Small Rural Hospital Improvement Grant Program (SHIP)

The Small Rural Hospital Improvement Grant Program (SHIP)  is supported by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,  Health Resources and Services Administration's Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP). Section 1820(g)(3) of the Social Security Act (SSA) authorizes SHIP to assist eligible hospitals in meeting the costs of implementing data system requirements established under the Medicare Program, including using funds to assist hospitals in participating in improvements in value and quality to health care such as:

  1. Value-Based Purchasing Programs (VBP)
  2. Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) 
  3. Payment Bundling (PB)
Eligible small rural hospitals are located in the United States and its territories and include hospitals with 49 available beds or less. These small rural, non-federal hospitals provide short-term, general acute care to their communities. They may be for-profit, not-for-profit or tribal organizations. Critical access hospitals are eligible for the program.

SHIP Purchasing Menu

National SHIP Funding Information

SHIP Hospital Use of Funds by Category [PDF - 248 KB]
Use of Accountable Care Organization (ACO) Funds [PDF - 185.31 KB]
Use of Prospective Payment System (PPS)/Payment Bundling (PB) Funds [PDF - 235 KB]
Use of Value-Based Purchasing (VBP) Funds [PDF - 195 KB]
SHIP Hospitals Map [PDF - 230 KB]

Map of Hospitals Participating in SHIP for Fiscal Year 2015

Contacts

For more information, please contact Becky Gourde at ship-ta@ruralcenter.org or (218) 216-7044 or contact Bridget Ware, Federal Office of Rural Health Policy, at (301) 443-3822 or bware@hrsa.gov.

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, $957,510 (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.