Rural Health Path to Value Rural Health Innovations offers services to help you climb toward population health and improve the health status of your community.
Community Health Needs Assessments (CHNA) Work with us to set a course toward value-based payment and population health. A thorough assessment of your community's needs is the crucial first step.
Community Health Implementation Planning We can help you to strategically build and carry out a community health implementation plan that addresses the needs identified in your CHNA.
Additional Consulting Services
Network and Partnership Development More is possible when working together. Let us help you build bridges that lead to healthier communities.
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.
The primary goal of the Rural Community Ambulance Agency Transformation Readiness Assessment and associated resources is to help ambulance agency leaders in rural America assess the state of their agency’s readiness in the core competency areas created following the Critical Access Hospital Blueprint for Performance Excellence, adapted specifically for rural ambulance agencies from the Baldridge Excellence Framework for Health Care.
Patients, Partners, and the Community core competencies for the ambulance agency include:
The agency participates in a community health assessment process to identify both strengths and needs to best serve the people in the community.
Staff receives ongoing education and support for effectively engaging multiple community stakeholders to coordinate transitions of care aimed at reducing hospital readmissions, unnecessary 911 response, Emergency Department (ED) utilization, and improving wellness.
The agency has a strategy to provide health assessments and education to the community at events such as a county fair, and on a scheduled basis at places like community centers.
Staff coordinates care with multiple stakeholders to address a patient's underlying needs and social determinants of health.
This report is designed to help rural EMS leaders and health care providers during the transition to value-based payment, providing ideas for collaboration and potential strategies to better prepare and integrate into the new value-based environment.
This practical guide is for ambulance agencies to use in pursuit of sustaining effective and efficient delivery of patient care and developing into an integrated system with other agencies. It provides various examples that have been used by agencies to benefit them, their staff, and most importantly, their patients.
This 2018 resource collection by the National Association of State EMS Officials (NASEMSO) is intended to assist agencies planning for community health service provision as part of their transformation. The resources are aimed at defining health needs in the community with which the transformed EMS agency may be most useful for addressing.
The Action Guide is a framework to help multi-sector groups work together to improve population health. It is organized by 10 elements and contains definitions, recommendations, practical examples and a range of resources written in plain language to be as accessible as possible for all types of stakeholders.
The Rural Community Paramedicine Toolkit compiles emerging practices and resources to support rural communities seeking to build community paramedicine and mobile integrated health programs across the United States.
Rural health care leaders report challenges when trying to educate and engage board and community members regarding health care organization changes required to succeed during the volume-to-value transition. Yet, value-based care discussions should play a significant role in all strategic planning and should be included in organizational performance measurement. This document provides a list of conversation starting questions to help rural health care leaders facilitate value-based care discussions with board and community members.
Considers the historical focus of rural health research and policy on access to hospitals, primary care and other health services, and calls for a shift toward a population health approach to rural health.
Presents an Action Framework, aimed at improving population health and motivating cultural change that builds a shared value of health and an integrated, cross-sector approach.
This policy brief outlines the concept of population health in rural communities with a focus on providing better care, improving health and lowering costs.
Hospitals and health care systems have ample opportunity to collaborate with community partners, develop strategies to address community health concerns and catalyze change. This resource page outlines a framework for hospitals in fostering a culture of health and presents case studies on innovative initiatives.
This guide provides rural health care leaders and teams with foundational knowledge, strategies, and resources to understand the impact of social determinants of health on patients and communities and to recognize local needs and opportunities for action.
This practical guide is for ambulance agencies to use in pursuit of sustaining effective and efficient delivery of patient care and developing into an integrated system with other agencies. It provides various examples that have been used by agencies to benefit them, their staff, and most importantly, their patients.
Learn a practical approach to identifying key patient populations and a process to initiate population health planning. Learn how to integrate population health initiatives as part of an organization’s strategy.
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, $1,560,000 (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.
Describe the policy and technical barriers facing robust public health data sharing. Recognize recent state and federal efforts to overcome the public health information silos that exist. Identify how Flex Programs can better access critical public health information, particularly in their population health efforts.
Describe telehealth origination sites and common rural alternatives. Relate what a telehealth visit looks like for the patient from an alternative site such as a library. Discuss the positive impact on health equity and patient access. List examples of rural alternative origination sites.
