SFY 2021-2023 Small Rural Hospital Improvement Grant

DHHS Division/Office issuing this notice: Office of Rural Health
Date of this notice: March 3, 2021
Working Title of the funding program: SFY2021-2023 Small Rural Hospital Improvement Grant Program
Purpose- description of function of the program and reason why it was created: The Small Rural Hospital Improvement Grant Program (SHIP) is a federal grant program administered by the North Carolina Office of Rural Health (ORH) to support rural hospitals with 49 beds or fewer. Funding helps small, rural hospitals by assisting hospitals in participating in improvements in value and quality to health care such as:

•    Value-Based Purchasing (VBP) Investment: Technical Assistance activities that facilitate quality reporting and improvement.
•    Accountable Care Organization (ACO) or Shared Savings Investment: Technical Assistance activities that support becoming or joining ACO, development or the basic tenets of ACOs or shared savings programs.
•    Payment Bundling (PB): Technical Assistance activities that improve hospital financial processes.

This grant will continue to assist the 31 SHIP eligible hospitals in improving both quality of care and operations by providing hospitals with focused quality and operational technical assistance. The two-year grant funding will be awarded to an eligible organization (as defined in eligibility section) to conduct the scope of work. The grantee will utilize these SHIP funds to:

1. Ensure all SHIP hospitals implement and/or participate in approved activities.
2. Ensure SHIP hospitals report on required performance measures.
3. Ensure each SHIP hospital receives a maximum $11,470 if grantee does not include indirect expenses in project budget in technical assistance time or activities. (amount dependent on federal funding allocation)
4. Conduct quarterly performance assessments tracking hospitals’ progress in achieving the agreed-upon deliverables. 
5. Track and report each participating hospital’s status. Report successful completion of performance measures and achievements of target goals.
6. Submit Annual Report of North Carolina hospitals that meet SHIP eligibility requirements. 
7. Facilitate group activities to provide technical assistance and project sharing between SHIP hospitals. 
8. Convene small rural hospitals, at least once annually, to coincidence with annual Flex Critical Access Hospital Meeting. 
9. Submit monthly expense reports that document technical assistance activities provided to each SHIP hospital.

The maximum total per grant year not to exceed $355,650. For the two-year grant programming, the maximum total grant award cannot exceed $711,300. All funding must be expended by May 31, 2023. (funding amount is dependent on federal allocation)

Only one grant application per organization will be accepted for review. You must request a link to your application through the online survey tool by clicking on the following link: Survey Link
The due date for the application is March 26th, 2021 by 5:00 pm.

Questions regarding the application may be directed to Renee.Clark@dhhs.nc.gov

Supporting Documents:
SHIP Instructions for SFY 2021 - 2023 RFA
SHIP RFA Budget for SFY 2021 - 2023