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Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Healthcare quality

Health Center Performance Improvement Toolkit
Offers a framework to support health center performance improvement and health outcomes across seven domains. Includes a guide to self-assessment to help health centers assess their current performance in each domain, describe future performance goals, and identify how to reach and sustain improved performance. Offers self-assessment tools, including fillable checklists for each domain, progress snapshot worksheets, and example improvement activities.
Additional links: Guide to Self-Assessment, Self-Assessment Tools
Date: 10/2024
Type: Website
Sponsoring organization: Bureau of Primary Health Care
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Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS): 2025 MIPS Payment Year (2023 Performance Year) - Payment Adjustment User Guide
Provides information on Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) payment adjustments for calendar year 2025. Describes how 2023 MIPS scores relate to 2025 payment adjustments and how payment adjustments are applied. Offers answers to frequently asked questions.
Date: 10/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
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Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS): 2024 Reporting Options Comparison Resource
Provides an overview of the similarities and differences among the three Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) reporting options: Traditional MIPS, MIPS Value Pathways (MVP), and Alternative Payment Model (APM) Performance Pathway (APP). Designed to help providers understand which reporting options may be best for their practice. Includes information on reporting flexibilities and scoring for small and rural practices.
Additional links: 2024 Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) At-A-Glance Reporting Options for Small Practices
Date: 10/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
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Medicare Payment Basics: Accountable Care Organizations Payment Systems
Provides an overview of Medicare's Accountable Care Organization (ACO) programs. Discusses the payment mechanics of ACOs, including the maximum shared savings and losses of Medicare Shared Savings Program ACOs by track and level.
Date: 10/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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Rural Hospital Performance in Guideline-Recommended Ischemic Stroke Thrombolysis, Secondary Prevention, and Outcomes
Examines the performance of rural versus urban stroke center and non-stroke center hospitals in delivering guideline-recommended ischemic stroke thrombolysis, providing secondary prevention, and producing favorable outcomes among patients treated for acute ischemic stroke. Utilizes 2017-2019 Get With the Guidelines-Stroke hospital data of 692,839 patients.
Author(s): Shumei Man, David Bruckman, Ken Uchino, et al.
Citation: Stroke, 55(10), 2472-2481
Date: 09/2024
Type: Document
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Diagnostic Excellence in U.S. Rural Healthcare: A Call to Action
Issue brief exploring challenges to diagnostic quality in rural healthcare. Provides an overview of the topic of diagnostic errors in rural settings, and provides suggestions related to resource and workforce limitations, access to care, care coordination and other service delivery models, and social determinants of health.
Author(s): Kisha J. Ali, Nick J. Galvez, Sarah Craig, et al.
Date: 09/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
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Age-Friendly Health Systems Integration into Rural Primary Care Clinics: A Journey of One Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Program
Examines implementation of the Age-Friendly Health Systems (AFHS) 4Ms Framework in rural Arkansas primary care clinics. Details program aspects related to workforce training, workplace culture, and resource provision and discusses evidence-based approaches to implementation. Provides data on the AFHS 4Ms Framework's impact on patient engagement and healthcare quality for older adults in rural settings.
Author(s): Leah Tobey-Moore, Katherine Scalzo, Stacie Massey, Robin McAtee
Citation: INQUIRY: The Journal of Health Care Organization, Provision, and Financing
Date: 09/2024
Type: Document
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Obstetric Outcomes among Rural Parturients across US Urban and Rural Hospitals
Examines severe maternal morbidity and mortality (SMM) among rural parturients giving birth at rural versus urban hospitals, utilizing 2015-2022 Vizient Clinical Data Base (CDB) data of 214,296 patients. Includes data and discussion of the relationship between SMM and receipt of blood transfusion, race and ethnicity, type of hospital, and other clinical and demographic factors.
Author(s): Courtney L Strickland, Dmitry Tumin, Alyssa Harris, Hannah Murphy, James L Whiteside
Citation: Rural and Remote Health, 24(3), 8836
Date: 09/2024
Type: Document
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Final Report of the Rural Texas Obstetrics Study
Uses data analysis, interviews, and surveys to report on rural obstetrics access issues in Texas. Discusses facility closures, distance to care, provider shortages, reimbursements, and healthcare quality. Offers an analysis of 15 facilities that closed OB departments to understand potential drivers of closures. Email address required to access report.
Date: 09/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Stroudwater Associates
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Rural-Urban Disparities in Hospital Services and Outcomes for Children With Medical Complexity
Examines differences in availability of hospital pediatric services for rural and urban children with medical complexity requiring hospitalization, and analyzes whether hospitals' availability of pediatric services influences rural-urban health outcome disparities. Utilizes 2012-2017 claims data of 36,943 children with medical complexity. Includes data on hospitalization patterns, service availability, quality measures, and mortality.
Author(s): JoAnna K. Leyenaar, Seneca D. Freyleue, Mary Arakelyan, et al.
Citation: JAMA Network Open, 7(9), e2435187
Date: 09/2024
Type: Document
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