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Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Healthcare quality

Transforming Oral Health Care in North Carolina
Makes recommendations for improving oral health access, supporting oral care workforce and providers, and promoting oral health quality and equity in North Carolina. Discusses oral health in rural and underserved areas throughout, including coverage of workforce distribution, dental safety net, and access barriers.
Date: 04/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: North Carolina Institute of Medicine
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Disparities in Maternal Health Visits Between Rural and Urban Communities in the United States, 2016–2018
Analyzes data from the Pregnancy Risk Assessment and Monitoring System between 2016 and 2018 to compare rural and urban differences in prepregnancy, prenatal, and postpartum healthcare access and quality for 103,425 patients in 40 states, New York City, and Puerto Rico. Includes a rural and urban break down of patient demographics, insurance status, and chronic conditions. Discusses the role telehealth may play in closing gaps in care.
Author(s): Burcu Bozkurt, Arrianna Marie Planey, Monisa Aijaz, et al.
Citation: The Permanente Journal, 2024
Date: 04/2024
Type: Document
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Rural Maternal Health Series: Implementing Patient Safety Bundles in Rural Hospitals
Webinar recording, third in a series, discusses the Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health (AIM) bundles, a standardized set of processes for improving maternal healthcare quality and safety in rural hospitals. Features presentations from representatives of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health (AIM), the Iowa Maternal Quality Care Collaborative, and Gundersen Palmer Hospital in West Union, Iowa.
Additional links: Audio Recording, Webinar Slides
Date: 04/2024
Type: Video/Multimedia
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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Quality in Motion: Acting on the CMS National Quality Strategy
Provides an overview of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) 2022 National Quality Strategy (NQS). Describes actions CMS has taken to meet the eight NQS goals across four priority areas: outcomes and alignment, equity and engagement, safety and resiliency, and interoperability and scientific achievement. Includes rural references throughout.
Date: 04/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
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Indian Health Service Health Equity Report
Reports on efforts to advance health equity in the Indian Health Service (IHS). Discusses strategies and funding supporting access to facilities and services, quality of care, cultural appropriateness, wellness and disease prevention, and more.
Date: 04/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Indian Health Service
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Creating a Sustainable Future for Value-Based Care: A Playbook of Voluntary Best Practices for VBC Payment Arrangements
Describes themes that emerged from workgroup meetings regarding the implementation of value-based care (VBC) models, with a focus on total cost of care arrangements. Outlines voluntary best practices and domains within VBC payment arrangements for health plans, facilities, clinicians, and VBC entities to consider during the design, implementation, and evaluation of VBC participation. Includes rural information and considerations throughout.
Date: 04/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: AHIP, American Medical Association, National Association of ACOs
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Patient-Centered Respectful Maternity Care: A Factor Analysis Contextualizing Marginalized Identities, Trust, and Informed Choice
Examines issues of maternal autonomy and respect related to a pregnant person's experiences in the healthcare system. Utilizes the Mothers on Respect Index (MORi) and Mothers Autonomy in Decision Making (MADM) scales to analyze data from 484 patients regarding trust, informed choice, and identity. Includes statistics broken down by race, educational attainment, employment, justice involvement, disabilities, social risks, and rural-urban commuting area (RUCA) codes across 7 RUCA categories, from rural area to metropolitan core.
Author(s): Annie Glover, Carly Holman, Patrick Boise
Citation: BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, 24, 267
Date: 04/2024
Type: Document
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Evaluation of the Maryland Total Cost of Care Model: Progress Report
Provides an overview of the Maryland Total Cost of Care Model and evaluates the first four years of the program, 2019-2022. Explores the effects of the model on Medicare spending; service use, including preventable hospital use; and healthcare quality measures. Estimates the potential impact of switching Maryland to the Medicare prospective payment system (PPS) on Medicare spending and service use, including implications for rural and safety net hospitals.
Additional links: Appendices, Findings at a Glance, Transformation Spotlight
Date: 04/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Mathematica
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2023 National CAH Quality Inventory & Assessment National Report
Presents a high-level summary of key data points from the October-December 2023 National Critical Access Hospital (CAH) Quality Inventory and Assessment. Includes data on CAH system affiliation; median average daily census and emergency department volume; hospital inpatient, behavioral health and specialty care, and outpatient and other service lines; and CAH quality payment model participation.
Author(s): Megan Lahr, Robert Barclay, Madeleine Pick
Date: 04/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Flex Monitoring Team
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Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS): 2024 Merit-Based Incentive Payment (MIPS) Value Pathways (MVPs) Implementation Guide
Provides an overview of the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) Value Pathways (MVPs), a voluntary reporting option that can be used to meet MIPS reporting requirements beginning with the 2024 performance year. Describes subgroup reporting, reporting requirements, scoring, performance feedback and public reporting, and how to register to report an MVP. Includes information on considerations and exceptions for small practices and clinicians in a rural or Health Professional Shortage Area.
Date: 04/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
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