Rural Health Network of Oklahoma, INC

PROJECT PURPOSE

The Oklahoma Rural Health Network Consortium will strengthen our rural health care system by providing current networks a platform to work together. The Consortium members are OSU-Center for Health Systems Innovation; OSU-CHSI (ROK-Net), Rural Health Network of Oklahoma (RHNOK), Oklahoma Foundation for Medical Quality (OFMQ), and Rural Health Association of Oklahoma (RHAO). This endeavor will assist rural physicians and hospitals to overcome obstacles, provide research, get assistance, and develop HIT solutions that provide affordable certification and training for their HIT staff. This project will create a network of HIT Professionals, to assist in education, training, and capacity building of our rural health system. Job retention and strengthening the rural health care system in Oklahoma is the objective. By strengthening the HIT capacity of the rural clinics and hospitals will be better prepared for future pandemics or other emergency situations. The partner entities will be able to access critical information about past COVID-19 response of these entities to help with research in the future. The service area for the project consists of Atoka, Choctaw, Coal, Pittsburg, Pushmataha and McCurtain Coal Counties in rural Oklahoma. The intention is to grow the Consortium members to include other counties each year of the project.

EVIDENCE

The Rural Health Network of Oklahoma (RHNOK) has been on the front-line of improving rural access and quality of care since 2008. RHNOK?s programs and health IT services have resulted in improved lives of thousands of rural Oklahomans through care coordination, telehealth deployments, integrated mental health services, and a long-standing provision of affordable health IT services. Their achievements have created cost savings, local access to specialists, and coordination of care.

POPULATION DESCRIPTION

According to the Oklahoma Literacy Resource Office, ?Level 1? literacy is the lowest literacy level. Statistics from the Oklahoma Literacy Resource Office show that statewide, 18% of the adults in Oklahoma are at Level 1 literacy. The statistics for our service area are much worse. The percent of adults at Level 1 literacy in McCurtain County is 26%, the percent in Pushmataha County is 25%, and the percent of adults at Level 1 literacy in Choctaw County is 28% ? the highest illiteracy rate in the state. The literacy level, and by default, the health literacy of this impoverished area, is very low. This project will enable hospitals and clinics to retain qualified HIT Professionals, and be better prepared for the next pandemic. The pandemic has impacted this community negatively as it is hard to recruit and train professionals to this area.

PERFORMANCE MEASURING

The measures for ensuring success and programmatic improvement will come from the workplan created for the program. HIT staff will show improved abilities, better communication, advocacy, and sustained employment through this program. An independent program evaluator will be a partner through this process, to align process and outcome measures for the program to show success. A plan for collecting data is in place with the assistance of the program evaluator.

ONGOING INVESTMENT AMOUNT

$

ONGOING INVESTMENT DESCRIPTION

None

ONGOING INVESTMENT REQUIRED

Able to continue operation without additional funding from the State of Oklahoma