CAH Capacity-Building Grant (CAH CBG):
CRHC's CAH CBG offers each Critical Access Hospital funds every year for capacity-building activities. CAHs may use this funding to:

1. Select programs or services from CRHC’s “menu” of programs
   The cost for the services reflects the discount that CRHC is able to negotiate which represents a great savings over the regular price for these services.
2. Identify how you will make a sustainable difference in healthcare in the community or region.
   If you choose this option, please provide a brief proposal describing how you plan to use the funds and submit it to CRHC for review. See the CAH CBG Application form for guidelines. Please note that if you select this option, CRHC will review your project to ensure it meets the goals of the Flex funding and may ask you to make revisions to your proposal as necessary.

Download the CAH Support Services Brochure to learn more about the various programs and services available to CAHs through CRHC.

Grant Recipients: The 09/10 Capacity Building Grant Final Progress Report is available online - download it now!

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FY 2009 Small Rural Hospital Improvement Program (SHIP) Grant
FY2009 SHIP Grant Recipients: The FY2009 SHIP Grant Progress Report template is now available – download it here. The report is due September 30, 2010. If you have any questions, please email Jen Dunn at jd@coruralhealth.org.

FY 2010-11 Small Rural Hospital Improvement Program (SHIP) Grant
CRHC is excited to announce that this coming year 2010/2011 Colorado’s SHIP Grant from HRSA will support a statewide collaborative project. Through the SHIP Grant, all SHIP hospitals will have automatic membership in our statewide collaborative project, Technology for Healthcare Excellence (THE) Consortium. THE Consortium offers hospitals and clinics the opportunity to focus on creating and refining quality improvement systems and processes with the goal of meeting electronic health record meaningful use criteria.

CAH Physician Advisors
As most of you are acutely aware, the Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) program is moving forward and most of you are actively preparing for RAC in your hospital. For ultimate protection from complex reviews, it is recommended that a Physician Advisor concurrently evaluate cases when a patient's condition does not meet medical necessity according to CMS guidelines, and the physician disagrees with the guidelines. On behalf of the request of several CAHs, CRHC has negotiated a reduced pricing option for Colorado CAHs with Executive Health Resources, Inc. (EHR),The Physician Advisor Company™, to provide RAC protective services. EHR provides hospitals with 7-day-a-week teams of specially-trained, technology-supported Physician Advisors focused on improving hospital clinical compliance and revenue integrity. EHR teams are dedicated to ensuring medical necessity compliance and revenue integrity, and improving reimbursement while optimizing hospital efficiency and helping to increase quality of care.  For information about the discount available, please email Jen Dunn at jd@coruralhealth.org.

Employee Satisfaction Surveys
CRHC has recently negotiated a group rate for CAHs that want to conduct employee satisfaction surveys.  The Business Practices Assessment conducted by Success Profiles, Inc. provides employee survey, national benchmarking, organizational findings and recommendations, and resources to assist in action planning and follow-up.  For more information, email jd@coruralhealth.org.

Evidence-Based Care Guideline Tools
CRHC is pleased to announce special group discount rates for Colorado CAHs that have been coordinated on your behalf with McKesson InterQual Care Guidelines! The Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) has been named for Colorado (Connolly Healthcare) and will soon begin audits in our state. To prepare for these audits and ensure you are providing and documenting the most appropriate, evidenced-based care for your patients, it is recommended that you develop a reliable utilization review program. McKesson InterQual Care Guidelines is one of the options available as a tool for case managers and physicians to consider when determining appropriate care for patients. Click HERE for information about the discount.

QHi Benchmarking Tool
In response to multiple requests for benchmarking tools geared towards small rural hospitals, the Colorado Rural Health Center (CRHC) is excited to announce the launch of the Quality Health Indicators (QHi) benchmarking tool! An initiative of the Kansas Rural Health Options Project, QHi allows rural hospitals up to 50 beds to benchmark against self-defined peer groups to learn best practices and set targets for improvement.  For more information, click HERE.