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.
Strategic Planning core competencies for the ambulance agency include:
The leadership team incorporates transformative concepts (such as EMS 3.0) into its strategic planning.
The leadership team can communicate to all staff the ambulance agency's vision and strategies for transitioning.
Leadership regularly communicates transformative concepts to the ambulance agency's governing board.
The agency educates patients, partners, and the community on the agency's vision and strategies for the transformation through various modes, including social media.
The current environment is driven by health care reform and market realities now offers a new set of challenges. Learn how to develop a robust strategy for full population health management and hear practical steps rural providers need to consider as the payment system moves from FFS to value and population health.
This landmark publication focused attention on the issues specific to the survival and improvement of EMS in rural America. Much of what is included in the document is aimed at policymakers but also contains many practical ideas that can, and should, be implemented at the local EMS agency level.
EMS 3.0 is an EMS industry initiative to help EMS agencies and practitioners understand the changes that are needed in EMS to fully support the transformation of our nation’s health care system and to provide tools and resources to help them implemented these changes.
This 2019 document from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) Office of EMS describes is a strategic map for a people-centered EMS evolution consistent with rural community EMS agency transformation to value and population health. It describes a vision for evidence-based, data-driven integrated EMS.
This article discusses the concept of Informed Community Self-Determination (ICSD) in EMS. It is thought to be a useful tool to evaluate the community’s EMS, informing the community of current capability and limitations (costs, staffing), establish options for change, and inform the community of the relative costs of those options.
This 2019 publication funded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Office of EMS has over 250 recommendations for creating environments conducive to innovation. Many of the local agency recommendations would enable improvements leading to EMS transformation.
This 2004 publication was a visionary strategic roadmap in the model of the 1996 EMS Agenda for the Future but intended to specifically shape rural EMS. It provides over 120 recommendations, some of which can shape local agency transformation during strategic planning initiatives.
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.
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.
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.
