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SHIP Funding Updates and Recommendations
In an effort to relieve the reporting burden for critical access hospitals (CAHs) during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) priority remains suspended in FY 2022 (June 1, 2022 - May 31, 2023); although the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) highly encourages continued reporting for CAHs. For additional details on the Medicare Beneficiary Quality Improvement Program (MBQIP) within the Flex Grant program, please refer to the MBQIP resources.
The ICD-10 coding priority also remains suspended for FY 2022. ICD-10 training and related activities were added under SHIP to assist hospitals' compliance with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS) ICD-10 billing requirements which went into effect in October 2015. At this time, most hospitals have completed the conversion to the ICD-10 system for accurate billing so participating SHIP hospitals are not required to prioritize these activities before selecting any other investment options.
HCAHPS and ICD-10 related activities will remain on the Allowable Investment Menu and hospitals may continue to select activities within these categories. In lieu of a funding priority, FORHP recommends that hospitals utilize funding to support quality improvement and/or health care finance requirements such as, but not limited to:
- Develop or implement training, hardware/software that supports the application and expansion of telehealth and/or telemedicine
- Comply with CMS's Price Transparency rule by January 1, 2021, which requires hospitals operating in the United States to provide clear, accessible online pricing information on the hospital services.
The FY 2022 Allowable Investment Menu below is not intended to be a comprehensive list but rather to provide examples of allowable SHIP activities. For additional clarification, refer to the SHIP Allowable Investments Search Tool and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ).
For more information or for additional support, please contact the SHIP Technical Assistance Team at ship-ta@ruralcenter.org
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Value Based Purchasing (VBP)
This project is/was supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under grant number UB1RH24206, Information Services to Rural Hospital Flexibility Program Grantees, $1,100,000 (0% financed with nongovernmental sources). This information or content and conclusions are those of the author and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government.