DON R. RAHTZ, M. JOSEPH SIRGY and DONG-JIN LEE FURTHER VALIDATION AND EXTENSION OF THE QUALITY-OF-LIFE/COMMUNITY-HEALTHCARE MODEL AND MEASURES (Accepted 24 October 2002) ABSTRACT. This paper extends and further validates the quality-of-life/ community-healthcare model and measures developed by Rahtz and Sirgy (2000). The quality of life (QOL) model is based on the theoretical notion that community residents’ satisfaction with healthcare services available within their community affects community quality of life and life satisfaction. This study extends the model and, in keeping with past research, posits that the bottom-up spillover from community QOL to life satisfaction is greater for those individuals with low personal health satisfaction, lower income, and old age. Data were collected from 1094 community residents in the East-Coast area of the United States. The results provide good support of the new model. Managerial implications and applications for the new model are discussed. INTRODUCTION With the rapidly rising healthcare cost and increasing demand for healthcare services, it is important for healthcare managers and public policy makers to efficiently meet healthcare needs of indi- viduals in the community. Many experts in the healthcare industry agree that providing high quality healthcare services while making the services affordable is a challenging task (e.g., Serota, 2002; Wechsler, 2002). Recently, the cost of healthcare services has risen rapidly. In year 2000, the healthcare cost has increased by 7.2 percent. While many will argue that the increases are mainly driven by prescription drugs, the reality is that the inpatient and outpatient care accounted for 47 percent of the total increase (Healthcare Financial Manage- ment, 2001). Many employers of healthcare consumers expect their healthcare costs to jump by 14 percent in 2002 (HR Focus 2002). Social Indicators Research 69: 167–198, 2004. © 2004 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.