State
Offices of Rural Health Grant Program (SORH)
The goal of the State Offices of Rural Health
(SORH) grant program is to assist States in strengthening rural
health care delivery systems by creating a focal point for rural
health within each State. The program provides an institutional
framework that links small rural communities with State and Federal
resources to help develop long term solutions to rural health problems.
The SORH grant program features a single grantee from each of the
50 United States. The program is a Federal-State partnership that
requires a State funding match of $3 for each $1 of Federal funding.
SORH Award Amount (FY06): $150,000.00
Major Accomplishments in FY 2006 (October 1, 2005 – September
30, 2006):
- Through a partnership developed between the Maine Office of
Rural Health and Primary Care, the Statewide Area Health Education
Coalition and the Acadia Health Education Coalition, a dynamic
web-based portal was rolled out. The site, known as www.Mainehealthcareers.com,
is targeted to middle and high school students that may be interested
in considering a health care career. In addition to the many profiles
of health occupations and careers available, it provides a tool
to help users identify careers suited to their personality as
well as providing information about local educational programs
and pre-requisites. There is also an opportunity for users to
be linked with a mentor and arrange job-shadowing experiences.
Other projects that the partnership implemented included:
- A two-day workshop was held in Eastern Maine which assists
to increase health care provider’s awareness regarding
eldercare and geriatric issues. Maine has the nation’s
oldest population. They are disproportionately located in
rural areas.
- . A series of week long Health Career Exploration Camps
for youth in Northern and Eastern Maine raises the awareness
of health care opportunities that exist locally and related
training and educational programs. During the camp, youth
meet many health care professionals and receive “hands-on”
experience.
- The Office continued a partnership with the Maine Center for
Disease Control and Prevention, Office of Women’s Health,
which lead to the development of a workshop series for rural health
care providers to educate about the prevalence of domestic violence
and increase awareness and disseminate and implement screening
tools to identify victims of domestic violence and link them to
services.
SORH Contact Information:
Office: Office of
Rural Health
Address: 286 Water Street, 6th Floor, 11 SHS, Augusta, ME 04333-0011
Phone: (207) 287-5524
Fax: (207) 287-5431
Email: charles.dwyer@maine.gov
matthew.chandler@maine.gov
Director: Charles Dwyer
1) Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Grant Program (Flex)
The Flex Program helps sustain access to high quality health care
services in rural America. It facilitates the development and support
of community-based collaborative rural delivery systems in all grantee
States through conversion of hospitals to critical access status,
development of rural healthcare networks and integration of EMS.
Flex Award (FY06): $458,107.00
Program Highlights:
- Number of Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) supported: 15
- Number of Critical Access-eligible Hospitals supported: 0
- Number of Rural Health Networks developed: 3
- Number of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) assisted: 125
- Number of Rural Communities assisted: 184
Major Accomplishments:
- The Maine Flexibility Grant funded a consultant to conduct
an assessment at each of Maine’s 15 CAHs. Executive teams
at each hospital were interviewed to determine networking options.
From the assessment, major themes were identified, some of which
were:
1. Single voice advocacy.
2. Support the Maine Office of Rural Health and Primary Care.
3. Develop a core set rural-relevant quality measures.
4. Pursue grant funding to supplement current funding and to advance
initiatives.
- The Office, in collaboration with the Maine Hospital Association,
convened CAH CEO’s for two face-to-face meetings and every
other month conference calls. The network chose to Rural Performance
Management (RPM) tool to support a quality reporting initiative.
In FY06, seven of the fifteen hospitals began using RPM.
- Balanced Scorecard (BSC) was implemented at five CAHs bringing
the total to eight BSC implementations. The Maine Flexibility
Grant has funded 80% of the implementation and has required the
hospital to fund the remaining balance.
- The Office, with assistance from Muskie School of Public Service
staff, has continued to support a CAH Nurse Executive network
to include conference calls and face-to-face meetings. The meetings
have supported sharing of best practices, areas of concern, licensing
and certification issues, national speakers and some education
scholarships.
- The Maine Flexibility Grant funded a series of rural healthcare
stakeholder meetings and facilitation costs related to the creation
of a State rural health plan which will be a complimentary document
to the State health plan, the backbone to an updated State Flexibility
Plan and a useful resource to an Office strategic planning process.
2) Small Rural Hospital Performance Improvement Grant Program (SHIP)
The goal of SHIP is to assist small (less than 50 beds) rural hospitals
pay for any or all of the following: 1) costs related to implementation
of prospective payment systems, 2) compliance with provisions of
HIPAA and 3) reduction of medical errors and quality improvement.
State Offices of Rural Health (SORH) help eligible rural hospitals
to participate in SHIP. Eligible hospitals submit an application
to their SORH; the SORH prepares and submits a single grant application
to HRSA on behalf of all hospital applicants in the State. There
are approximately 1600 eligible hospitals nationwide and each usually
receives approximately $9,000.
SHIP Award (FY06): $160,812.00
Program Highlights:
- Hospitals receiving funding: 18
- Hospitals in consortiums, networks or systems: 7
- Hospitals using funds for QI and /or reduction of medical errors:
15
- Hospitals using grant funds for Health Information Technology:
0
Major Accomplishments:
- Through braided funding, a network of SHIP hospitals began
in FY06. In a letter of commitment 83% of the SHIP hospitals reported
that they would like to collaborate around collecting rural relevant
quality data through a mutually agreed upon tool. The Rural Performance
Management tool produced and maintained by Stroudwater Associates,
was the tool chosen by the hospitals. Two SHIP hospitals chose
to use SHIP funding to support the collaborative and five others
used alternative funding.
Total HRSA Funding (FY06): $ 768,919.00
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