Oklahoma Office of Rural Health

Top Flex Activities

CAH Quality Improvement

The Oklahoma Office of Rural Health (OORH) provides support in the area of quality improvement through hosting quarterly Medicare Beneficiary Quality Improvement Project (MBQIP) webinars and onsite and virtual training Abstraction and Reporting Tool (CART) and QualityNet/HARPtrainings. 

The OORH has recently started hosting regular Swing Bed webinars. The OORH selects specialists for all programmatic areas through a bid process. These services include case review, survey readiness training, and mock surveys.

CAH Operational and Financial Improvement

During the bid process, the OORH selects consultants to provide support in the area of financial and operational improvement through chargemaster reviews, operational analyses, and productivity analyses. Eligible CAHs are selected through completion of an annual stakeholder assessment and then matched back to Flex Monitoring Team (FMT) financial data to prioritize needs. The OORH also provides two Medicare Boot Camp trainings per year.

In 2020, the OORH started hosting and recording regular CEO/CFO topical webinars on operational and financial improvement.

CAH Population Health Improvement 

The OORH facilitates Community Health Needs Assessments (CHNAs). The CHNA process offered by the OORH fulfills the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requirements for 501c3 facilities. All CAHs, regardless of 501 c3 status, are eligible to complete a CHNA facilitated by the OORH. 

On average, the OORH completed five to ten CHNAs for rural hospitals each year. Through the completion of a CHNA, rural hospitals engage with their community and collaborate with local partners to address the pressing health needs of their residents.

The OORH partners with the Oklahoma State University, Master of Public Health Program to provide program planning and program evaluation to assist communities in addressing identified needs. 

Please provide information about network activities in your state to support Flex Program activities.

The OORH has hosted a monthly CEO/CFO webinar series. This program was intended to be in person, but seamlessly moved to virtual. The OORH has also started a swing bed project with a steering committee of CAH leaders. These projects are designed to create better networking opportunities within the state.

Please provide information about cross-state collaborations you may be working on related to the Flex Program.

In 2021, the OORH partnered with the state offices in New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, Colorado, Wyoming, and Nebraska along with Stroudwater Associates to hold the first virtual SW Region CAH Conference.

Please describe how your state Flex Program is reaching out to non-traditional partners to support its work. 

Through the completion of CHNAs and the corresponding implementation strategies, the OORH has made many non-traditional contacts, from Cooperative Extension to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to the local Community Action Agencies, to help in the sharing of local services and resources.

Program Statistics