In 2014, the CMS Innovation Center awarded the University of Kansas Health System, the state’s only academic medical center, $12.4 million to build and operate a rural clinically integrated network. Today, the Care Collaborative is comprised of 94 provider organizations across 80 of Kansas’ 105 counties. This includes hospitals in 72 of the 75 rural Kansas counties with hospitals, along with their affiliated clinics.

No financial commitment is required to participate in the Care Collaborative; instead, providers commit to an investment of time and effort in Care Collaborative initiatives.

The Care Collaborative’s “secret sauce” is direct, hands-on engagement with participants. The team works with each organization individually to tailor evidence-based practices developed at the academic medical center to their specific needs and circumstances. All trainings are held locally to ensure all clinical and administrative staff can attend.

The Care Collaborative has presented more than 300 of these local “boot camps” on time critical diagnoses and chronic disease management. Care Collaborative staff collect and analyze data and meet one-on-one with providers to develop performance improvement plans.

Through its relationship with the Health System, the Care Collaborative can access the academic medical center’s significant resources to support its work. Most importantly, the Care Collaborative has established trusted relationships with provider organizations across the state over the last decade.

With infrastructure to support implementation across multiple organizations, the Care Collaborative is well-positioned to support implementation of the State’s Rural Health Transformation Plan.