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Rural Issues

Small & Rural Health Contact

Linda Lang, Director of Strategic Initiatives/Member Services

Oregon Rural Hospital Strategic Plan

Oregon’s rural hospitals are the cornerstones to the communities they serve. For many communities they are the largest employer. Of Oregon’s 57 hospitals, two-thirds of them are small and rural hospitals. As part of the OAHHS Strategic Plan, rural hospital challenges were identified and prioritized, and a committee was formed to address needs.

In October 2007, the Small and Rural Hospital Committee met to develop a strategic plan to address the most critical challenges facing Oregon rural hospitals. The committee agreed upon four goals:

Every rural community has sufficient numbers and types of physicians to meet community needs.
Every rural health care organization has sufficient numbers and types of nurses and other staff to meet organizational needs.
Adequate funding and resources to meet the mission and the needs of the community.
Meet and exceed best quality practices for rural hospitals and achieve national patient safety standards.

The committee’s vision and long-term goal: "To become a national model of excellence in rural health care."

During the strategic planning session the committee identified possible actions and strategies to address the challenges and developed a first year action plan.

Goal one: Every rural community has sufficient numbers and types of physicians to meet

community needs.

Rural communities have a significant shortage of physicians. Unfortunately the data is not available to help us understand the degree of shortage and forecast for the future. Even with strong recruitment efforts, rural hospitals have difficulty attracting and retaining physicians. Rural hospitals provide a higher volume of Medicare and Medicaid services and Oregon physician reimbursement rates for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries are below other states. Rural physicians tend to be older and are thinking more about retirement than opening a second practice. And we currently do not have enough medical school enrollments to replace our aging physician population.

Actions:

Complete an inventory and develop metrics to determine numbers and types of physicians necessary to meet community need.
Develop collaborative partnerships with organizations working on recruitment and retention.
Explore rural hospital-physician partnerships.
Explore expansion of PA/NP roles and scope of practice when appropriate.
Additional state sponsored medical liability subsidy and advocacy for new programs.

Goal two: Every rural health care organization has sufficient numbers and types of nurses and other staff to meet organizational needs.

Significant shortages in all health care workforces are compounded in rural areas. Oregon needs more nurses, radiological technicians, pharmaceutical technicians as well as other health care workers. Rural communities, where specialty trained health care workers are needed, find it challenging to train and retain such workers.

Actions:

Complete an inventory and develop metrics to determine numbers and types of nurses and others necessary to meet community need.
Convene stakeholders and achieve an agreement with Oregon Nurse Education Council – to increase capacity for nursing students by creating seats in designated nursing schools.
Develop and implement a strategy on career pathway development.
Promote remote teaching, distance learning, broadband telehealth and competency programs.

4000 Kruse Way Place
Building 2, Suite 100
Lake Oswego, Oregon 97035
503-636-2204 | Fax: 503-636-8310
info@oahhs.org

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