Oregon Office of Rural Health

Resources and Technical Assistance for CAHs

Crooked River

Community Benefit Reporting and 501(c)(3) Compliance Resources

Hospital community benefits are initiatives and activities undertaken by nonprofit hospitals to improve health in the communities they serve.  The Affordable Care Act (ACA) also established “additional requirements for charitable hospitals “under § 501(r) of the Internal Revenue Code. The following are resources are available to assist Oregon’s rural and frontier hospitals with 501c3 compliance.

Webinars for CAHs and Small Rural Hospitals

The Oregon Office of Rural Health (ORH) is pleased to offer educational webinars for Critical Access Hospital (CAH) leadership and staff. In 2024, we are pleased offer a second year of webinars focused on best practices and considerations in finance and operations for CAHs. This series of six webinars, presented by Jonathan Pantenburg, MHA of Wintergreen, starts with “Know Your Value: Regional Collaboration and Competition for Critical Access Hospitals ” on March 21 from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. Webinars are free and will be offered through Aug. 2024. Please note: You must register for each session separately. You may attend as many of these webinars as you wish.

Webinar slides and recordings will be posted on this page after each event.

2024 CAH Finance and Operations Webinar Slides and Recordings

March 21, 2024 

Know Your Value: Regional Collaboration and Competition for Critical Access Hospitals

With the growing perception that rural markets are attractive growth areas for outside (often for-profit) actors, coupled with the continued application of technology in the health care delivery system, hospitals paradoxically face increased competitive risk and new strategic opportunities. This presentation identifies the different types of collaboration with provider organizations and third-party businesses to increase efficiencies and economies of scale while ensuring hospitals are positioned for the future.

Video | Presentation slides

April 18, 2024 | 12 p.m. – 1 p.m.

Ensuring Long Term Success Today: 2024 Revenue Cycle Strategies 

The health care industry pace of change quickens daily and presents new challenges to patient access, service delivery and long-term success. This ongoing transformation creates limitless opportunities with revenue cycle management to advance performance, compliance, quality, satisfaction and retention. This presentation will focus on fundamentals to maximize opportunities in staffing, financial management and partnerships.

VideoPresentation slides

May 16, 2024 | 12 p.m. – 1 p.m.

Best Practices for CAHs: Budget Process and Budget Building

Creating a budget isn't everyone's idea of fun, but creating a repeatable and annual budget process that involves department and hospital leadership is essential for understanding your current position and where you are heading. A solid budget process allows hospitals to compare actual to budgeted performance on a monthly basis to understand both areas of opportunity (and areas that need attention) and functions as a way to empower department managers.

Video | Presentation slides

June 20, 2024 | 12 p.m. – 1 p.m.

Interface: How Primary Care and CAH Operations Can Work Together

Hospital and primary care delivery models ideally are symbiotic, efficient and jointly tied to the organization’s mission. CCM, TCM and BHI programs serve as the operational tools to reimburse providers for the implementation of care management and behavioral health services in rural communities. This presentation outlines the optimal delivery system and patient care programs that demonstrate how primary care and hospital operations can be complementary.

Video | Presentation slides

July 18, 2024 | 12 p.m. – 1 p.m.

Beyond Coexisting: Building a Thriving Relationship Between Finance and Human Resources

Finance and human resource functions often cross into each other's worlds, which, at times, can create friction and confusion. This presentation explores common tripping hazards and small rural hospital-specific best practices for internal controls related to human capital and financing functions. 

Video | Presentation slides

August 15, 2024 | 12 p.m. – 1 p.m.

Behavioral Health: Leveraging RHCs to Expand an Essential Service

Rural communities continue to experience deficits with access to behavioral and mental health services. With changes brought forth in the CY 2022 Physician Fee Schedule, Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) can now provide and receive reimbursement for distant site tele-behavioral health services. This presentation focuses on how to leverage RHCs and their new reimbursement methodology to expand behavioral health services. 

Presentation slides

Register here

2023 CAH Finance and Operations Webinar Slides and Recordings

Feb. 16, 12 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
A Best Practice Checklist: CAH Financial and Operational Performance 
In an environment of increasing cost and stagnant reimbursement, CAHs must do everything necessary to improve their financial stability. This presentation identifies a small but focused set of tactics CAHs can implement to improve their financial and operational performance. 

