ORHQN's New Executive Director

The Oregon Rural Health Quality Network (ORHQN) has announced Dave Gallison, MS, LPC, as the organization’s new Executive Director. Mr. Gallison will be ORHQN’s first executive director.

“I am excited to join such a highly collaborative organization, with major partners at the Office of Rural Health and Hospital Association among others, and ready participation at the 25 Critical Access Hospitals. These are times of diminishing resources. But, I have already learned that rural health providers are a strong, values-driven community. I hope to leverage the relationships and commitment of the team to achieve greater success for the individual facilities,” says Gallison.

According to Don Wee, CEO, Pioneer Memorial Hospital and ORHQN Board President, “Dave has an extensive background in the non-profit environment, is self-motivated, and has been an Executive Director previously. We felt with his experience and skill set were the attributes that will help us, where he can step in to strategically assist rural health providers to achieve performance excellence, especially as it relates to quality indicators and building a culture of quality.”

Most of Dave Gallison’s career has been in the healthcare sector in administrator or provider roles. A Licensed Professional Counselor, Dave directed the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Oregon, a statewide advocacy organization with rural and urban affiliates. Prior to that he was the Director of Career Services at the University of Portland, where he also worked closely with the Dean of Nursing on nurse recruitment. In addition, he worked in behavioral health at almost all levels of healthcare organizations, from a five-doctor neurology group, to a 50-doctor group private practice (Eugene Hospital & Clinic) to a large HMO, Kaiser Permanente.

Created in 2005, The Oregon Rural Health Quality Network is the result of a vision by Critical Access Hospitals (CAH) and the Office of Rural Health to meet challenges facing Oregon’s CAHs. Working with the Oregon Medicare Flexibility Program (Flex program), the CAH hospitals began to work together addressing the issue of quality and transparency in rural facilities. In the last few years, greater attention has been paid to the quality of care delivered through the healthcare system. As a result, pressures have increased to not only find ways to improve the delivery of quality service, but also to enhance transparency. One way that rural healthcare systems have been trying to mitigate these challenges is to form quality improvement networks.

According to Kassie Clarke, Flex Coordinator at the Office of Rural Health, “The ORHQN is a great opportunity for rural hospitals to show they not only meet but in many cases exceed the outcomes of their urban counterparts. Today, we have 24 of 25 CAHs in Oregon participating. It has been such a great program.”

The first step for ORHQN was creating a safe external peer-to-peer learning network, with physicians supporting physicians—a key element to improving the safety and quality of patient care delivery. “Rural providers working with their peers, sharing their knowledge of rural medicine has a much greater impact than sending charts to urban providers,” says Kassie Clarke. “It also give these providers a network of comfort—relationships with other rural providers to learn and share.” This process also provides considerable savings to CAHs and fulfills one of the requirements for Medicare Conditions of Participation. ORHQN peer review is an effective, economical option for rural hospitals to improve patient care.

In addition to the external peer review process, ORHQN has also established performance measurement initiatives that will help track clinical and financial outcomes. According to Dave Gallison, “The goal is to move Oregon forward to become a 'national model of excellence in rural health care.’” ORHQN is developing ED protocols for AMI Care, Communication and Transfer and collecting outcome data through RPM (Rural Performance Measures). Together with tertiary care centers, cardiologists, and rural hospitals, ORHQN is developing best practices for Oregon. “This project will gain national attention and support the Network’s goal of being on the ‘leading edge’ in the nation,” says Gallison.

“There is a tendency to regard quality improvement as a one-time change in procedures or a single intervention that will result in lasting improvement,” says Wee.” But it is a lot more than that. “Hospitals are being asked to provide more, not less, information on quality improvements and services to an expanding list of institutions and programs. We know pay for performance will trickle down to small hospitals, so ORHQN’s early adoption of software to help the network with data tracking and peer benchmarking, as well as ongoing trainings in evidence-based clinical interventions, will continue to make ORHQN highly relevant in connecting the quality of care with the bottom line.”

“It is going to continue to be important for ORHQN to engage hospital leaders to increase their awareness and gain their commitment to performance improvement. We believe this will be key for Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) to establish ourselves within the state and federal levels as to the important work we do, and demonstrate and prove that quality work is being done in rural hospital settings.” Wee continued.

Gallison will have an early test to diversify ORHQN’s funding stream, especially during these challenging economic times. Dave will also be completing an updated needs assessment of the network’s 24 member hospitals and help guide the organization toward a strategic plan that will support ORHQN in its goal to become a national model of excellence in rural healthcare.

“This is such an exciting time, says Gallison. “I believe I am adding leadership at a critical point in ORHQN’s development, where I can step in to strategically assist rural health providers to achieve performance excellence, especially as it relates to quality indicators and building a culture of quality.” In his off hours, Dave enjoys spending time with his wife and two daughters in many outdoor pursuits, especially hiking, alpine and cross-country skiing, and camping. He also whiles away the time in home remodeling, photography, and playing pick-up basketball at the Y.

If you want to know more about ORHQN or share your thoughts and ideas with Dave, go to the website at http://www.ohsu.edu/ohsuedu/outreach/oregonruralhealth/hospitals/ORHQN or email him at dave.orhqn@comcast.net.