As a national leader in supporting Critical Access Hospital quality improvement, Stratis Health has developed a variety of tools and resources that help critical access hospital (CAH) leaders identify best practices and support the implementation of improvement strategies.

 

Quality Improvement Basics

This QI Basics course is designed to equip professionals with the knowledge and tools to start quality improvement projects at their facilities. The course may be completed sequentially, or individual modules and tools may be used for stand-alone training and review.
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Emergency Department Transfer Communication

This measure, which allows hospitals to evaluate communication for transitions of care during emergency department (ED) transfers, is particularly relevant for critical access hospitals (CAHs) as it allows facilities to show how well they carry out their important stabilize-and-transfer role for rural residents.
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Critical Access Hospital Electronic Clinical Quality Measure (eCQM) Resource List

This resource contains information for critical access hospitals on electronic clinical quality measures (eCQMs), including inpatient, outpatient, and hybrid Measures, and a table of available inpatient eCQMs.
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Quality Time: Sharing Pie

National Rural Virtual Quality Improvement Mentors share their recipes to advance quality in their critical access hospitals through Quality Time: Sharing PIE (performance improvement experience) recorded conversations. The QI Mentors share lessons learned, strategies, tips, and ideas from their in-the-field performance improvement experience, as well as valuable resources for each of their topics.
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Antibiotic Stewardship Implementation: Suggested Strategies from High-Performing Critical Access Hospitals

This resource shares antibiotic stewardship best practices of high-performing critical access hospitals identified through focus group discussions with 34 hospitals across 25 states.
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Building Sustainable Capacity for Quality and Organizational Excellence

This report from the March 2023 Critical Access Hospital Quality Infrastructure Summit was developed to assist rural hospital leaders in creating sustainable quality infrastructure, moving beyond mere measures and toward organizational excellence.
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Minnesota Critical Access Hospital Reporting and Improvement Assistance

Stratis Health supports the Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility (Flex) grant program of the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Federal Office of Rural Health Policy to assist critical access hospitals in Minnesota.
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Study of HCAHPS Best Practices in High Performing CAHs

These documents share improvement strategies and effective best practices for each component of the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) collected from high-performing critical access hospitals (CAH) across the U.S. during focus group interviews conducted in late 2016. An update based on input collected during an HCAHPS Best Practice Summit convened in August 2022 includes strategies that high-performing CAHs employed to maintain the best possible health care experience for patients despite the coronavirus pandemic.

View Study of HCAHPS Best Practices in High Performing CAHs