A federal grant program for rural hospitals has been modified to reflect the healthcare reform law. The Small Rural Hospital Improvement Program (SHIP), managed through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), offers grants in the $9,000 range to individual facilities.
The program had been geared toward helping hospitals defray costs associated with prospective payment systems and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliance.
The revised program continues the focus on prospective payment systems, drops HIPAA support and adds a new category: costs related to delivery system changes in the healthcare reform law.
Those include value-based purchasing, accountable care organizations and payment bundling, according to a HRSA presentation posted on the National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health's Web site.
A spokesman for HRSA confirmed the accuracy of the slide presentation, noting that SHIP "no longer supports activities related to HIPAA."
SHIP will support activities under the HITECH Act, if funding directly relates to accountable care organizations, value-based purchasing, or payment bundling, the spokesman noted. He pointed to the example of supporting electronic health records "for the value of quality improvement by capturing data on patient health status for analysis," he said.
Overall, SHIP funding can still be used for health IT as long as it is tied to improving clinical quality, he added.
The HRSA presentation, dated April 15, listed hardware and software purchasing, training and education, consultants or assessments as appropriate use of SHIP funds in the value-based purchasing, accountable care organization, and payment bundling areas.
The application deadline for the latest round of SHIP grants is May 24.
SHIP's change in HIPAA policy has affected an IT security consulting firm, which works in the healthcare sector among other industries. CynergisTek announced a HIPAA/HITECH security compliance review solution for small hospitals April 13, just before the SHIP alterations surfaced. The company had been looking to the grants as the mechanism rural hospitals would use to fund security review projects.
In a follow-up announcement April 28, CynergisTek reported that as of June 30 hospitals eligible for grants, "will no longer be able to use SHIP funds for IT security reviews."
Nevertheless, CynergisTek, based in Austin, Texas, said it will continue to offer its HIPAA/HITECH IT security review service. Mac McMillan, chief executive officer at CynergisTek, said about a dozen people have called about the review program since its announcement last month.
