States. This article was intended to be an overview of research issues and, as a consequence, we have been unable to go into great depth in any one area of inquiry; we have certainly not included all of the research questions on areas where present knowledge is incomplete. In broad terms, we suggest that future rural health services research on the elderly be concentrated on the following five major categories of inquiry: --A better understanding of the location and distribution of the elderly in rural America --A better understanding of the life conditions affecting the health of the rural elderly --A better understanding of the health status of the rural elderly --A better understanding of the development, delivery, and impact of health services for the rural elderly, and --A better understanding of the methodological and theoretical difficulties of studying the health and health care of the rural elderly.