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.
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.
These resources focus on quality improvement related to patient safety and inpatient care. The current required and additional Medicare Beneficiary Quality Improvement Project (MBQIP) measures that fall under this domain include:
Core:
HCP/IMM-3 (OP-27): Influenza Vaccination Coverage among Healthcare Personnel
IMM-2: Influenza Immunization
Antibiotic Stewardship
ED-1 and ED-2: Emergency Department (ED) Care for Admitted Patients
This resource contains information about the influenza vaccination for health care workers including why they should be vaccinated, statistics and facts, who should and shouldn't be vaccinated and much more.
View documents that provide additional information regarding the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) Annual Facility Survey as it relates to reporting for Antibiotic Stewardship
This document provides guidance on practical strategies to implement antibiotic stewardship programs in CAHs and other small hospitals. The suggestions provided here are based on discussions with staff in such hospitals, several of which have implemented all of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Core Elements.
This checklist should be used to systematically assess key elements and actions to ensure optimal antibiotic prescribing and limit overuse and misuse of antibiotics in hospitals
This document summarizes core elements of successful hospital antibiotic stewardship programs (ASP). It complements existing guidelines on ASPs from organizations including the Infectious Diseases Society of America in conjunction with the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, American Society of Health System Pharmacists and The Joint Commission.
This workbook provides small hospitals with guidance and tools, including a framework and strategic plan for implementing a feasible, small-scale stewardship program tailored to its own unique characteristics.
View a tool to help make patient care safer and improve care transitions. This change package is a summary of themes from the successful practices of high performing health organizations across the country.
This report provides an overview of antibiotic use in US health care settings and what health care providers, patients, insurers and others can do to support appropriate antibiotic use to prevent antibiotic resistance.
This toolkit assists hospital staff and leadership in developing an effective antimicrobial stewardship program with the potential to reduce Clostridium difficile infection.
This toolkit contains hospital and health system resources, including a readiness assessment tool, the starting point in developing or enhancing a successful ASP. It also contains clinician and patient resources.
The Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture examines patient safety culture from a hospital staff perspective and allows hospitals to assess their safety culture and track changes over time.
This brief identifies and assesses evidence-based patient safety and quality improvement interventions appropriate for use by state Flex Programs and CAH, and discusses the use of patient safety culture surveys as a means to promote organizational learning and build a culture of safety.
This toolkit includes training tools to make care safer by improving the foundation of how physicians, nurses and other clinical team members work together. It builds the capacity to address safety issues by combining clinical best practices and the science of safety.
The Patient Safety Network (PSNet) is a national web-based resource that features the latest news and essential resources on patient safety, including weekly updates of patient safety literature, news and tools.
This tool offers hospitals, long-term care facilities and outpatient facilities a unique opportunity to assess the safety of systems and practices associated with up to 11 categories of high-alert medications.
The Preventing Pressure Ulcers in Hospitals Toolkit assists hospital staff in implementing effective pressure ulcer prevention practices through an interdisciplinary approach to care. The toolkit draws on literature on best practices in pressure ulcer prevention and includes both validated and newly developed tools.
This resource offers guidance to clinicians on how to prevent VTE. The updated guide includes new and improved metrics for tracking the adequacy of VTE prophylaxis, increased use of EHRs, more tools and lessons learned while detailing how to start, implement, evaluate and sustain a VTE prevention strategy.
This toolkit focuses on overcoming the challenges associated with developing, implementing and sustaining a fall prevention program. The toolkit features an implementation guide for the team that is putting the new prevention strategies into practice and also has links to tools and resources.
This brief identifies and assesses evidence-based patient safety and quality improvement interventions appropriate for use by state Flex Programs and CAHs.
This guide focuses on how hospitals can better identify, report, monitor and prevent medical errors in patients with limited English proficiency.
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.
The tentative topic for the August Flex VKG is Grant Logistics: Closing out the Flex Grant Year. Flex VKG webinars provide a forum for state Flex Programs to share successes, discuss challenges and brainstorm strategies for improvement and Flex Program excellence.
The tentative topic of the August TASC 90 webinar is Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). This quarterly webinar will include updates from TASC, RQITA, FMT and FORHP, to include both the Flex Program and policies impacting CAHs.
