Quality Improvement Strategies and Best Practices in Critical Access Hospitals:Working paper

摘要

Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs), the smallest rural facilities, face many challenges in implementing quality improvement (QI) initiatives, including limited resources, low volume of patients, small staffs, and inadequate information technology. A primary goal of the Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program (MRHFP) is to improve the quality of care provided by CAHs. The MRHFP has supported implementation of QI activities in CAHs through credentialing and quality assurance requirements, certification survey requirements, and cost based Medicare reimbursement. The purpose of the current study is to describe the continuing evolution and maturation of CAH QI activities, and to document the best practices of two CAHs that have developed innovative QI programs. This study is part of the overall monitoring effort of the MRHFP funded by the federal Office of Rural Health Policy. This component included a phone survey of 72 CAHs about their QI activities and in-depth case studies of two CAH QI best practices that can serve as models for other CAHs.