Upcoming Events for Minnesota Critical Access Hospitals

 

Minnesota MBQIP Open Calls

Apr. 9, 2025, 1-2 p.m.
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July 9, 2025. 1-2 p.m.
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Aug. 13, 2025. 1-2 p.m.
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Through the Minnesota Flex Program, Stratis Health proudly assists Minnesota critical access hospitals (CAHs) with activities focused on quality reporting, quality improvement, and advancing population health.

Quality reporting and improvement activities are primarily focused on the core measures of the Medicare Beneficiary Quality Improvement Project (MBQIP). MBQIP is a quality improvement activity under the Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility (Flex) grant program of the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Federal Office of Rural Health Policy. MBQIP aims to improve the quality of care provided in critical access hospitals by increasing quality data reporting by critical access hospitals (CAHs) and then planning quality improvement activities based on the data. In Minnesota and nationally, CAHs are required to report MBQIP measures to participate in Flex Program activities.

In the area of population health, Stratis Health has supported CAHs in such topics as

  • Meaningfully embedding health equity into their organizational culture and structure.
  • Developing processes to stand up and enhance activities to address health-related social needs (HRSN) and social drivers of health (SDOH).
  • Implementing the Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) standards.

 

CAH MBQIP Reporting Resources

Stratis Health developed the MBQIP Minnesota Quality Reporting Guide to help CAH staff understand the reporting process for MBQIP core measures. For each reporting channel (shown in the following chart), information is included on how to register, which measures are reported where, and how to submit the measures.

MBQIP measure abbreviations to know:

  • ABX: Antibiotic Stewardship
  • CART: CMS Abstraction and Reporting Tool
  • EDTC: Emergency Department Transfer Communication
  • FMT: Flex Monitoring Team
  • HCAHPS: Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems
  • HCP: Vaccination Coverage Among Healthcare Personnel
  • NHSN: National Healthcare Safety Network

 

MBQIP Data Reports

Every CAH in Minnesota can securely access quarterly reports with its data on all MBQIP core measures to drive and support its quality improvement efforts. Login access is provided to individuals identified as designated report contacts at each Minnesota CAH.

If you want to know the designated report contacts for your CAH, please contact Jodi Winters.

Login instructions

  1. Go to  Stratis Health Sharefile.
  2. Enter your email address and password.
  3. Click Sign in.
    Note: First-time users click on “Forgot Password” to set up their password.

 

Minnesota MBQIP Open Calls

Stratis Health hosts open discussion calls for Minnesota CAHs to support CAHs in submitting data for core MBQIP measures, sharing promising practices with other CAHs, and having a chance to ask questions of Stratis Health staff and each other. CAHs are encouraged to review their MBQIP reports ahead of the calls and come with questions. Calls occasionally focus on a specific measure or topic (such as EDTC or the CAH Assessment). Upcoming calls, as well as recordings and materials from calls held over the past year, are listed below.

Past Recorded Open Calls (Most recent – see YouTube playlist for all past calls.)

 

MBQIP Measure and Quality Improvement Resources

Critical Access Hospital Quality Improvement Resources
A variety of Stratis Health-developed tools and resources to help CAH leaders identify best practices and support the implementation of improvement strategies.

EDTC Measure Ongoing Lessons and Best Practices
During our ongoing work to help CAHs improve their EDTC measure scores, this resource will share what we have learned to date on issues affecting the EDTC documentation and some of the CAH’s solutions and best practices to address those issues.

Minnesota CAH Quality Connect
A monthly newsletter designed to support Minnesota CAHs, providing updates and resources related to quality reporting and improvement efforts.

Social Drivers of Health Toolkit
This toolkit is specifically designed for CAHs and their community partners working to address community SDOH and individual or family HRSN in Minnesota’s rural communities. The resource overviews the core components of SDOH/HRSN strategy for CAHs, including setting up governance, screening patients, and engaging community partners in CAH’s strategy.

 

This project is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of an award totaling $247,000 with 0.00% financed with non-governmental sources. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official view of, nor an endorsement, by HRSA, HHS, or the U.S. Government.