National Rural Health Association: Let’s protect what matters most

Vaccinating rural communities starts with trust.

You know better than anyone that vaccine hesitancy among rural Americans means COVID-19 will linger in smaller communities for the foreseeable future – unless more is done to increase vaccination rates.

That’s why NRHA is proud to announce the association’s Rural Vaccine Confidence Initiative, a vital vaccine education toolkit that helps rural leaders build vaccine confidence at the local level, and HRSA’s recent $1 million award to NRHA and in partnership with the CDC for further development and support.

In partnership with Legato Healthcare Marketing, NRHA has developed a collection of rural-specific vaccine education materials designed to be customized by health care workers, community members, employers, and other leaders to communicate real vaccine facts in their own words.

Browse materials

During can’t-miss sessions at NRHA’s virtual Critical Access Hospital Conference, NRHA and Legato Healthcare Marketing will introduce and discuss the Rural Vaccine Confidence Initiative and provide technical assistance to attendees.

NRHA looks forward to working with you to help protect all of the “whys” behind the choice to get vaccinated – along with everything that makes rural America so special.

Congratulations to the RHPTP 2021 Cohort

The Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) and The National Rural Health Resource Center (The Center) would like to congratulate four outstanding organizations that participated in the first year of RHPTP!

  • Lincoln County Medical Center, New Mexico
  • Guadalupe County Hospital, New Mexico
  • Lawrence County Health Department, Illinois
  • Sudan Medical Clinic, Texas

All four organizations received focused technical assistance which included:

  • An individualized quality improvement (QI) project to impact either patient experience, coordination of care, patient safety, or building infrastructure that embeds QI into practice
  • A financial risk assessment and action planning designed to determine financial risk, identify strategies, and develop tactics to address operational cost-efficiency opportunities in preparation to participate in value-based care
  • A peer to peer learning collaborative specifically designed to meet the needs of the four organizations

Watch for future updates sharing their successes!

2021-2022 RHPTP Application Deadline Extended

Watch the short RHPTP Nutshell to learn more!

Begin Your Application Today!

Apply today to participate in the next project year (November 2021 – August 2022). Applications must be completed by 11:59 PM CST on September 17, 2021.

RHPTP is designed to help strengthen value-based care (VBC) for health care organizations by building recipients’ foundation for VBC in efficiency, quality, patient experience, and safety of care.

RHPTP HELP Webinar Playbacks

Access Webinar Playbacks on Demand

Using Telehealth to Support Value-Based Care | Candy Hanson, BSN, PHN, LHIT-HP, Stratis Health

Resilience: Springing Back to Move Forward | Dr. Jane Pederson and Betsy Jeppesen, Stratis Health

The Role of Social Determinants of Health in Value-Based Payment Models: A Rural Perspective | Alana Knudson, NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis

NOSORH Value-Based Health Care 3-part Series

  1. First Steps and Next Steps in the Transition from Volume to Value
  2. Services to Jumpstart and Assist in the Transition from Volume to Value
  3. Building a Strong Foundation for the Transition to Value

Should my health organization accept a value-based payment opportunity? | Dr. Clint McKinney, Rural Health Value

Financial Update: Preparing for and Succeeding Under Value-Based Reimbursement Models | Ralph Llewellyn, Eide Baily

Plus more – view the extensive library of previous HELP Webinar playbacks!

Leadership Training Podcasts and Video Series

For Mid-Level Leaders

For Hospital Board of Directors

Visionary Board Leadership and the Transition to Value (Video Series)

Webinar: Digital Marketing for EMS Recruitment & Retention

Date: October 15, 2021 

Time: 2:00PM ET

Register Now

Join American Ambulance Association (AAA) Human Resources Consultant Scott Moore, Esq., and Kathy Fredrickson, Digital Marketing Clinic Director and Faculty from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, as they discuss the evolution of digital marketing and how it has evolved to become one of the most powerful recruitment and retention tools an employer can utilize to drive results. During this program, we will discuss how an employer can develop a workplace brand that will attract candidates and engage your existing workforce. Several EMS agencies’ digital marketing efforts will be reviewed, highlighting those elements that your organization can employ to achieve your recruitment and retention goals!

