Rural Health Value

Dramatic changes are underway in health care delivery and finance. The changing landscape creates new opportunities to design and strengthen local care systems in rural America. This initiative, funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy, utilizes the extensive analytic and technical assistance capacity of the University of Iowa Rural Policy Research Institute (RUPRI) Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis and Stratis Health to understand how evolving health care delivery and financing systems affect rural communities and providers.

Rural Health Value focuses on understanding how changing health care delivery and financing systems affect rural communities and clinicians and help rural health care organizations transition to new approaches that support success in a value-based care and payment environment.

Components of this initiative:

• Providing technical assistance for rural communities and organizations focused on a transition to value-based care across a variety of states, including supporting care delivery re-design planning for rural hospitals in Pennsylvania that are in the Pennsylvania Rural Health Model, a groundbreaking all-payer global hospital payment system
• Developing a variety of resources, including a catalog of relevant rural value-based initiatives, profiles of rural innovations, a strategic value-based care readiness assessment, tools to support physician and board engagement, and a guide for rural health care leaders focused on understanding and addressing social determinants of health

Actions

• Assess rural implications and facilitate rural adaptability to changes in health care delivery, organization, and finance
• Develop and test technical assistance tools and resources to enable rural providers and communities to take full advantage of value-based care and payment public policy changes and private sector initiatives
• Inform further developments in public policy and private action through the dissemination of findings

We make lives better by…

Understanding and facilitating rural health transformation:

• Encouraging engagement of rural health care organizations in value-based care delivery that improves care and decreases costs
• Synthesizing and sharing best practices and lessons learned from early adopters
• Providing actionable tools, education, and support for rural stakeholders in navigating the ever-changing landscape of value-based care