In a highly regulated industry like healthcare, demonstrating compliance and security of your board activities is a must-have. That’s why a growing number of healthcare organizations including community-based health centers, clinics, health departments and hospitals are adopting board portal software such as Aprio to meet their unique security and governance needs including HRSA compliance.
If you’re one of the 1,400 health centers that are supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), you may want to consider using board management software for health services to help maintain HRSA compliance.
In this post, we’ll share what’s involved in HRSA compliance, the key benefits of using board management software and how Aprio can help.
Or skip ahead to these sections:
- What’s involved in HRSA compliance for a board?
- Practical tips for boards to meet HRSA compliance requirements
- Key benefits of using board portal software for HRSA compliance
- The importance of board evaluations in HRSA compliance
- How to demonstrate HRSA compliance with Aprio’s board portal
- Enhancing healthcare board performance with board software
- Maintain healthcare regulatory compliance with Aprio
What’s involved in HRSA compliance for a board?
As a HRSA-funded health center, you must meet the compliance requirements as defined by the Health Center Program Compliance Manual. This includes program award recipients, sub-recipients, or look-alikes.
The HRSA presents an extensive list of board compliance requirements in the manual as well as board composition rules that can appear daunting at first glance. Use the manual as your road map to establish your governing board and its key functions and responsibilities.
1. Review the overall performance of the health center
Regularly assess the health center’s performance to ensure it meets its goals and serves your community effectively. This involves monitoring key performance indicators, patient satisfaction and service delivery outcomes. By keeping a close eye on these metrics, the board can identify areas for improvement and take proactive steps to address them.
2. Selecting and evaluating the CEO or project director
As the CEO or Project Director plays a critical role in the success of your health center, the board is responsible for selecting a qualified individual for this position and conducting regular evaluations to ensure they are meeting performance expectations. This process could include setting clear goals, providing feedback and offering support for professional development.
3. Review financial status, including annual budget review and financial audits
Strong financial oversight is a core responsibility of the board and includes approving the annual budget, reviewing financial statements and ensuring funds are used appropriately. Regular financial audits are also essential to verify accuracy and compliance with regulations.
4. Engage in strategic and long-range planning
Strategic planning involves setting long-term goals and developing a roadmap to achieve them. The board should engage in regular strategic planning sessions to discuss the health center’s mission, vision and objectives. This process helps align the organization’s activities with its goals and ensures that resources are allocated effectively.
5. Develop and oversee policies and processes
The board should oversee the creation and implementation of policies related to patient care, staff conduct and administrative procedures. This includes establishing a robust process for resolving patient grievances and ensuring that concerns are addressed promptly and fairly.
6. Evaluating board members
Regular evaluations of board members help assess whether members are carrying out their core duties, plus identifying board development needed. This process includes assessing individual core skills, contributions and attendance. By identifying strengths and areas for improvement, the board can work towards continuous development and better governance.
Practical tips for boards to meet HRSA compliance requirements
To help maintain HRSA compliance, boards regulated by the Health Center Program Compliance Manual will want to maintain detailed records of all board activities, decisions and evaluations. This thorough documentation is vital for demonstrating compliance during audits and can help streamline the reporting process.
You may want to invest in training board members to ensure they fully understand their roles and responsibilities regarding HRSA compliance. Additionally, consider working with healthcare consulting experts for further guidance to help you navigate any complex requirements.
Key benefits of using board portal software for HRSA compliance
More healthcare organizations are adopting board portal software like Aprio as their HRSA portal. Board technology not only helps manage compliance but also enhances overall board performance and security.
One of the primary benefits of board portal software is the centralization of board materials. With board software like Aprio, board members have instant access to board documents including financial statements, bylaws, policies and historical records. This secure central repository ensures that all board activities are documented and easily accessible for compliance reporting.
“We knew there had to be technology to work smarter as a health agency. We chose Aprio because it makes a director’s job easier than any other technology. Aprio’s desktop and tablet editions build on what’s familiar to directors – easy to find agendas, latest versions of critical documents, contacts and archives – everything they expect, all well organized and absolutely secure.” – Health agency executive
Data privacy in healthcare is essential. Board meeting software offers robust security measures to protect sensitive health information. This includes secure document storage, encrypted data while in storage and during transit and granular access controls that ensure only authorized individuals can view or modify documents. Such features are critical in maintaining compliance with not only HRSA but also other healthcare regulations like HIPAA.
Furthermore, board portal software streamlines compliance reporting. With features like automatic archiving, accurate audit trails and rapid search functionalities, Aprio makes it easier for board administrators to compile and submit required reports. This efficiency reduces the administrative burden on staff, allowing them to focus on other critical tasks.
