Culminating a 6-month assessment effort by Control Data Corporation's (CDC) Engineering Management Operations (EMO), the report was prepared to help meet the Department of Agriculture's need for an assessment of (1) rural health care services research as a whole and (2) the knowledge contained in that research. The CDC "Final Report" was presented in a large volume in order to make the entire data base available for different policy uses, assessment methodological applications, and further discussions. Prepared by EMO after the completion of the Final Report, this executive summary further explains the presumptions, assumptions, methodologies, conclusions, and recommendations of that report. Policy-relevant findings of the assessment are summarized and clarified by: (1) presenting the models and objectives (values) used in the systems approach which produced the Final Report's recommendations; and (2) demonstrating a potential systems approach to the utilization of the Final Report's data base elements toward the goal of achieving a comprehensive knowledge assessment. The accepted research publications are categorized by: (1) indepth subject category and (2) document access number. (NQ)