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Tilden Community Hospital Rural Health Clinic Announces a Grant Award Notice from HRSA (Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services administration)      HRSA made 15 awards nationwide for the Small Health Care Provider Quality Improvement (SHCPQI) program.  Year one award is $42,458, and year two is awarded at 36,577.  Continued funding for year two is based on the availability of appropriated funds, satisfactory performance, and the determination that HRSA will continue the funding.  The grant covers costs associated with the implementation of the quality improvement activities listed in the details below.  Costs include the project manager, Dietician costs, physician assistant costs, fringe benefits, required workshop travel, contracted Dietician travel time, computer, electronic patient registry system, hard drive, printer, general office supplies associated with the grant, a large up to date scale, pedometers for the participants in the study, blood glucose monitors and strips, an electronic vital signs monitoring machine, and education pamphlets on diabetes care.      The purpose of the Small Health Care Provider quality Improvement Grant is to assist rural health care providers in the implementation of quality improvement strategies by providing the tools necessary to improve patient care and chronic disease outcomes related to diabetic care. The utilization of measurement tools, a national patient registry system, tracking and reporting specific health indicators using nationally accepted clinical performance measures, developing additional performance measures, assessing the need for quality improvement; and the ability to track changes over time are integral components to the concept of continuous quality improvement in patient care. Training rural health providers and allowing participation in a technical assistance workshop with fellow Small Health Care Providers, facilitated by a quality improvement specialist, is a benefit that most rural area providers do not have the opportunity to participate in. The impact for neighboring rural providers is that it will set up a model rural health provider performance measurement system, test resources needed, recruit resources not available related to limitation of funds, educate current licensed and volunteer providers, and provide education to the community regarding the importance of coordinating diabetes management and cardiovascular disease health indicators while applying national performance measures in the rural setting.       The rural areas of Northeast Nebraska, specifically the underserved areas surrounding Antelope and Madison County, will benefit from and be involved in the activities carried out by the Tilden Community Hospital Rural Health Clinic quality improvement activities. Tilden Community Hospital Rural Health Clinic will have the opportunity to demonstrate to other rural providers that there are improvements that can be made in the rural areas with limited funding regarding patient care. The utilization of national performance measures patient tracking and reporting will be initiated with the diagnoses of Diabetes Mellitus and cardiovascular disease. This system will allow the adopting of an integrated, prioritized approach to addressing patient health needs at the rural community level; establish a stronger quality improvement support structure to assist rural health systems and professionals in acquiring knowledge and tools to improve quality; and  enhance the human resource capacity of rural communities, including the education, training, and deployment of health care professionals, and the preparedness of rural residents to engage actively in improving their health and health care; monitor rural health care systems to ensure that they are financially stable and provide assistance in securing the necessary capital for system redesign; and invest in building an information communications technology infrastructure, which has the potential to enhance health and health care in other medically underserved rural areas.