This is the TASC Program's monthly newsletter with announcements, resources, and educational opportunities. |
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Hello everyone,
I hope you all have had a great start to your Summer! Amazingly, we are already at the end of June.
The Technical Assistance and Services Center (TASC) is excited to see you at the 2021 Flex Program Virtual Reverse Site Visit (RSV) July 20th through the 22nd. The theme for this year's RSV is Rural Resilience for Healthier Communities, and we are looking forward to how this collaborative event will focus on the strength of rural. In line with the theme, we will also be hosting a pre-RSV workshop on resiliency for state Flex Program staff on July 12th and 13th from 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. each day.
Once again, thank you for reading Rural Route. If you have questions or need assistance, please reach out to me or TASC.
Best,
Andy Naslund
Program Coordinator
TASC
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Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) Updates |
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Flex Program Update by Tori Leach, Flex Program Coordinator |
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Dear Flex Program Coordinators,
Summer is in full swing now that the cicadas have vacated the DC area. I am very much looking forward to seeing all of you at the upcoming Flex RSV! I cannot wait to connect over the theme of rural resilience for healthier communities.
You should have received important communication over email regarding your Year 3 Flex Quality Improvement (QI) Project. Please see the following highlights:
- Your Flex QI Project has been approved!
- If you indicated that you have not yet recruited hospitals to participate, please make every effort to have the hospitals selected by September 1st.
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At the upcoming RSV, FORHP will host a dedicated session about the Flex QI Project. During the session, we will be going over the framework for the Quality Innovation Labs (QILs) and tackling the "Plan" component of the PDSA (Plan, Do, Study, Act) quality improvement cycle for the state Flex Programs. After the RSV, we will ask all states to report on the "Plan" component of the PDSA for your specific Flex QI Project and turn this in to FORHP by Friday, July 30th.
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The Flex Monitoring Team (FMT) will be reaching out to schedule focus groups around the evaluation for the Flex QI Project. Please be responsive to any request you may receive from FMT.
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All Flex Partners are very excited to kick off the Flex QI Project, we will have a formal event during the Medicare Beneficiary Quality Improvement Project (MBQIP) Virtual Knowledge Group (VKG) on September 16, 2021.
FORHP would like to provide an update on the MBQIP data reports, as some timelines for data delivery have slightly changed. State Flex Programs can expect to receive the Quarter 1 (2021) Emergency Department Transfer Communication (EDTC) data reports by early July. The Patient Safety/Inpatient/Outpatient data report will be delivered in early August. Due to delays on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) side that occurred as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we do not yet have a date for the release of the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) reports.
In case you missed it, FMT released a new report on the community impact and benefit activities of critical access hospitals (CAHs), rural non-CAHs, and urban hospitals. The report enables state Flex Programs and CAH administrators to compare the community impact and benefit profiles of CAHs nationally to the performance of CAHs in their state. The national report and state-specific reports can be found on the FMT website.
Many thanks,
Tori
CAH Regulatory Update
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Flex Welcomes and Farewells |
In June, we bid a fond farewell to Marie Wawrzyniak from New Hampshire. We wish you a very happy retirement, Marie!
We are pleased to welcome Kailyn Mock, the new Director of the Montana Office of Rural Health and Area Health Education Center, as well as Mason Payne, the new Quality Improvement Coordinator at the Utah Department of Health.
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New from the DRCHSD Program: COVID-19 Vaccine Confidence Campaign |
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Learn. Understand. Decide. This creative campaign increases the feeling of confidence in the COVID-19 vaccination and acknowledges the need to understand the facts before making a decision. Communication informs and addresses misconceptions to help encourage people to make decisions that are right for them—and their communities.
The Toolkit supports rural health care organizations with developing internal and external COVID-19 vaccine communication materials centered around vaccine education. Organizations will have easy access to a catalog of customizable templates such as:
- Posters
- Print Ads
- Tri-fold brochure
- Social Media Posts
If you have any questions about the Vaccine Confidence Campaign or how to customize any of the components, contact Caleb Lozinski at clozinski@rualcenter.org or at (218) 216-7017
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Technical Assistance and Services Center (TASC) Updates |
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Registration is open! The 2021 Flex Program Virtual Reverse Site Visit (RSV)
As a reminder, registration has opened for the 2021 Flex Program Virtual Reverse Site Visit (RSV) on July 20-22, 2021. This year’s RSV will focus on how rural resiliency leads to healthier communities. The goal is to provide state Flex Programs with topical learning environments that emphasize collaboration, best practices, and shared experiences. Participants are encouraged to engage with the content and each other to broaden their impact on both CAHs and the Flex Program.
We look forward to what you contribute to this year's event and are excited to present a vision of resiliency for the future of rural health care.
The 2021 Flex Program RSV is supported by the FORHP and coordinated by the TASC, a program of the National Rural Health Resource Center.
Learning objectives:
By attending the Flex Program RSV, participants will be able to:
- Understand the future direction of the Flex Program
- Determine how the resiliency of the Flex Programs and CAHs empower rural communities
- Identify opportunities to implement best practices and lessons learned by CAHs and state Flex Programs, particularly related to responding to the COVID-19 pandemic
- Describe health equity activities relevant for state Flex Programs and CAHs
- Strengthen the leadership and impact of your state Flex Program
Registration:
Online registration for the Flex Program RSV is required. There are no registration fees required with this event. The intended audience for the Flex Program RSV is State Office of Rural Health Directors, Flex Coordinators and other key Flex personnel (up to four per state), Flex Monitoring Team (FMT), Stratis Health's Rural Quality Improvement Technical Assistance (RQITA) team, the FORHP, and the Technical Assistance and Services Center (TASC) staff, and the TASC Advisory Committee.
