“Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much” – Helen Keller
This quote has inspired so much of what we at NeKY RHIO strive to accomplish. In an era where bigger is better, we in the rural communities know this is not necessarily true. To provide quality care for patients, a practice doesn’t have to be the biggest in the town, region or state. A provider can provide quality care at a reasonable cost no matter the size of their organization. What is also certainly true is providing this high level of care can often be much more difficult for small or rural providers as resources are greatly limited.
Growing up in a rural community, I learned how to work with others to achieve a common goal. Whether it be neighbors working on a garden together for a fruitful harvest, leaning on a neighbor when needing a cup of sugar, churches collaborating on a special event or community organizations sharing a space to maximize their capacity to help, we all recognized the tremendous impact and numerous benefits working together can produce. Through the years witnessing these occurrences have provided me the insight to how collaboration can aid in efficiency and effectiveness in meeting common goals.
I see many small healthcare organizations struggle to meet their growing demands, and I wanted to bring this same concept of sharing resources and working together to achieve a common goal of improving the health of our communities. Fortunately, NeKY RHIO’s mission states those exact words.
“Assist healthcare providers and patients with the use to technology and connectivity to improve the health of our communities. “
A network is defined by Merriam-Webster as a group of people or organizations that are closely connected and work with each other. After becoming Executive Director of NeKY RHIO, I wanted to bring this sense of community and collaboration to the organizations we serve. Together we are stronger, more able to leverage resources and work together for a common goal of increasing patient quality of care. Rather than “re-inventing the wheel” we are able to provide services across a number of health clinics that would otherwise be too expensive or cumbersome to implement themselves. This concept has proven to be successful in each of the services we offer. By sharing experiences and resources through collaborative meetings, or by using a shared IT staffing model, we have leveraged few resources economically for the greater good of all NeKY RHIO members. Some of the largest growth potential for these shared savings is through our Group Purchasing Organization where we are working to align purchasing procedures to achieve high economies of scale.
These initiatives are developed based upon needs of our members and small health care providers in the state of Kentucky. We are constantly searching for ways to improve upon our services and identify other areas of need where we can leverage shared resources for the gain of your health care organizations. Most recently we have kicked off a new communications plan that utilizes Facebook and our blog to disseminate important information quickly. Check these out for up-to-date information on quality incentive programs, improvement techniques and relevant news.
Please feel free to reach out to me, or any members of our team to discuss any ideas of ways you would like to work together for a greater health community.