Oregon Small Rural Hospital Improvement Program (SHIP)
This non-competitive, federal grant program supports 31 eligible Oregon small rural hospitals in meeting value-based payment and care goals for their respective organizations through purchases of hardware, software and training. The SHIP grant also assists such hospitals in participating in delivery system reforms such as to become or join a Medicare Shared Savings Program or Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), participate in other shared saving programs, and purchase health information technology (hardware/software), equipment and/or training to comply with quality improvement activities such as advancing patient care information, promoting interoperability and payment bundling.
Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) must first meet the SHIP funding priority before using resources to support investments in other areas. SHIP funding priority areas currently include:
- MBQIP - CAHs must meet MBQIP participation requirements to improve hospital quality outcomes. This requirement is waived for non-CAHs.
Please see below for two resources that outline the allowable costs hospitals can focus their SHIP projects on. SHIP is very prescriptive in terms of what it will allow. If you have questions about allowable costs, please contact ORH.
- Search Tool
- Allowable Investment Document: Value-Based Payment, Accountable Care Organization (ACO) Shared Savings, Payment Bundling (PB) or Prospective Payment System (PPS) Investment Activities
To reduce the administrative burden associated with contracting directly with SHIP hospitals, the Oregon Office of Rural Health (ORH) curates “pooled options” prior to each SHIP year. Through these options, ORH contracts directly with vendors on behalf of the hospitals that choose a pooled option, and the vendors provide education and training that have been verified as allowable costs by ORH.
- FY 25 (June 1, 2025 - May 31, 2026) Pooled Options Menu
- You may also view Oregon FY25 SHIP Pooled Options Technical Assistance Webinar
The SHIP fiscal year is June 1 to May 31 of any given year. All projects are expected to start and be completed within that timeframe. SHIP-eligible hospitals generally apply for the next year’s program by early January, after the ORH SHIP program coordinator shares materials with the hospitals.
See ORH’s SHIP grant calendar here
Contact
For more information, contact ORH’s SHIP program coordinator Stephanie Sayegh sayegh@ohsu.edu