Program Initiatives

Initiative 1 focuses on innovative healthcare by transforming how care is paid for, delivered, and measured at both hospital and primary care levels. The new model is envisioned to be a rural-centric version of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Achieving Healthcare Efficiency through Accountable Design (AHEAD) model. DCH is excited about the opportunities this model brings for improved patient outcomes and increased stability for rural hospitals. By aligning incentives across payers, AHEAD enables states and providers to innovate in care delivery and population health. 

Visit the “Value-Based Care” page to learn more about this healthcare approach.

See relevant information for this initiative:

• For a high-level overview of this initiative’s goals, vision, and policy alignment, see Strategic Goal 1 under the Rural Health Transformation: Goals and Strategies section of Georgia's Application to the Rural Health Transformation Program.
• For detailed information on funding, activities, timelines, measurable outcomes, and implementation plans, see Initiative 1 under the Proposed Initiatives and Use of Funds section of Georgia's Application to the Rural Health Transformation Program.

Together the strategies, or projects, within Initiative 2 form a holistic, wraparound approach to preventing and managing chronic illness and disease, identifying and addressing root causes of diseases, and improving physical and mental health and wellbeing for rural Georgians. 

Efforts include:

• Increasing long-term capacity of the Georgia Department of Public Health’s Newborn Screening program. 
• Increasing capacity of ambulance services by working with the Georgia EMS Association and Georgia Ambulance Providers Association to provide rural hospitals with specific Type 2 ambulances to transfer stable rural patients between hospitals and to fill other non-emergency medical transportation gaps.  
• Increasing support for Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) survivors by expanding Side by Side Clubhouse’s model statewide. 
• Increasing the Department for Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities’ capacity to transport individuals in acute crisis to appropriate facilities safely.  
• Increasing connectivity of school-based health centers to behavioral healthcare facilities for improved continuity of care for children and their families by collaborating across school-serving agencies statewide. 
• Improving healthcare facilities’ ability to shelter-in-place or evacuate to further increase disaster readiness statewide. 
• Increasing capacity of current non-emergency medical transportation by creating regional nursing home medical transportation hubs with the Georgia Health Care Association.  
• Increasing capacity of rural pediatricians to diagnose and provide services, particularly related to nutrition, for patients in rural areas through partnership with Behavioral Health Pediatric Resource Center. 
• Increasing access to GLP-1 medication and nutrition services for women at risk for weight-related pregnancy complications through additional eligibility in the Georgia Section 1115 Medicaid waiver: Planning for Healthy Babies. 

See relevant information for this initiative:

• For a high-level overview of this initiative’s goals, vision, and policy alignment, see Strategic Goal 2 under the Rural Health Transformation: Goals and Strategies section of Georgia's Application to the Rural Health Transformation Program.
• For detailed information on funding, activities, timelines, measurable outcomes, and implementation plans, see Initiative 2 under the Proposed Initiatives and Use of Funds section of Georgia's Application to the Rural Health Transformation Program.

The strategies in Initiative 3 work to close geographic, economic, and systemic gaps in access to timely, high-quality healthcare by leveraging innovation, technology, and targeted investments.  

This initiative aims to:

• Create new access points for rural residents, including hospital-affiliated point of care telepods and mobile clinics. Both models will be competitively awarded. 
• Improve telehealth access across healthcare entities in rural Georgia to create and expand statewide networks, also to be competitively awarded.
• Enhance rural hospitals through a new line of Rural Stabilization funding. 
• Strengthen perinatal care by equipping both delivery and non-delivery hospitals around rural Georgia with the tools needed to safely deliver babies and protect mothers in partnership with the Department of Public Health.  
• Improve access to providers in underserved areas by working with the Department of Public Health to equip county public health offices for telehealth visits.
• Broaden access to psychiatric care for new moms and pediatric patients in partnership with the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities and the Department of Public Health by expanding current programs. 

