The Oregon Office of Rural Health (ORH) is seeking applications for its Oregon Rural Health Excellence Award.
Donor Name: Oregon Office of Rural Health (ORH)
State: Oregon
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Awards and Prizes
Deadline: 08/31/2026
Size of the Grant: Not Available
Grant Duration: Grant Duration Not Mentioned
Details:
Oregon’s rural health and community-based organizations (CBOs) often demonstrate exceptional resourcefulness, teamwork and creativity when addressing improvements in health care and health outcomes. To recognize rural hospitals, clinics, local public health departments (LPHDs), EMS agencies and CBOs that demonstrate remarkable dedication to health outcomes in their communities, they invite eligible facilities to apply for the Oregon Office of Rural Health’s (ORH’s) Rural Health Excellence Award.
Qualified submissions will demonstrate the successful implementation of strategies that have produced performance or community health improvement related to an innovative project in their facility or community. Successful applications should outline a project addressing a significant problem, employ a data-driven solution and explain what results were achieved. Additionally, they should ideally be scalable for wider adaptation by other rural organizations. This may include, but is not limited to, the following:
- Improving access to care for vulnerable patients (e.g., patients who are pregnant, parenting, older adults, those living with behavioral health or substance use disorders, etc.);
- Improving community health and health outcomes;
- Reducing adverse events (e.g., medication errors, falls, pressure ulcers, infections, etc.);
- Addressing root causes of near miss, adverse or sentinel events (e.g., communication, workflow, human factor innovation, reconfiguration of space, etc.);
- Using multidisciplinary teams to implement new strategies for emerging patient health needs (e.g., sepsis response teams, multi-visit patient readmissions, etc.); or
- Managing population health across the care continuum (e.g., addressing social drivers of health, chronic care management, care coordination, complex case management, etc.).
Eligibility Criteria
ALL rural Oregon hospitals, rural health clinics (RHCs), rural LPHDs, EMS and CBOs are invited and encouraged to participate in this awards program. Up to five awardees will be named: one hospital, one RHC, one LPHD, one EMS agency and one CBO. Multiple applications from the same organization are accepted.
Scoring Criteria
A panel of experts with demonstrated experience executing health care projects in rural settings will review and score each complete application using the following criteria:
- Significance: How significant is the problem being addressed? For example, does this project improve access to or quality of care, or health outcomes for a traditionally underserved or vulnerable population.
- Data-driven approach: How were data (qualitative and quantitative) used to inform the design and impact of the project?
- Results: What was achieved or learned and how does this inform next steps?
- Scalability: Perceived value to other rural hospitals, clinics, LPHD, EMS agencies or CBOs and the likelihood of broader adoption and spread. This includes potential application of the project’s approach to other health initiatives.
For more information, visit ORH.
