The Rural Health Care Services Outreach Program is a community-based grant program aimed towards promoting rural health care services by enhancing health care delivery to rural underserved populations in the local community or region. Through consortia of local health care and social service providers, communities can develop innovative approaches to challenges related to the specific health needs in rural areas that expand clinical and service capacity in rural communities.

Under the Healthy Rural Hometown Initiative, this project will build upon these efforts by adding a layer of data analytics and quality improvement to the chronic care management that will be provided by formed partnerships, as well as expanded provider education resources.

Louisiana Rural Health Association has partnered with Louisiana Tech, T-Cell Analytics, Gulf South Analytics, and Fragments to utilize six years of historical data from the Medicaid Office at the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) to identify rural health clinics that may benefit from support in implementation or expansion of a Chronic Care Management program. 

In addition to being provided free technical assistance, project participants will have access to a robust data dashboard to support effective CCM implementation and quality improvement.

• Implementation of Chronic Care Management (CCM) within rural parishes in Louisiana.

• To generate quality improvement within rural health clinics by targeting patients at risk with heart disease and reviewing current data using analytics methods to improve outcomes.

• Utilize evidence informed model(s) in the delivery of personalized clinical Technical Assistance to reduce patient readmissions rates; and

• Generate cost savings to payors for patients enrolled in CCM to achieve long-term sustainability.

PROGRAM SERVICE AREAS

Grant Parish

Gulf South Analytics is a premier healthcare consulting firm specializing in strategic planning, clinical workflow improvement, and clinical oversight of chronic care management and hospice programs. With decades of healthcare experience spanning direct patient care to administration, we bring unparalleled expertise to help healthcare organizations optimize their operations and improve patient outcomes. Our dedicated team is committed to delivering tailored solutions that enhance the efficiency and quality of healthcare services.  

Project Role:

Gulf South Analytics serves as the technical assistance provider for this project, providing education and support to participating clinics in implementing and improving their Chronic Care Management program.

Lead:

Louisiana Tech is a Top Tier National University with more than 135 degree programs to align with individuals’ interests and aspirations. Tech faculty are on the cutting-edge of research and innovation which provides students with ample opportunity to engage in hands-on learning experiences that lead to post-graduation marketability.

Project Role:

Louisiana Tech serves as the data management and analytics powerhouse of the project. This includes: developing database infrastructure, migrating data from rural clinics to aggregate data, and analyzing data.

Lead:

Dr. Pradeep Chowriappa

T-Cell Analytics is a data company, specializing in pinpointing the problems in rural healthcare providers face and developing strategies to address them for a more equitable and sustainable future.

Project Role:

T-Cell Analytics will work in partnership with Louisiana Tech to collect, migrate, and analyze data of participating clinics.  T-Cell is responsible for analyzing the data from the chronic care management program in order to select and develop evidence-based education materials.

Lead:

Adam Terry

Fragments is creative media company located in Ruston, Louisiana. Our goal is simple: Tell the best story on behalf of our clients. Fragments has worked closely with companies such as: Technology For Rural America, Southern Systems Integrator, Louisiana Virtual Medicine and others. In the midst of the COVID pandemic, Fragments worked closely with Louisiana Rural Health Association, former Gov. John Bel Edwards, the Dekat Regional Authority, etc. to implement telehealth in nearly half of Louisiana’s parishes.

Project Role:

Leveraging both quantitative and qualitative data obtained through this project, Fragments will develop a variety of messaging and resources to support the future of Chronic Care Management in rural Louisiana. This includes, sharing best practices and lessons learned, as well as information that can be used to support future project implementations and policy work to expand and enhance access to CCM.

Lead:

Adam Terry