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 Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Abstraction and Reporting Tool (CART) and QualityNet trainings. 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 need. The OORH also provides two Medicare Boot Camp trainings per year.

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 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 started hosting regional CEO and Quality Director meetings. The goal of these meetings is to promote networking opportunities and develop cohort workgroups for quality improvement activities. These meetings also provide the OORH with valuable information and feedback on activities and services to better support Oklahoma CAHs. Also, the OORH piloted a regional quality improvement project with three CAHs that met in person and virtually to develop improvement strategies for specific MBQIP measures.

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

Oklahoma has been in discussions with the Texas Office of Rural Health to collaborate in hosting a regional meeting for bordering hospitals. 

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