Location: Virginia Department of Health
Number of CAHs: 7
Web site: http://www.vdh.state.va.us/healthpolicy/primarycare/ruralhealth/flex.htm
Rural Assistance Center State Resources
Virginia Rural Health Resource Center
Virginia Rural Health Data Portal
Virginia State Rural Health Plan Facebook
Virginia Top Three Flex Activities in 2009
- The implementation of the Virginia State Rural Health Plan (3-5 year strategic plan) recommendations. The State Rural Health Plan was approved by the Virginia Board of Health in December 2008.
- Completed EMS systems assessments in each county where a CAH was located.
- Expand Virginia's participation of the Multi-State Quality Improvement Program to the SHIP hospitals.
Virginia Flex Program Success Story
All states that participate in the Flex Grant Program are required to develop a State Rural Health Plan (SRHP). Virginia developed its first SRHP in 2000. The Office of Minority Health and Health Equity (OMHHE) has successfully updated the Virginia Rural Health Plan (VA-RHP). The updated VA-RHP was adopted by the Virginia Board of Health in December 2008 after a two-year process of obtaining stakeholder input; and is a 3-5 year strategic plan designed to strengthen the health care infrastructure in rural areas. The VA-RHP is considered an active, working document that has gained great momentum in the past two years. The VA-RHP process and implementation are co-led by the OMHHE and the Virginia Rural Health Association (VRHA) in collaboration with over 50 prominent partners who are actively engaged in adopting one or more of the recommendations of the VA-RHP and/or serving on one of four Rural Councils:1) Access, 2) Quality, 3) Data and Rural Definitions, and 4) Workforce. Much progress has been made toward implementing the 43 recommendations from the VA-RHP in the past two years. The most significant achievements of the VA-RHP include:
- Engaging and keeping the public informed with a dedicated website specific to the VA-RHP and its recommendations (www.va-srhp.org/) (July 2008).
- Formalizing each of the four workgroups in the developmental phase of the VA-RHP into official Councils responsible for leading and implementing recommendations in their respective areas (December 2008).
- Developing an Oversight Committee of the VA-RHP with established guidelines (May 2009).
- Developing the Virginia Rural Health Data Portal, a web-based tool that provides policy makers, rural health providers, researchers, grant writers, and others interested in telling their story with data on the health and health related issues facing rural populations in Virginia. There are two components to the data portal. One side of the portal creates charts and graphs for a variety of information, including population, poverty and health workforce. The other side of the portal contains a geographic interface that allows users to select data layers and create and print maps. All data can also be downloaded for use by individuals for their own projects (December 2009).
- Having the workshop entitled "Your State Rural Health Plan as a Tool for Developing, Engaging and Sustaining Partnerships with Key Stakeholders" being selected for presentation at the National Rural Health Association meeting in May 2010.
A more detailed report on progress toward the implementation of the VA-RHP recommendations can be found in its website.
Virginia Most Significant Flex Achievement
An outgrowth of the VA-RHP has been the development of the Virginia Rural Health Data Portal. The portal contains two components, a data side and a mapping side. The Virginia Economic Bridge manages the data component and the Virginia Network for Geospatial Health Research assists with the mapping component. Data from the Portal can be used to support initiatives advanced by the CAHs to improve service delivery in their service areas.