See relevant information for this initiative:

• For a high-level overview of this initiative’s goals, vision, and policy alignment, see Strategic Goal 3 under the Rural Health Transformation: Goals and Strategies section of Georgia's Application to the Rural Health Transformation Program.
• For detailed information on funding, activities, timelines, measurable outcomes, and implementation plans, see Initiative 3 under the Proposed Initiatives and Use of Funds section of Georgia's Application to the Rural Health Transformation Program.
   

The strategies in Initiative 4 form a coordinated approach to strengthening Georgia’s healthcare workforce pipeline in rural and underserved areas. Each strategy addresses a distinct stage of healthcare education, training, and retention, forming a comprehensive system that builds, supports, and sustains the workforce from early interest in health careers to advanced clinical practice and continuing education.

This initiative aims to:

• Increase physicians in rural areas by providing Rural Recruitment Incentive Grants for current provider recruitment, increasing slots for residencies and fellowships in rural areas, and funding for development of new residency programs in partnership with the Georgia Board of Health Care Workforce.
• Increase the capacity of the nursing workforce education pipeline by working with the University System of Georgia to provide opportunities for nurse higher education, further skills training, and increase interest of young people in the profession.
• Increase capabilities of healthcare staff in caring for people with dementia in partnership with the Alzheimer’s Association by establishing training hubs and mentoring programs.
• Increase programming with the Area Health Education Centers (AHECs) to provide further training and opportunities for students interested in health careers to experience practicing in rural areas.
• Increase access to EMT and paramedic training for rural residents interested in the career by providing Education and Training awards in partnership with the Georgia EMS and Paramedic Associations.

See relevant information for this initiative:

• For a high-level overview of this initiative’s goals, vision, and policy alignment, see Strategic Goal 4 under the Rural Health Transformation: Goals and Strategies section of Georgia's Application to the Rural Health Transformation Program.
• For detailed information on funding, activities, timelines, measurable outcomes, and implementation plans, see Initiative 4 under the Proposed Initiatives and Use of Funds section of Georgia's Application to the Rural Health Transformation Program.
   

The strategies in Initiative 5 work together to create a modern, efficient, secure, and patient-centered healthcare system. Through this coordinated effort, rural Georgia will have access to a healthcare system that harnesses the power of technology to improve consumer access to information, improve training and skills of the healthcare workforce, and foster an environment of data sharing that results in collaborative, coordinated care for the patient.

This initiative aims to:

• Improve cybersecurity capacity through assessments, training, and support for rural healthcare entities in collaboration with the Augusta University Cyber Innovation and Training Center.
• Establish a tech catalyst fund to invest in startup technology dedicated to high-impact, consumer-facing, care-enabling solutions to rural healthcare needs. Georgia Tech Research Institute will manage the funds for this strategy, also knowns as Advancing Access to Robust Care and Health in Rural Georgia (ARCHER).
• Enhance EMR interoperability and connectivity capabilities across rural providers
• Increase rural hospitals’ ability to recruit surgeons and reduce care delays by establishing a competitive award to equip hospitals with robotic surgical technology.
• Decrease statewide delays in Medicaid eligibility processing by creating a new pathway for determinations.
• Provide access to patients and providers included in AHEAD (Initiative 1) catchment areas to a ShareCare application that increases patient care engagement and provides risk assessments to providers to aid in better monitoring care.  
• Assess status of behavioral health providers’ EMR and technology capacities  
• Decrease unnecessary emergency room visits by providing telehealth technology for ambulances to enable treatment in place rather than transport non-emergent patients to hospitals in partnership with the Georgia EMS and Ambulance Providers Associations.

See relevant information for this initiative:

• For a high-level overview of this initiative’s goals, vision, and policy alignment, see Strategic Goal 5 under the Rural Health Transformation: Goals and Strategies section of Georgia's Application to the Rural Health Transformation Program.
• For detailed information on funding, activities, timelines, measurable outcomes, and implementation plans, see Initiative 5 under the Proposed Initiatives and Use of Funds section of Georgia's Application to the Rural Health Transformation Program.