VideoPresentation slides
 
Mar. 9, 12 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
A Systems Approach: Maintaining a High Functioning Revenue Cycle Department 
The revenue cycle remains one of the best opportunities for hospitals to improve operational efficiencies due to its complexity and core function. This presentation walks participants through the full revenue cycle value chain while identifying common pitfalls that impact revenue. 
 


VideoPresentation slides

Mar. 30, 12 p.m. - 1: p.m.
PIEC 101: Transitioning to a Performance Improvement Executive Committee 
Most health care organizations maintain a siloed management and monitoring structure that isolates finance, quality, and staff. This presentation explores the concept of a performance improvement executive committee and identifies a specific organizational model to remove silos, promote and express interdependencies, foster accountability and increase alignment between financial and clinical staff. 

Video | Presentation slides

Apr. 20, 12 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Ensuring Long-Term Success Today: 2023 Revenue Cycle Strategies 
The health care industry’s pace of change quickens daily and presents new challenges to patient access, service delivery and long-term success. This ongoing transformation creates limitless opportunities with revenue cycle management to advance performance, compliance, quality, satisfaction and retention. This presentation will focus on fundamentals to maximize opportunities in staffing, financial management and partnerships.
 


Video | Presentation slides

May 11, 12 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
CAH Reimbursement Heuristic: Using Medicare Cost Report to Reveal Opportunities 
Most organizations view the Medicare Cost Report as a tedious administrative task and to many CFOs, a hassle. As a result, CAHs often fail to acknowledge the direct impact the cost report has on CAH reimbursement. This presentation highlights the importance of the Medicare Cost Report, enumerates the Top 10 Most Common Errors and explains how to leverage the cost report as a part of the managerial decision-making process. 
 


Video | Presentation slides

June 8, 12 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
10 CAH Revenue Cycle Priorities: What to Review Immediately 
Sometimes operational changes take time to manifest; sometimes, they don’t. This presentation focuses on areas to review within your revenue cycle that can improve payment immediately (and retrospectively). This review will provide top areas of focus that can increase cash flow, enhance revenue, improve contractual performance and minimize denials. 

VideoPresentation slides
 
July 13, 12 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
The Post-Acute Care Lever: Hospital Swing Beds
A hospital swing bed program can serve as a vital patient care service and an untapped revenue growth resource for rural hospitals across the country. This presentation focuses on specific opportunities to enhance the performance of the swing bed program by improving operational efficiencies and increasing utilization of them, while exposing misconceptions related to price setting, contribution margin analysis and contract negotiations with commercial payers.

VideoPresentation slides
 
Aug. 3, 12 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
How to Build Revenue: Front-End Competencies
Efficient and accurate verification of insurance eligibility and benefits streamlines the revenue cycle process and typically generates ancillary revenue, insurance incentives and improved value-based and quality scores. This presentation will focus on insurance benefits, preventative services and referred-ordered ancillary services. Reviews will include the importance of insurance verification and operational communication to optimize revenue from patient populations. 

Video | Presentation slides
 
Aug. 31, 12 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.
The No Surprises Act: Revenue Protections and Transactional Compliance
Pricing transparency regulations have been in place since 2020, yet a vast majority of hospitals are still noncompliant. This presentation will provide strategies to employ improved eligibility and coverage estimates, providing patient estimation and good faith estimates, and improving precertification and authorization issues to prevent inaccurate balance billing and ensure rural hospitals meet regulatory requirements to mitigate potential financial penalties.

VideoPresentation slides
 
Sept. 14, 12 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Fund Your Mission: Practice Steps to Move from Volume to Value
With the ongoing movement toward population-based payment models, organizations must understand how volume-based initiatives can impact finance and operations performance as well as drive long-term strategic options. This presentation focuses on the transition from volume to value while providing participants with the pros and cons of different population-based approaches. 

Video Presentation slides

Small Hospital Improvement Program (SHIP) Webinars

Preparing for ICD-11

Preparing for ICD-11 Part I
May 12, 2023 | 12 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. 

Slides

Preparing for ICD-11 Part II
May 19, 2023 | 12 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. 

Slides 

SHIP Wintergreen Webinars

Wintergreen FY23 SHIP Capstone Webinar

June 19, 2024 | 9 a.m. - 10 a.m.

Video | Presentation slides

Wintergreen FY22 SHIP Capstone Webinar

May 24, 2023 | 12 p.m. - 1 p.m.

Video | Presentation slides

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