NH Contract to Expand/Improve Health Care Services for Rural Communities

With the recent awarding of a contract to "bundle" three key grant programs - the FLEX, SHIP, and SORH grants - the NH Department of Health and Human Services, Rural Health and Primary Care Section, is looking forward "not just to provision of services but enhancement of services."

Performance Management Institute, LLC, Portland, ME. was the successful winner in an open and highly competitive bidding process to provide services to the Federal Rural Health Capacity Services (FRHCS) Program, according to Alisa Butler-Druzba, Administrator, Rural Health & Primary Care Section, New Hampshire DHHS- Division of Public Health Services.

Now rolled into one contract are the FLEX (Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program,) the SHIP (Small Rural Hospital Improvement Program), and the SORH (State Office of Rural Health grant) programs. The two-year contract runs though August 31, 2011 with potential for renewal for up to two additional years. Funds for the contract total $393,000 per year over the two year time period. The Rural Health and Primary Care Section (RHPC) includes the State Office of Rural Health (SORH), the Primary Care Office, the Oral Health Program and Workforce Development. SORH administers the FLEX, SHIP, and SORH grants, all of which are concerned with sustaining the rural healthcare safety net.

Gregory Wolf, Chief Technical Officer and Senior Consultant, Performance Management Institute PMI), has put together a national team to work with NH in quality improvement and expansion of services. In addition to the PMI staff, Wolf has recruited experts from across the country to address some components of the contract. And he is currently visiting a group of the CAHs, to schedule the first set of services.

The five Core Contract services that focus on building capacity are:

• Support the 13 Existing Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs)
  
  
• Implement performance improvement programs, including clinical quality and patient safety
  
  
• Improvement and integration of EMS services
  
  
• Update the State Rural Health Plan
  
  

There are detailed requirements under each of the five Core Contract services. Some of these include:

• Technical assistance to CAHs for improving strategic planning and performance
  
  
• Work with the CAHs to design and implement quality improvement processes; support patient safety initiatives
  
  
• Foster and promote rural EMS healthcare workforce development, recruitment and retention and support of an EMS education website
  
  
• Support of the New England Performance Improvement (NEPI) program facilitated by the New England Rural Health RoundTable; develop an Institute for Health Improvement (IHI) New England Rural Node and purchase Boards-on-Board tool kits for the CAH boards to enable them to take a more active role in the quality and patient safety culture of their hospitals