EHR Optimization Helps Ozarks Community Hospital Enhance Rural Healthcare Access and Financial Stability

Ozarks Community Hospital (OCH) serves rural communities across Arkansas and Missouri where access to care is shaped as much by geography as by clinical need. For many patients, getting to an appointment or picking up a prescription requires significant time and travel. These barriers can easily turn manageable health conditions into serious concerns.

Despite the challenges, Jill Hewett, integrated care administrator at OCH, sees strengths in rural healthcare. “We know that trusted patient-provider relationships in rural communities lead to better health outcomes,” she says. “We need that same level of partnership with our vendors to help us find practical, cost-effective solutions.”

OCH has been able to strengthen care coordination and create sustainable revenue streams — all while advancing the electronic health record (EHR) technology they already had in place.

Based in Gravette, Arkansas, OCH supports 13 rural health clinics and 3 fee-for-service clinics. With patients spread across a wide service area, gaps in care are an ongoing concern, particularly for those managing multiple chronic conditions.

Chronic care management (CCM) helps close these gaps by following up with patients outside of traditional office visits. Providers can bill Medicare for CCM activities but need a mechanism in their EHR to do so. Rather than adding another platform, OCH worked with TruBridge to build CCM features directly into its existing EHR.

“Instead of layering on a separate system, we were able to build CCM templates and workflows into our EHR,” Hewett says. “These updates better fit how our organization operates.”

That flexibility made all the difference. OCH created a successful in-house program that expands rural healthcare access, improves continuity of care, and establishes a reliable revenue stream for its rural clinics.

OCH’s most recent initiative is a behavioral health hub in Springfield, Missouri, designed to address a critical shortage in mental health services in the region. The facility integrates behavioral health and primary care, offering earlier intervention for patients who might otherwise wait months for treatment.

“Without timely access to care, patients in crisis often end up in the hospital — or worse, in jail,” Hewett says.

To support this integration, OCH adopted a collaborative care model (CoCM) that connects EHR workflows. This evidence-based approach emphasizes shared care plans, ongoing patient monitoring, and measurable outcomes. Once again, Hewett turned to TruBridge.

“There’s a common perception that programs like this require a separate vendor,” Hewett says. “With TruBridge, we realized we already had the tools we needed. By leveraging our existing EHR capabilities, we were able to support integrated care without adding complexity for clinicians or staff.”

The success of OCH’s care initiatives has also created opportunities to share those lessons with other rural healthcare organizations.

In 2023, TruBridge invited Hewett to share OCH’s CCM experience at the National Client Conference. The presentation sparked ongoing conversations with peers facing similar challenges. 

Those conversations led Hewett to launch Savvy Jane, LLC, a consulting business that helps rural health clinics build and sustain in-house CCM programs. Today, she works with organizations across multiple states, including many that have TruBridge technology.  

The experience demonstrated how existing TruBridge technology can support innovative care models beyond traditional EHR functions. 

OCH operates on narrow margins, where keeping the doors open depends on identifying revenue sources beyond patient volume. In addition to CCM and CoCM, OCH began exploring funding opportunities through the Rural Health Transformation (RHT) Program. Administered by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), RHT allocates $50B for state governments to distribute locally from 2026 – 2030.

Early in the process, TruBridge worked alongside hospital leadership to develop a plan, identify requirements, and prepare for the application process. The collaborative approach reflects what Hewett values most in the partnership.

“They don’t just provide technology,” she says. “They work with us to think through what’s possible and decide how to move forward.”

In rural communities, those decisions carry real weight. When a hospital closes, delayed care can quickly become life-threatening. By helping OCH strengthen both care delivery and financial sustainability, TruBridge supports better community care and keeps essential healthcare services close to home.