THE CRITICAL ACCESS
HOSPITAL NETWORK’S
RURAL HEALTH INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY PROJECT
Sue Deitz, MPH
Rural Network in Eastern Washington
Established in 2002 with HRSA Network Development Grant Program
Our Members
7 Public Hospital Districts
7 Rural Hospitals, of which 6 are Critical
Access Hospitals
 12 Rural Health Clinics

Mission - To improve the health of our
communities by creating an infrastructure
designed to stabilize and strengthen the local
rural health system.
Columbia
County Health
System
Purpose of CAHN






Collaborate/share limited resources.
Capitalize on economies of scale.
Strengthen care coordination among rural and
urban settings.
Optimize delivery systems and health outcome
with use of health information exchange.
Chronic Disease Management and Measurement
Performance Reporting
Aggregate data to learn from each other.
Rural Health Disparities
Health Disparities in Rural Network Counties compared to Urban/State (2012)
In percent
WA
Lincoln
Percent 65 or older
13
22
Median Age
37
47
Have Bachelor degree
31
19
Unemployment
6.6
7.6
Diabetes
8
12
Heart disease
5
Obesity (BMI= >30)
High cholesterol
WA
Pend
Oreille
21
Grant
Garfield
Columbia
Spokane
(urban)
13
12.1
23
24.8
47
31.6
49
48
36
17
14.6
24.6
18.7
29
Lincol Pend
n 10.9Oreill
e
Grant
9.6
Garfiel Columbi
d 7.8 a
9
8
17
9
8
7
27
32
31
40
47
45
Spokan
e
10.2
(urban)
7.3
16
9
10
9
6
38
31
38
28
43
50
48
39
Our Initiatives
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Care Coordination and Care Transitions
Patient Centered Medical Home
Tele Health Services
Primary Care and Behavioral Health Integration
County Coalitions and Regional Collaborations
Chronic Disease Management and Measurement
Performance Reporting
Patient Centered Medical Home




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Management of chronic conditions
Use of IT tools/ integrated systems
Emphasis on team based care
Transition from episode-based
medicine to person-based health
Supports value based purchasing
Emphasis on collaboration with
regional stakeholders
Population Health Tools
Regional Population Health Measurement
De-Identified Aggregated Central Data Repository
Impact/ ROI Population Health Data

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Population based benchmark/goals chronic disease
management (e.g. LDL, BP, A1c)
Inpatient admission rates/ED visits for populations
with chronic diseases
Readmission rates after 30 days discharge
Provider satisfaction towards project interventions
Per visit revenue from increase in preventive
procedures, labs and screenings triggered by CINA
Primary Care & Behavioral Health Integration



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Co-Locating
Identify high utilizers of care
and develop “hot spotting”
solutions
Use team approach to care
with mental health providers
partnering with primary care
providers
Use of telehealth
Build local solutions and
partnerships
Collaborative Partnerships
CAHN
Thank you
Sue Deitz, MPH
Director, Critical Access Hospital Network
suefox@sandpoint.net
(208) 610-0937