To encourage rural communities to design, test, and evaluate the potential for locally developed approaches to improving their health systems, six Kansas organizations have created a $1.5 million pilot program. Up to four qualifying rural Kansas communities will have the opportunity to participate.

“This is not a typical Request for Proposals,” said Kim Moore, President of the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund in Hutchinson, “It’s more of an invitation.” He says, “Our goal is to find four interested communities that want to develop a unified local effort to improve population health, access, quality and cost in their respective areas.”

In addition to the Health Fund, which is providing nearly half of the pilot project’s funding, significant financial commitments have been made by Sunflower Foundation ($340,000), Kansas Health Foundation ($260,000), Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas Foundation ($75,000), Kansas Hospital Education Research Foundation ($60,000), and Kansas Hospital Association ($60,000).

Moore stressed that it will take enterprising communities to be selected for the project if the funders are going to achieve their two major objectives.

The funders want to capture knowledge and experience from each of the participants in the pilot project for possible replication, and for establishment of better informed national and state policies concerning rural health systems.

Communities wanting to be considered are required to attend one of the four instructional webinars and must submit a Statement of Interest by August 21, 2013.

The webinars are scheduled for Tuesday, July 9, 10:00 to 11:30 a-m, Wednesday, July 10, 1:30 to 3:00 p-m, and Thursday, July 11, 3:30 to 5:00 p-m. Webinar registration can be made on the ruralhealthopportunity.org website.