Rural Hospital Stabilization Pilot Program - In the new Rural Hospital Stabilization Pilot Program (RHSP), the National Rural Health Resource Center (The Center) will leverage its experience and understanding of rural hospitals across the country to provide technical assistance (TA) with planning and implementing service improvements. This TA will be accomplished in partnership with the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) and The Center’s managed network of national rural hospital technical experts (RHTEs). To improve health care in rural areas, The Center will conduct in-depth financial and operational assessments to enhance or expand hospital services matched to community needs through appropriate, multi-faceted TA initiatives for eight hospitals annually. Moreover, up to 15 additional hospitals will also receive education, online resources, and coaching to stabilize their hospitals and improve access to quality health care services to prepare for future participation. The Center is a leader in providing rural health TA and has over 20 years of experience serving rural hospitals including critical access hospitals, small prospective payment hospitals and rural emergency hospitals, and networks, with 548 projects completed nationally. Additionally, The Center has significant RHTE capacity, having established productive consulting relationships with the leading financial, operational, and research experts in rural health. With the commitment of five organizational RHTEs, The Center is equipped to launch RHSP quickly in collaboration with FORHP, and state and national partners, identifying and marketing TA to eligible hospitals and providing effective TA to eight hospitals most in need of strengthening health care delivery each year. The Center utilizes its professional knowledge, experience, and RHTE network to provide TA to hospitals experiencing financial and operational instability. This TA addresses community need and bypass rates to identify service line enhancements and expansions to keep health care services local. Promoting national standards, the RHTEs provide analysis and assessments of financial status, market share, quality indicators, local human services, and service gaps in rural hospitals. The network of RHTE recommendations guide action plans and implementation planning for each participating HCO to ensure the RHSP goals are achieved. Moreover, two Learning Collaboratives offer hospitals peer to peer opportunities to share evidence-based clinical models while receiving operational coaching for implementation of new and expanded services. Systematic annual evaluations of each hospital’s outcomes and the ongoing assessment of program TA services provide valuable insight into best practices and insight into RHSP effectiveness. The RHSP is modeled on The Center’s successful Delta Region Community Health Systems Development (DRCHSD) program, which has exceeded the program goals of stabilizing rural health care organizations experiencing financial and operational instability. Using this experience as a guide, hospitals will receive exceptional TA that is customized to ensure that services are kept locally and that community health needs are met. Program funding is provided to hospitals for support of software, supplies, and equipment implementation that expands and enhances service lines. Funding is also contributed to support a local hospital Community Engagement Champion who markets health care services, enhances relationships and engages local community leaders. Through the proposed RHSP, The Center will maintain collaboration and alignment of services with FORHP, other federal, state, and national partners, and RHTEs. This collaboration will ensure quality TA is provided to rural hospitals, improving hospital finances and operations to meet community health needs and keep care local.
