Case Stories and Innovative Projects - Arkansas
The Arkansas Office or Rural Health and Primary Care worked with the Arkansas Hospital Association to form a steering committee for the SHIP grant program. The committee agreed that pooled funds would accomplish more than individual use of funds and that HIPAA compliance would be the focus. Nineteen of 31 eligible hospitals joined the consortium.
The Arkansas Hospital Association issued an RFP for consultant services that required each member of the consortium be HIPAA compliant at the close of the process. At the April 14, 2003 deadline, all 19 of the participants were compliant with the Privacy and the Transactions and Code Sets of the HIPAA mandate. In addition, the consortium had nearly $52,000 in SHIP funds remaining that will be used for patient record tracking software in each of the participating hospitals. A reduced group price was negotiated for the software that saved a significant amount for consortium members.
Contact: Bill Stricklin