This newsletter is brought to you by the Community Health Systems Development Team at the Georgia Health Policy Center, funded through a contract with the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP).
Welcome to the Rural Health Link: Rural Health Services Quarterly Digest. This newsletter will share program updates, the technical assistance (TA) schedule of events, as well as a variety of resources focused on rural health services. Each issue will also feature two grantee spotlight articles. We welcome your feedback. If you have any comments or recommendations for future content, please reach out to us at chsdteam@gsu.edu.
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RMOMS
The Georgia Health Policy Center recently spoke to Lisa Johnson, director of women's and children's services, and Johnna Nynas, M.D., an obstetrician-gynecology physician, at Sanford Bemidji Medical Center, about how the RMOMS grant is transforming care.
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Quality
The Georgia Health Policy Center recently spoke to Candi Kelly, MBA, ambulatory services administrator, and Mitchell Nail, media relations manager, at St. Bernards Five Rivers Medical Center about how their grant is improving quality and culturally competent care in Pocahontas, Ark.
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Rural Health Care Coordination
Program (Care Coordination)
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Reminder:
Please review your recently issued notice of award and make sure all the contact information and carryover amounts (if applicable) are correct.
Thank you all so much for coming together in Atlanta earlier this month for our first in-person conference in a long time! The materials from the (Re)Connect for Health: Rural Health Partnership meeting, including slide presentations, handouts and speaker profiles, are now posted to your grantee portal here.
As you continue your work and begin planning for sustainability, please check out the Telehealth Resource Centers (TRCs). TRCs provide free telehealth technical assistance and share expertise through individual consults, trainings, webinars, conference presentations, and the web. Each TRC has a regional uniqueness which allows them to provide a wide range of assistance to target local community needs. If you are looking for telehealth technical assistance or local resources, please contact your regional TRC by clicking here.
Coming up...
You have the Sustainability Plan template in hand. Your final plan is due in the Electronic Handbook November 30, 2023. Your technical assistance (TA) provider is here to assist you and your consortium partners in your planning process through the end of your grant period through support in strategizing, facilitation and plan review.
The Rural Health Care Coordination Sourcebook is a summary of the accomplishments of your three-year initiative and is posted on RHIHub as a public record of FORHP’s investment in the rural care coordination program. The sourcebook will be due July 7, 2023. Be on the lookout for the template in May 2023.
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Delta States Rural Development
Network Program (Delta States)
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Welcome Diana Alatorre to the Delta Grant Program!
Diana Alatorre officially started as the new program coordinator for the Delta States Grant Program on February 10. Diana is the Care Coordination Program coordinator and project officer across several FORHP Community-Based Division grant programs. She will continue as the Delta States Program coordinator and project officer with the FY 2023 program cohort. Please continue to use the Delta States inbox, deltastatesgrantprgm@hrsa.gov for all program e-communications.
Upcoming Webinar: Partnerships with Chemistry with presenter Tracey Knight
Please join us on Tuesday, March 28 at 9 a.m. CT for Tracey Knight’s presentation, Partnerships with Chemistry. During this presentation grantees will have the opportunity to develop and practice their active listening skills, including presence, listening to what others are saying, processing the information, empathizing, and responding to it to clarify and elicit more information. We will also explore and learn how to mitigate the effects of modern-day barriers to active listening such as multitasking, technology, mental chatter, and fear. To join please click here. No registration required.
Sustainability Plan Review during March Calls
During your March calls you and your TA provider and project officer will review your Sustainability Plans. If you received an extension, then you will review it at a later date.
Sourcebook Entry Due April 9th, 2023
Just a reminder that your final Sourcebook Entry is due on April 7 to your TA provider. This template is designed to capture a summary of your project activities and outcomes available to date, which covers August 1, 2020, to now. This information will be included in the 2020-2023 Delta States Sourcebook, a publicly available document, that describes all the Delta States grantees, your projects, and the results of your efforts. Additionally, the form includes instructions on how to fill out each section. Your TA provider will help to review and finalize your sourcebook templates during your April calls. For a copy of the template, please download it here. Also, see here for the editorial guide to support finalizing your entry.
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Small Health Care Provider Quality
Improvement Program (Rural Quality)
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The Basics of Value-Based Care Webinar and Recording
Thank you to those of you who were able to join us during the February 22 webinar focused on the basics of value-based care, presented by Karla Weng of the Rural Health Value team. Hopefully this session provided you with more information regarding how to assess your organization’s readiness to implement value-based care models into practice. As a reminder, if you would like an in-depth consultation with Karla please reach out to her at kweng@stratishealth.org and copy your TA provider and project officer. If you were unable to join the webinar live, please access the recording and slides here.
