December CEO Update: Hope
December has arrived and with it, some much needed snow! I love seeing everyone drive home with the fresh cut trees on top of their cars and can’t help but think of the iconic Rockefeller Center Tree Lighting and the tree lightings, celebrations and family gatherings going on all over our state. The tree has been a symbol of hope for over seven decades. The tree is a gathering place and a reflection of what was happening in the world around it. Over the Thanksgiving weekend, my family attended our town of Parker’s tree lighting ceremony and not only was it great fun to gather with family, friends and neighbors, but it brought to light the hope we all feel for the future. 
“Hope – a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.” As we approach the end of the year, I have heard many people eager to bid farewell to 2016, and indeed, it was a challenging year for our country and the world around us. But there were also thousands of babies born, many at your facilities. There were lives saved because of the often thankless work you do to keep your communities healthy and safe. The work of our facilities is hope in action – the expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen – you keep making it happen.
At the Colorado Rural Health Center, we hope you will keep that hope and continue to turn it into action to sustain rural healthcare. Our commitment is to continue to support your hope and action with support, education, services and ensure you have what you need to turn the power of rural hope into making our communities the best and healthiest they can be. In 2017, we continue to offer you programs and education and services that focus on quality, financial, operational and population health. But I want to make sure, as we go into our 2017 partnership, you know all the services CRHC has to offer. We want to ensure you know and use the value of your membership and partnership.
Did you know that CRHC has a program called iCARE (Improving Communications and Readmissions)? iCARE focuses on improving communications in transitions of care, improving the clinical process and systems to reduce readmissions, particularly for heart failure, pneumonia, and diabetes patients and maintain low readmission rates. Twenty-two of the critical access hospitals (CAHs) and thirty of the rural health clinics (RHCs) are engaged in this effective initiative. The iCARE program helps CAHs and RHCs with reporting requirements as well as the movement towards value. The readmission rate for CAHs participating is 3.5% compared to 14% for those not participating and 19% for urban hospitals.
Did you know that CRHC has a program called HCA (Healthy Clinic Assessments)? An HCA assists clinics with improving their basic business operations so they can remain viable and offer expanding services to their communities. Over the last three years CRHC worked intensively with 19 clinics to improve their HCA scores and clinics had an average score of 88% and all are involved in our iCARE program.
Did you know that CRHC has HIT Services? These services offer assistance to your HIT staff for vacation relief, special projects (email migration, new server set-up, new electronic medical records migration, etc.), policies and procedures, phishing campaigns, remote monitoring, HIPAA compliance, electronic medical record selection and more.
Did you know that CRHC has data services? If you are one of the many struggling with how to get your data out of the system – call us! We have extremely knowledgeable staff to help you solve this issue through report writing. Or do you need help in creating a data system? Start with a data assessment. And then do you need to know what to do with this data once you have it? Engage in our iCARE program!
Did you know that CRHC has a recruitment service called CPR (Colorado Provider Recruitment)? If you need assistance with recruiting, let us know!
With everything CRHC has to offer, we hope you feel hopeful about the coming year. With uncertainly at the national level concerning healthcare, we at the Rural Health Center will continue to advocate on your behalf, have your back and help you put the hope in action.
Finally, on behalf of the Board of Directors and Staff at the Colorado Rural Health Center we want to thank you for your partnership in 2016. And we wish each of you a wonderful, hopeful holiday season and look forward to our continued partnership in 2017!
