The Kansas Small Hospital Improvement Program (SHIP) is a federally-supported program to support small rural hospitals activities related to quality improvement and investments towards meaningful use of health information technology.
The Kansas SHIP is managed by the by State Office of Rural Health within the Bureau of Community Health Systems at the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. KDHE has contracted with Healthworks to administer this program. The SHIP is funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy in the Health Resources and Services Administration.
FY25-26 Grant Year Documents
Areement
Purchasing Guidelines
- SHIP Purchasing Menu FY25.pdf
- FY 2025 SHIP Allowable Investments.pdf - Federal Office of Rural Health
Reporting Deadlines
CAH Quality Assessment Resources
How does the SHIP work?
Hospitals receive direct grant funds, ranging between $10,000 and $12,000, to use towards:
- Improving data collection activities in order to facilitate reporting to Hospital Compare.
- Maintaining accurate billing and coding systems.
- Building accountability across the continuum of care and improving care transitions between ambulatory and acute, acute to upstream acute and acute to step-down facility.
- Improving quality outcomes by focusing on activities that support QI, such as reduction of medical errors as well as education and training in data collection and reporting and bench marking.
Who is Eligible for SHIP grants?
To be eligible for these grants, a hospital must be: 1) 49 available beds or less, as reported on the hospital’s most recently filed Medicare Cost Report; 2) in a rural area, (located outside a Metropolitan Statistical Area or located in a rural census tract of a MSA as determined under the Goldsmith Modification); and 3) defined as a non-federal, short-term, general acute care facility.
Hospitals with SHIP grant-specific questions, please contact Healthworks at