Eastern Shore Rural Health Achieves Perfect Site Visit Score

Eastern Shore Rural Health System, Inc. was named 100 percent compliant in a December Operational Site Visit conducted by the federal Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) like Eastern Shore Rural Health must comply with various requirements to ensure access to high quality care. These requirements include submitting grant requests and reporting on quality measures each year. Every three years, reviewers conduct a site visit to comb through a health center’s financial, clinical and governance operations to verify that the needs of the community are being met.

As a community health center within the federal Health Center Program, Rural Health receives funding to care for the under and uninsured. Discounts are available based on income and family size. “Our perfect score shows that Rural Health is structured and operating in a way that benefits our patients,” said Rural Health CEO Jeannette Edwards. “We fully embrace the requirements set forth and by doing things like tracking patients’ health outcomes, and ensuring there are patients on our volunteer board, we showed we are not just talking the talk – we are walking the walk.”

Edwards noted that, last November, HRSA announced Rural Health is among the top 10 percent of health centers in the nation in improving health outcomes and providing high-quality care for patients. That same month Rural Health was awarded the Advocacy Center of Excellence Silver Status by the National Association of Community Health Centers. Rural Health is part of an exclusive nationwide network of community health centers works to advance legislation supporting community health initiatives. In 2023, Rural Health opened the only urgent care on Virginia’s Eastern Shore in response to a health needs assessment finding this service was needed. “The finding of 100 percent compliance shows we are ready, willing and able to care for the Shore,” Edwards said.