Data Dashboard Consultations
As a reminder, grantees can still set up data-related consultations with the team from Stratis Health. These consultations were first introduced during the December 2022 webinar, Program Data and Measuring Outcomes. A consultation with Stratis can help grantees think through the data most important to track and how the grantee will want to evaluate and analyze program data and effectiveness. Engaging in a data consultation is encouraged whether or not the grantee intends to use the Stratis Health data tracking tool. To schedule a data consultation email Sarah Brinkman and Sophia Brasil at sbrinkman@stratishealth.org and sbrasil@stratishealth.org and copy your TA provider and project officer.
Quality Program Directory Available
The program directory is available and posted to the rural health link website. With the directory you can read about your fellow grantees’ projects and contact those you may wish to learn more about and potentially share implementation strategies. Also, you can think about further connections you would like to make with those you will meet at the grantee connection summit to be held this summer.
Program Deliverable Schedule
To stay on top of program deliverable deadlines, please access the Rural Quality Program 2022-2026 Milestone Deliverable Schedule here. The linked document contains all current program deadlines for the four-year funding period.
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Rural Health Care Services
Outreach Program (Outreach)
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Non-Competing Continuation (NCC) Review
Thank you for your NCC submissions. Your TA provider and project officer will review your report and updated workplan on an upcoming monthly call.
Year 2 PIMS Reporting
Year 2 PIMS reporting is due Macy 31, 2023 in Electronic Handbook and will open May 1, 2023. The reporting period for PIMS is for the second year of the grant (May 1, 2022, to April 30, 2023).
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Rural Maternity and Obstetrics Management
Strategies Program (RMOMS)
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March 2023 RMOMS Learning Opportunity
A Conversation with Leaders: Meaningfully Involving People with Lived Experience to Create Lasting Community Transformation
Involving people with lived experience (PWLE) can enhance our understanding of the needs and experiences of those our programs are designed to benefit. This can result in improved quality and relevance of our activities and services. This strategy promotes co-learning, builds on strengths and resources within the community, and provides more opportunities to connect with people who can meaningfully contribute to our work. Join us as we hear from leaders who have successfully engaged PWLE. Learn about their approach, program design and lessons learned. The date for this webinar is March 28 at 1pm ET. To register for the webinar, click here.
2023 Rural Community-Based Health Connections Summit
The 2023 Rural Community-Based Health Connections Summit will take place this summer, July 12-14, 2023, in Washington, D.C.! Award recipients are required to attend all three days (July 12-14), but attendance on July 11 is optional. More information on the meeting, such as hotel and meeting registration, will be shared in the save-the-date, which is scheduled to go out in the next few weeks.
Upcoming Opportunities for Peer Engagement
The next RMOMS peer call for 2021 and 2022 RMOMS teams is scheduled for April 4, 2023, from 2-3 p.m. ET. The 2019 RMOMS teams will meet on April 4, 2023, from 3-4 p.m. ET. The TA Team is reviewing the ideas you offered during January's peer calls to determine call topics most relevant for you. If you have additional topics you want to be sure to discuss, please share your ideas with your TA provider.
The cross-program peer groups calls will also take place in April. Grantees from FORHP’s RMOMS, Care Coordination, Delta States, Network Development, Network Planning, Outreach, Rural Quality, and Workforce Training Network grant programs have signed up for these topic-focused peer groups. If you signed up, you will receive an email from the GHPC facilitator with more details. If you have questions, please don’t hesitate to contact your TA provider.
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RESOURCES, NEWS AND OTHER UPDATES |
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As the COVID-19 public health emergency comes to an end in May, this fact sheet describes what Medicare and Medicaid policies will and will not be affected. The fact sheet covers telehealth services, access to vaccines and treatment, and methadone use. For a detailed explanation read more here.
The telehealth toolkit provides policy considerations for states expanding use of telehealth. This toolkit is designed to identify policies to promote expansion of telehealth services within Medicaid. You can access the toolkit here.
This interactive map allows readers to view which states have expanded Medicaid and on what date. The article also includes a summary of each states’ activity regarding Medicaid expansion. Interact with the map here.
While the COVID-19 public health emergency declaration is coming to an end in May 2023, there are still waivers and flexibilities available for Medicaid and Medicare. This page compiles fact sheets regarding waivers and flexibilities and their status by the end of the emergency declaration. Access this page here.
This page provides resources for acute hospital care at home. There are currently 114 health systems with 260 hospitals in 37 states. This resource page provides a list of the approved systems and hospitals as well as FAQs and reference forms. Interact with the page here.
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Omaha, Nebraska | April 19-21, 2023
This three-day conference is designed specifically for critical access hospital professionals and will be packed with informational sessions addressing key topics with actionable information to help you strategically plan for the future.
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