If you have any questions about eligibility to attend, please reach out to Andy Naslund.
Virtual Logistics:
The conference’s virtual logistics will be produced by Cvent, a third-party organization specializing in hosting virtual events. Upon registering, we will follow up with login information as the event approaches.
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RSV Pre-Workshop on Resiliency for State Flex Coordinators
As part of the 2021 RSV theme, TASC will be hosting a pre-RSV workshop on resiliency for state Flex Program staff!
What do we mean by resilient? And what does a resiliency workshop look like?
“Building our Resilience Muscles”
Being resilient means the ability to bounce back from life’s challenges. Sometimes a little inspiration on how to strengthen that ability can give us just the nudge we need. What does self-management and perseverance look like for you these days? Join us for this two-hour workshop to continue “build your resilience muscle” by nurturing new habits, sharpening your focus and a creating connections with others. At the conclusion of this workshop, participants will be able to:
- Apply best practices in building resiliency and incorporate them into their daily routines as they work with their state’s critical access hospitals (CAHs).
- Practice powerful self-coaching questions to redirect thinking (about stress, all-or-nothing thinking, overwhelm, perfectionism, etc.) with fellow Flex Coordinators.
- Use self-awareness to identify how their own resiliency impacts the CAHs they work with and the communities they serve.
The workshop will include group discussions and breakout groups to demonstrate practices and share tips that participants can use immediately to build resilience and positively impact those they lead.
Facilitator: The workshop will be led by Jo Anne Preston, Workforce and Organizational Development Senior manager at the Rural Wisconsin Health Cooperative. Jo Anne brings over decades of her health care leadership experience to designing and delivering leadership and employee education for rural healthcare throughout Wisconsin and the U.S.
Dates: The session will be offered twice:
- July 12th, 2021 from 1:00 – 3:00 p.m. Central Time or
- July 13th, 2021 from 1:00 – 3:00 p.m. Central Time
Registration: Registration is separate from the regular registration for RSV. To participate, please complete this form by July 9th and Andy Naslund will send a calendar appointment for your preferred date.
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Updated for 2021: State Flex Profiles Now Available on the TASC Website!
Thank you to everyone that worked with the TASC team to help us complete the annual update of the State Flex Profiles. We are pleased to announce that 34 of 45 Flex states updated the information on their profile. The State Flex Profiles can be found on the TASC website at: https://www.ruralcenter.org/tasc/flexprofile
State Flex Profiles showcase the beneficial activities occurring at the state-level to support the critical access hospitals (CAHs) and their communities around the country. No two states have the same exact approaches and the profiles are updated annually as an opportunity for states to share their excellent work and to learn from one another. The profiles include information on the work occurring in the six Flex Program areas as well as successes, best practices, and innovations. Use the State Flex Profiles to identify approaches to similar rural health issues, identify best practice opportunities, and access contact information for individuals at the state-level who are supporting Flex Program activities.
New Features
New to this year's profiles is the addition of a PDF attachment with write ups of your significant accomplishments and lessons learned from your previous End of Year Report. States that opted into allowing TASC to use your End of Year Report for their State Flex Profiles will see these attachments on their profiles.
How to Navigate and Use the Profiles Features
Use the drop-down menu in the gray box at the top of the page to see a specific state's profile. If you are looking for examples of a particular activity, for example, revenue cycle management, use keywords in the search box provided. Terms like population health or mental health will result in more relevant search results when searched using quotation marks (“population health” or “mental health”).
What to do if your state profile is missing or you want to update content
States that did not submit updated profile content will only have contact information on their State Flex Profile. Should a state wish to update their profile, it can be done by completing the State Flex Profile questionnaire.
If you do not have a photo provided for your staff or need to change contact information, you can upload a photo file or update information here.
If you have questions about the State Flex Profiles, please contact Andy Naslund at anaslund@ruralcenter.org or (218) 216-7030.
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New: Implementing and Sustaining Rural Community Paramedicine |
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With support from the FORHP, the Rural Community Paramedicine (CP) Summit was convened in 2021 to assist state Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility (Flex) Programs and State Offices of Rural Health (SORH) to facilitate sharing lessons learned and key strategies related to the implementation and sustainment of CP in rural communities. The Implementing and Sustaining Rural Community Paramedicine guide shares the experiences of established CP providers with rural ambulance services and hospitals for preparation of new CP initiatives. The report is also intended to inform those that strive to improve the health of rural communities, such as Flex Programs and SORH, to enable them to consider how they might best support rural CP efforts through their programs.
This document incorporates the summit proceedings, as well as a list of key strategies for implementing and sustaining CP in rural communities. It also contains resources, established CP programs, and information about how state Flex Programs can support rural CP efforts.
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Hosted by TASC -- Wednesday, July 7, 2021 from 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Central Time
Quarterly Open Office Hour Calls for MBQIP Data Abstractors -- Tuesday, July 13, 2021 from 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Central Time
Pre-RSV Workshop offered twice on July 12, 2021 and July 13, 2021 from 1:00 p.m - 3:00 p.m. Central Time each day.
Annual RSV -- Tuesday, July 20, 2021 to Thursday, July 22, 2021.
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Updated Resources
Please send your MBQIP questions to tasc@ruralcenter.org. TASC will ensure your question reaches the appropriate person.
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Webinars Recordings and Resources |
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Webinar Playbacks
New and Updated Resources
Many more resources can be found on the TASC resource library by searching for key words in the search field.
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For any questions, comments, or concerns, please contact us.
We are happy to help!
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This project is/was supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under grant number UB1RH24206, Information Services to Rural Hospital Flexibility Program Grantees, $1,009,120 (0% financed with nongovernmental sources). This information or content and conclusions are those of the author and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS, or the U.S. Government. |
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