Small Rural Hospital Improvement Grant Program (SHIP)

Rural Health and Primary Care has been managing the Maine Small Hospital Improvement Grant Program (SHIP) grant since its inception in 2002. The SHIP program is authorized by the Social Security Administration to assist small rural hospitals (49 beds or less) in meeting the cost of implementing data systems required to meet the requirements established by Medicare.

The program has been useful in assisting hospitals with the cost related to meeting the costs of implementing data systems to improve quality, performance and safety, educating and training staff on the use of these computer systems and offsetting costs related to the implementation of prospective payment system.

Hospital Activity Areas

1. Value Based Purchasing (VBP)

• Improving data collection activities in order to facilitate reporting to hospital.

2. Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs)

• Improving quality outcomes.
• Focusing on activities that support quality improvement, such as reduction of medical errors, as well as education and training in data collection and reporting and benchmarking.

3. Payment Bundling

• Building accountability across the continuum of care.
• Improving care transitions between ambulatory and acute, acute to upstream acute, and acute to step-down facility.

4. Prospective Payment Systems (PPS)

• Offsetting costs related to implementation of PPS, such as updating chargemasters and/or providing training in billing and coding.
  

Contact for more information

Nicole Breton, Director
(207) 287-5524