Small Rural Hospital Improvement Program

The key function of the Small Rural Hospital Improvement Program funding is to support small rural hospital systems in developing programs that support quality and value driven improvement efforts to promote better patient outcomes.  To achieve this goal, the North Carolina Healthcare Foundation through innovative programming will support organizational capacity building through emphasis on a core foundation for hospital quality programs that strategically align patient safety, quality, finance, and operational improvements.  There is a significant challenge in rural healthcare settings to gain access to valuable education and training programs to support the quality infrastructure given the priority remains for education to support clinical staff development that is needed in areas that struggle to recruit seasoned healthcare workers that are often competing with larger health systems.  Therefore, NCHF plans to continue the support for continued education and skill building through a nationally recognized guided framework to support increasing the number of certified healthcare quality professionals along with continued programming to support necessary skills to promote moving from quality departments to resilient quality programs prepared to tackle the unique challenges of being in small communities.   

Tracks 

Track 1:    This project will provide a systematic and strategic focus on quality workforce development through education and skill-building based on the NAHQ industry-standard Healthcare Quality Competency Framework. This framework is targeted to help quality professionals reach new performance levels, thereby enabling their organization to provide higher healthcare value to patients. 

Track 2: This pathway is designed to support individuals who have previously gone through the first phase of CPHQ certification preparation and capstone project.  The primary goal will be to continue to support quality training and application of acquired knowledge and skills through emphasis on development of the quality professional as an organizational leader, change agent, patient advocate, and innovator to support continued capacity building in the rural hospital setting. 

Track 3: Building upon the previous two tracks, this program year focuses on an equity project within your hospital. The primary goal will be to apply the skills you have learned, and build upon those through an equity lens. Curriculum includes topics of implicit bias, human factors, data workshops, 1:1 coaching with equity experts. 

Director, Rural Health Innovation
NC Healthcare Foundation
919-677-4242
smccoy@ncha.org