Community & Population Health Community support of the local health care system is vital for sustainability and growth. Learn how to create a healthier and more engaged community by working with The Center.
Health Information Technology Consulting As the national knowledge center on rural electronic health record adoption, The Center offers comprehensive services targeted at rural hospitals, rural health clinics and state and national HIT programs.
Leadership Success begins with strong, informed leadership. The Center offers a variety of services, on-site and remotely, to leaders to assess strengths and identify areas of useful performance improvement.
Workforce The Center understands that rural health care facilities face unique workforce challenges. Since 1991, The Center has assisted rural citizens, health professionals, educators and policymakers with design and implementation strategies to assure the availability of quality health care.
Strategic Planning Effective planning is critical for organizational success. Expertly facilitated services conducted by The Center’s staff of national rural health experts will help hospitals and organizations achieve this success.
Performance Improvement The Center offers a complete spectrum of rural health performance improvement services. With support from The Center, clients succeed in aligning people, processes and resources with their mission.
Technical Assistance & Services Center (TASC) TASC provides performance improvement resources to CAHs and state Flex Programs on quality, finance, operations, systems of care and population health.
Small Rural Hospital Improvement Grant Program (SHIP) SHIP provides funding to approximately 1,600 participating hospitals in 46 participating SORHs to help small rural hospitals participate in value-based payment and care delivery models.
Network Technical Assistance (TA) RHI provides technical assistance (TA) to over 60 networks in the Development and Allied Health rural health network grant programs.
Small Rural Hospital Transition (SRHT) Project The Small Rural Hospital Transition (SRHT) Project supports small rural hospitals nationally by providing on-site technical assistance to assist bridging the gaps between the current health care system and the newly emerging health care delivery and payment system.
Associates Program The Associates Program is designed to connect health care organizations and networks with highly qualified rural consultants and technical experts.
Resource Library The Center's Resource Library features webinars, presentations, articles and toolkits developed by trusted industry leaders to guide and support rural health stakeholders.
Events Find information about upcoming webinars, workshops and more hosted by The Center or Rural Health Innovations.
Allied Health Webinars Find recordings and resources from recent technical assistance webinars for Rural Network Allied Health Training grantees.
Health Education and Learning Program (HELP) Webinars Eligible rural hospital leaders and staff can attend a HELP webinar to learn about current financial, operational and quality performance needs that impact their transition to the new health care environment.
Network Development Webinars Find recordings and resources from recent technical assistance webinars for Rural Health Network Development grantees.
Performance Management Group (PMG) Calls Learn from the experience of leading hospital administrators and nationally recognized field experts. PMG calls allow peer-to-peer education focused on preparing rural hospitals for new payment and care delivery models.
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Promoting Quality Reporting and Improvement
Quality reporting and improvement are priorities of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Quality Strategy: better health, better care and lower cost through improvement. The national Flex Program is in alignment with these goals and has identified quality improvement as one of its program areas. In order to build program plans and support critical access hospitals (CAHs) in their quality improvement (QI) efforts, Flex Programs need to be aware of the various quality reporting initiatives and requirements, in particular the Medicare Beneficiary Quality Improvement Project (MBQIP) and Hospital Compare. Through communications with CAHs and by using MBQIP and Flex Monitoring Team (FMT) data and reports, state Flex Programs can develop a thorough understanding of CAH QI performance, including needs and successes. State Flex Program proficiency in the following contribute to excellence in quality reporting and improvement:
This portal provides an overview of the goals, expectations and measures for MBQIP as well as resources for reporting and quality improvement initiatives.
This guide is intended to help Flex Programs use Excel files and PDF reports containing MBQIP data provided by FORHP. It includes overviews of the files that Flex Programs receive, instructions for manipulating the data for analysis and an ongoing log of changes made to MBQIP data reports since 2016.
View a recorded training series created for CAH staff that collect and report CMS Inpatient and Outpatient quality measures. Learn about Open Office Hour technical assistance for MBQIP data abstractors.
This guide highlights ideas for Flex Programs to foster an informal peer mentoring environment, followed by basic guidance to develop a more intentional and structured peer mentoring program for their CAHs. Sample documents from the formal peer mentoring program in North Dakota are included.
This document describes the criteria to be eligible to participate in Flex-related activities for FY 2017 and FY 2018. The document also includes exceptions and frequently asked questions. Also access the 2017 MBQIP sample waiver template.
HCAHPS is a survey instrument for measuring patients’ perspectives on hospital care. The survey contains patient perspectives on care and patient rating items that encompass key topics.
The CART tool is used for inpatient and outpatient data collection and analyses to inform quality improvement efforts. CART is available from QualityNet for computers or as a paper tool. The application is available at no charge to hospitals or other organizations seeking to improve quality of care.
Understand the QINs scope of work and how they will differ from the QIO model. Discover how QINs will function and coordinate with other networks. Learn how the QIN model can benefit state Flex Programs and MBQIP.
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.
Networking opportunity for Flex Programs to discuss CAH improvement strategies for immunization measures and use of groups in the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) for supporting MBQIP.
The goal of the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) Flex Program Workshop is to provide new or existing Flex Program staff an orientation to the Flex Program. Attendance at this event is open only to state Flex grantees.
