The Office of Primary Care and Rural Health organized the 13th annual Rural Hospital Administrators Summit to support rural administrators in meeting the hospitals’ needs.
“We offered a diverse list of speakers who provided a wide range of knowledge and experience,“ said Liz Craker, PCRH Health Systems Support Coordinator. “Hospital leaders had the opportunity to collaborate and network with each other and the speakers.”
Our keynote speaker, Doug Morse, shared his insights on how administrators can attract and retain talent for their hospitals. As an experienced Iowa hospital leader, Morse connected with the administrators on the daily challenges that rural hospitals face.
“Rural hospitals face challenges such as workforce shortages or lack of resources, but we can turn our challenges into opportunities,” said Doug Morse, Principal ExecHQ. “We need to learn how to tell our own rural story to attract and retain our workforce.”
The summit speakers consisted of subject matter experts in:
- data analytics;
- rural housing solutions;
- Utah Medicaid;
- Utah’s Rural Health Strategy;
- Rural emergency medical services behavioral health transport; and
- Telehealth.
Administrators interacted with the speakers during the Summit to ask questions and seek solutions to challenges faced by rural hospitals. By providing a platform for administrators to express their concerns, the PCRH office aims to offer support and resources that meet the hospitals’ needs.
The event concluded with the presentation of the following awards:
- CEO of the Year: Brent Schmidt, President of Sevier Valley Hospital;
- Innovation Award: Jim Marshall, President and CEO of Uintah Basin Medical Center;
- Resiliency Award: Jennifer Sadoff, President and CEO of Moab Regional Hospital;
- Community Engagement Award: Randy Cuff, COO of Central Valley Medical Center.
Utah Flex is a program funded by the Health Services and Resources Administration (HRSA) called Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program. The program aims to ensure that high-quality healthcare is available in rural communities and meets their healthcare needs. Utah Flex supports financial, operational, and quality initiatives, as well as indicator-driven health improvement projects.
To be eligible for Utah Flex funding, a facility must be a Critical Access Hospital participating in the Medicare Beneficiary Quality Improvement Program. A Critical Access Hospital is a federal designation that allows a hospital to be reimbursed on a reasonable cost basis for services provided to Medicare and Medicaid patients.