The importance of board evaluations in HRSA compliance
Regular board evaluations are a key part of HRSA compliance. They help ensure the board is at its best, encourage a culture of accountability and provide insights for continuous improvement.
For HRSA-funded health centers, these evaluations confirm that the governing board is performing its duties effectively. This includes strategic planning, financial oversight and evaluating the CEO or Project Director. Regularly assessing the board’s performance helps pinpoint strengths and areas for improvement, ensuring the board is well-prepared to steer the health center towards its goals.
Board evaluations also promote transparency and accountability. When board members know their performance is being reviewed, they’re more likely to stay engaged and committed. This ongoing accountability helps maintain high standards of governance, which is crucial for meeting HRSA’s compliance requirements.
Additionally, evaluations provide valuable insights for better decision-making. By reviewing feedback from evaluations, boards can identify issues that might not be immediately obvious. This approach leads to more informed decisions, enhancing the board’s effectiveness and the organization’s performance.
Board software like Aprio can help simplify the board evaluation process. One of the main advantages is the ability to create and distribute surveys electronically. This allows board members to complete evaluations at their convenience, ensuring higher participation rates and more comprehensive feedback. Additionally, the software can send automated reminders to prompt members who have yet to complete their evaluations, ensuring timely responses.
How to demonstrate HRSA compliance with Aprio’s board portal
Maintaining accurate board records is essential to demonstrate HRSA compliance. HRSA-funded health centers choose Aprio to automate board activity tracking and create an audit trail of board activity as well as keeping materials secure.
Here’s how Aprio helps boards demonstrate HRSA compliance:
1. Instant access to board document materials
Get instant access to all board materials including financial statements and reports, bylaws, policies, and archives within a highly reliable, secure portal. With Aprio, board members can access and search a centralized library for board agendas, minutes from past meetings, and review the next meeting board package.
2. Rapid compliance reporting
When it’s time to gather information for HRSA compliance reporting such as during your operating site visit, your board administration will save hours on reporting with these features:
- Automatic archiving of meeting minutes, motions, financials, annual plans and board evaluations
- Accurate audit trail of key compliance actions and dates
- Rapid and robust search functionality to pull data needed for audits and compliance reports
- Easy access to self-serve reports
3. Easy board evaluations
CEO and board evaluations are required by HRSA, but they also help ensure your board and leadership is functioning effectively. Aprio’s board portal makes CEO and board evaluations easy, secure, and efficient. With Aprio’s survey tool, you can easily:
- Select which of your board members will participate in your survey
- Enable anonymous responses (or not)
- Send out the survey, as well as reminders to complete it, to your board members securely
- Review summary and source data results in Aprio or export them to Excel for analysis
- Re-run past surveys with the copy and repeat feature, helping you to compare data year over year
- View trends over time by storing your surveys in Aprio
Need further guidance on running effective board evaluations? See our best practices.
4. Secure, private document storage
As your board oversees policies and processes such as responding to patient grievances, keeping health information and documents safe and secure is critical. Aprio’s board portal offers secure, private document storage as well as discussion and collaboration tools that keep data and dialogue away from email or other unsecured forms of communications.
Our strong data security and data privacy protection ensures we’re also HIPAA compliant. Your board can rest assured that individual health information and electronic health records are protected.
Enhancing healthcare board performance with board software
In addition to supporting HRSA compliance, board software can also improve how your healthcare board operates.
Board software like Aprio simplifies many administrative tasks, making meeting preparation more efficient. Features such as automated agenda creation, document distribution and centralized access to board materials ensure board members can focus more on strategic discussions and less on logistics, leading to more productive and efficient meetings.
Effective and ongoing communication is also important for healthcare boards to keep everyone informed and engaged. Board software provides secure chat features to enable collaboration between meetings. With real-time access to the latest reports and documents, board software equips board members with the knowledge needed to make sound decisions. Features like voting tools and decision tracking also help make the decision-making process more efficient.
Maintain healthcare regulatory compliance with Aprio
If your healthcare organization needs to demonstrate healthcare regulatory compliance such as HRSA or HIPAA, Aprio has you covered. Aprio stands out as an easy-to-use, secure board portal with expert customer support that makes it simple to maintain compliance.
Our board portal technology provides a direct ROI by making it easy to gather information for compliance reporting, keeps health information secure and ensures healthcare boards are productive. See how our board software provides all the features your healthcare board needs by getting in touch with our team.
Want further information on how Aprio is the best value board portal for healthcare organizations? See these resources:
