NRHRC Flex Monitoring Team conducts site visit at BMH

On Monday March 14 the National Rural Health Resource Center (NRHRC) Flex Monitoring Team conducted a site visit at BMH. Those in attendance included Sarah Brinkman from the National office and Shawn Balleydier, Assistant Director of the West Virginia State Office of Rural Health Division of Rural Health and Recruitment, DHHR/BPH/OCHSHP.

Brinkman is funded through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to assist the Flex programs and Critical Access Hospitals (CAH), like Boone Memorial, across the country to keep the programs stable and assist CAHs in any way possible.

The Rural Hospital Flexibility Program (Flex) grant provides funding to the WV CAH Network through the WV Hospital Association (typically $270,000-$300,000 yearly). Flex funds many programs through the WVHA CAH Network that are provided to the WV CAHs at no cost to the hospital. The Flex Program in collaboration with the WVHA CAH Network offers programs such as, Balanced Scorecard training, Revenue Cycle Management, MBQIP training and data collection, quarterly meetings, funding to attend conferences, etc.

The purpose of the site visit was to allow Brinkman and Balleydier to see first-hand a local Critical Access Hospital in the State of West Virginia, what the hospital provides and how BMH utilized funds.

"We also were very interested in visiting a site going through the renovation project," said Brinkman. "Shawn, nor I, have seen a new hospital building project in process. It was very exciting."

BMH has received a Small Rural Hospital Improvement Program (SHIP) grant in the amount of $10,000 annually for the past several years. The SHIP grant provides up to $10,000 a year per hospital to complete quality improvement, trainings, workshops, purchase hardware and software, telehealth, electronic medical records, etc.

After a brief meeting with hospital CEO Virgil Underwood, COO Mark Linville, CDO Dave Gresham, CFO Randy Foxx and Marketing and Public Relations Director, Karlie Belle Price, the group took a tour led by COO and Building Project Manager Mark Linville.

"We really enjoyed the visit and look forward to seeing the new hospital when it opens this year," concluded Balleydier.

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