Speakers: Scott Moore, Esq. & Kathy Fredrickson

Free to AAA Members!

 

UPDATED: COVID-19 Funding Sources Impacting Rural Providers

The Technical Assistance and Services Center (TASC), in coordination with the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP), are pleased to provide an update of the COVID-19 Funding Sources Impacting Rural Providers guide. This funding resource is intended to support rural health care providers, along with their state and local partners, navigate the availability of federal funds to support the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic response and recovery efforts. This guide is updated regularly to capture changes in funding sources.

Seven tables, or matrices, are provided for quick reference at the beginning of this resource. The tables can be used to check eligibility of participation in funding sources by provider types: rural prospective payment system (PPS) and critical access hospitals (CAH), rural health clinics (RHC), federally qualified health centers (FQHC), long-term care (LTC) or skilled nursing facilities (SNF), tribal facilities, and emergency medical services (EMS). The tables also provide an at-a-glance view for each provider type sharing the different types of funds that may be accessed from various funding sources dependent on their participation eligibility. Each funding source is described in its own section of this resource with an executive summary followed by further detail on the use of funds, reporting requirements, hyperlinks to the legislation and detailed information. The majority of the updates are in sections on the RHC COVID-19 Testing and Mitigation Program and the HRSA Health Center Grants.

Please feel free to share this updated resource broadly.

The guide can be found in COVID-19 Collection located on The National Rural Health Resource Center’s website. This collection consists of trusted and reliable resources, such as the COVID-19 Funding Sources Impacting Rural Providers Guide, along with standing links to additional organizations’ COVID-19 resources, FAQs, webinars, tools, and trainings. The Center aims to help direct the most up-to-date and relevant tools and resources to rural hospitals, clinics, and their communities. This Collection will be updated regularly to help assist with the abundance of circulating information relating to COVID-19.

Webinar Recording Available – Availability of Post-acute Care and Long-term Care Services in Rural Areas

Date Recorded: September 14, 2021

Click to view Recording.

During this webinar, Hari Sharma, PhD, discussed the availability of post-acute care and long-term care services in rural areas, focusing on nursing homes. Dr. Sharma examined the trends in nursing home closures and identified areas without nursing home services. He then explored the extent to which hospitals with swing beds provide coverage for post-acute care and long-term care services in rural areas and assessed the availability of home health care services in areas without nursing homes.

Missouri LGBT Older Adult Alliance

Date: October 4, 2021

Time: 1:30PM CDT

Registration Link

October is National LGBT History Month, and it was started here in Missouri!

Learn about Missouri LGBT History from Steven Brawley, founder of the St. Louis LGBT History Project, and Dr. Holly Baggett, Missouri State History Professor and founder of the Ozarks Lesbian and Gay Archives.

This session will provide important context to better understand the lived experiences of LGBT older adults seeking services.

Please join the Alliance via Zoom on October 4, at 1:30 pm CDT.

Register in advance to gain access to the zoom link.

Over $48 Million Awarded to Health Centers for Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S. Initiative

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) awarded over $48 million to 271 HRSA-supported health centers across 26 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia to expand HIV prevention and treatment, including pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) related services, outreach, and care coordination.

The $48 million in awards include nearly $38 million in fiscal year (FY) 2021 initial Ending the HIV Epidemic: Primary Care HIV Prevention (PCHP) funding to 108 HRSA-supported health centers not funded in FY 2020, and over $10 million in additional resources to expand the efforts of the 163 HRSA-supported health centers who received FY 2020 PCHP funding. Read the press release.

See a list of FY 2021 PCHP award recipients.

Visit the PCHP technical assistance page for award recipient information and resources.

Join the question and answer session for award recipients:

  • Thursday, September 30
    2:00-3:15 p.m. ET
    Join the day of the session
    If you prefer to join by phone: 833-568-8864
    When prompted, enter meeting/webinar ID: 160 682 2895