This article was written by Sally Buck, Chief Executive Officer at the National Rural Health Resource Center Today is National Rural Health Day, an event coordinated by the National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health (NOSORH) to Celebrate the Power of Rural. The National Rural Health Resource Center (The Center) is proud to support this important day by highlighting the community-based solutions and committed providers that overcome the unique health care challenges that rural citizens face. These challenges include a shortage of primary care and mental health physicians and dentists as well as higher rates of poverty and uninsured.
Rural providers are committed to the goals of the United States Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) initiative of Better Care, Smarter Spending and Healthier People.[1] At The Center we have seen this demonstrated by working with hundreds of rural health networks, small rural hospitals and State Offices of Rural Health (SORH) as a grantee technical assistance provider. Despite critical access hospitals (CAH), community health centers and rural health clinics being left out of many new innovation payment and care models initially due to their low volume or cost based reimbursement structure, there are many organizations leading the way towards value-based payment and care with an emphasis on quality and outcomes. These include:
Key partners for The Center are SORHs and state Flex Programs in our work to support rural communities and providers with services, information and resources to increase collaboration, improve quality reporting and improvement, recruit health professionals and support access to care by stabilizing hospital operations and finances through technical assistance, education and funding. This national network of rural health organizations and leaders are key to the power of rural. We see that our vision of “collaborating and innovating to improve the health of rural communities” is happening throughout the country through the dedication, innovation and partnerships and strongly demonstrates the power of rural. [1] CMS (2015). Better Care. Smarter Spending. Healthier People: Paying Providers for Value, Not Volume [fact sheet]. [2] Mueller, Keith and Fred Ullrich (2016). Spread of Accountable Care Organizations in Rural America, Brief No. 2016-5, RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis. [3] Mueller, Keith and Fred Ullrich (2016). Spread of Accountable Care Organizations in Rural America, Brief No. 2016-5, RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis. [4] Rural Health System Change Embedded in State Innovation Models (2016) Keith Mueller, RUPRI Center for Health Policy Analysis, Rural Health Value, [PDF - 494 KB]
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The National Rural Health Resource Center (The Center) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to sustaining and improving health care in rural communities. Rural Health Innovations, LLC is a subsidiary of the National Rural Health Resource Center. Archives
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