RHF worked with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to assist three regional networks in the state of Kansas. These networks consist of the partnerships between the Essential Access Community Hospital (EACH) and Rural Primary Care Hospital (RPCH). The purpose of this project was to discover the needed levels of assessment, planning and projected outcomes and the indicators of each that will lead to the development of an EACH/RPCH network supported by fully integrated systems to support and to allow ongoing appraisal of the network using byproducts of ongoing network use. This project will involved the communities of: Garden City, Lakin, Ashland, Leoti, Scott City, Dighton, Great Bend, Ellinwood, and Pittsburg. The results of this study were compiled into several workbooks and computer software that can be used to assist the other EACH and RPCH NETWORK partnerships in the state of Kansas and around the country.
The NISAPP (Network Information System Assessment and Planning Process) Workbooks include the:
In addition, the project resulted in the PRES (Project Reporting and Evaluation System) computer software that permits institutions and hospital networks to define and track goals and outcome measures to assist in measuring satisfaction of health care changes and network relationships.