AHEC Returns to Oklahoma

The Health Resources and Services Administration recently awarded the OSU Center for Health Sciences a five-year grant to establish a new Area Health Education Center (AHEC) Program. Oklahoma lost its sole AHEC program five years ago. The OSU Center for Health Sciences will host the program office in Tulsa with regional offices in Enid, Lawton, and Tahlequah. The host institutions for the regional offices are Rural Health Projects, Inc. in Enid, Comanche County Memorial Hospital in Lawton, and Cherokee Health Partners in Tahlequah. 

OSU will receive $228,000 for the first year to plan program activities and curriculum. Funding for years two through five will be approximately $740,000 per year with 75% of the funds distributed to the regional center offices. 

The program will include inter-professional training in community-based settings to diverse cohorts of students enrolled in various health professions training programs. The anticipated impacts of the project are to increase the diversity and cultural competency of the primary care workforce, improve workforce distribution in rural and underserved areas of Oklahoma, and develop a high-functioning workforce that can thrive in and adapt to new modes of care delivery.

OSU Rural Clinic Efficiency Program Strives to Improve Quality of Primary Care in Rural Oklahoma

In spring 2017, Oklahoma State University was awarded $10,000 from the Carolyn Watson Rural Oklahoma Community Foundation to expand the Rural Clinic Efficiency Program (RCEP) of the Center for Health Systems Innovation (CHSI). The program strives to improve the quality of primary care in rural Oklahoma through rural clinic consultation services focused on efficiency improvements. 

Grant funding allowed CHSI to formally launch the program at the Hugo Medical Clinic in Choctaw County in partnership with the Rural Health Network (RHN) of Oklahoma . RHN provides integrated support services and networking opportunities for providers in southeastern Oklahoma. A designated Health Professional Shortage Area, Choctaw County has about half the number of primary care providers as the state average. Given the considerable barriers facing rural health care, clinics must operate at peak efficiency. However, resource constraints and the burden of high patient loads prevent many rural clinics from focusing on improvement efforts without external support. The CHSI designed the RCEP in response to these needs.

The concept of health care efficiency can be thought of as harnessing technologies and processes to maximize care delivery and quality while minimizing costs. The RCEP aims to help clinics achieve efficiency through a year-long multi-phase program including a baseline assessment, prioritizing sources of inefficiency, identifying and implementing solutions, and evaluating efforts as part of a continuous feedback loop.

A cornerstone of RCEP is the cultivation of a culture of quality improvement by involving staff from all clinic areas in efforts to bring about change. The RCEP model follows approaches derived from Lean, a system for continuous process improvement that encourages team members to step out of their individual job duties and consider solutions that benefit the entire organization. 

Miranda Farrington, a biller for Hugo Medical Clinic, said the RCEP process has cultivated a sense of community among clinic staff as they strive toward a shared vision. "It's having an impact of bringing us together, bringing us closer," Farrington said, "Everybody is working toward the same goal - to help the clinic." 

The RCEP team of CHSI facilitators and clinic participants have identified two priority areas for improvement: front-office processes and telephone management. Innovations designed to address these issues are currently being tested at the clinic. The year-long program will conclude in the spring with a report of evaluation findings and recommendations for continued efforts to refine innovations and maintain the momentum started with the RCEP project. 

As a member of OSU's Rural Oklahoma Network (ROK-Net), a practice-based research network led by the CHSI, the Hugo Medical Clinic will continue to receive support for implementing and evaluating quality improvement initiatives. The mission of ROK-Net is to create an alliance of rural primary care providers to identify the most pressing issues related to rural health care and implement solutions to improve primary care access and the financial viability of rural clinics. For more information about ROK-Net, visit CHSI's website.

OORH Distributes SHIP Grant Funds to Rural Hospitals

In October 2017, the Oklahoma Office of Rural Health (OORH) distributed over $400,000 in federal grant funds to 54 hospitals in rural Oklahoma (see map below). The hospitals must use the $7,650 award for efforts designed to reduce hospital readmissions and increase the quality of care delivery. 

The Health Resources and Services Administration funds the grants through the Small Hospital Improvement Program (SHIP). Eligible hospitals must have 49 or fewer staffed beds and be located outside of a metropolitan statistical area or within a rural census tract.

(click image to view PDF version)

SORH Grant Project Officer Visits Oklahoma

Rachel Moscato, Project Officer from the Health Resources and Services Administration, State Office of Rural Health Grant (SORH) program, visited Oklahoma during the summer of 2017 and met with rural hospital administrators and OORH staff. Her trip to Oklahoma was Ms. Moscato's first opportunity to see in person how a rural hospital operates since starting with the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy in February 2017.

SORH Grant Program Officer, Rachel Moscato (center), meets with Mercy Hospital Logan County staff members Robbin Channel (left) and Josh Tucker.

"Having the chance to meet with hospital staff and tour the facilities was really helpful for understanding how access to care happens in rural communities," remarked Ms. Moscato. "Overall though, I was most taken by the dedication of the staff at the hospitals to providing high-quality care to patients. In all of the staff I got to meet it was evident that working at these hospitals was more than just a job. Everyone was passionate about and dedicated to making sure each patient gets the best care possible, which was refreshing and exciting to see!"