Continuing Projects
1. Maintaining and Updating the National CAH Database
Lead Center: University of North Carolina Rural Health Research & Policy Analysis
Center
Principal Investigator: Mark Holmes, Ph.D., 919-966-9694 or holmes@schsr.unc.edu
Contact Person: Indira Richardson, M.P.A. 919-966-5541 or richardson@schsr.unc.edu
This project will continue the tracking of Critical Access Hospital (CAH) conversions. A CAH management information dataset, housed at the University of North Carolina, will be updated with information on conversions supplied by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). These data are also used to update products on the Monitoring Team website, including a spreadsheet that lists all certified CAHs, a map of current CAHs, and a new table that contains state-level totals of the number of CAHs, and the number with rehabilitation distinct part units (DPU) and the number with psychiatric DPUs. Because the data from CMS do not capture changes in bed size, by agreement with Flex coordinators, an email will be sent to all coordinators once a year requesting updated information on the bed size of CAHs in their state.
2. Measuring Financial Performance in Critical Access Hospitals
Lead Center: University of North Carolina Rural Health Research & Policy Analysis
Center
Principal Investigator: Mark Holmes, Ph.D., 919-966-9694 or
holmes@schsr.unc.edu
Contact Person: George Pink, Ph.D., 919-966-5541 or gpink@schsr.unc.edu
The purpose of the CAH Financial Indicators Report is to provide CAH administrators and boards with comprehensive information about the financial performance and condition of their hospitals. The report includes 20 key financial indicators that are compared to benchmarks established specifically for CAHs and relative performance of other similar types of CAHs. This continuing project is based on work that has been ongoing under the current cooperative agreement. We also propose to extend this work by adding a survey of state Flex Coordinators to describe activities being conducted to improve the financial performance of CAHs in their states.
Using data from CMS Medicare Cost Reports, the primary purpose of the CAH Financial Indicators Report is to provide CAH administrators with comparative financial indicators. The data in this report can be used to assess financial performance across time and in relation to other similar institutions.
3. Measuring Quality Performance: National and State CAH Hospital Compare Analyses
Lead Center: University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center
Principal Investigator: Ira Moscovice, Ph.D., 612-624-8618 or mosco001@umn.edu
Contact Person: Michelle Casey, M.S., 612-623-8316 or mcasey@umn.edu
The purpose of this project is to measure the quality performance of CAHs nationally and by state on an ongoing basis using quality measure data from the CMS Hospital Compare database. This project is based on continuing work that has been ongoing under the previous cooperative agreement. The project will be led by staff at the University of Minnesota. It will be an ongoing project for all five years of the cooperative agreement, with national and state-level reports prepared annually.
This project builds upon previous Flex Monitoring Team and UMN activities related to the development and field-testing of quality performance measures for small rural hospitals, three previous national studies of CAH quality performance using Hospital Compare quality measure data in 2006, 2007, and 2008 and state-level CAH Hospital Compare reports produced in 2008. In each year of the cooperative agreement, we will use annual quality measure data from the CMS Hospital Compare website to prepare a national report and state-level reports on CAH participation and performance in Hospital Compare for each Flex state.
4. Measuring Community Impact and Benefit of Critical Access Hospitals
Lead Center: University of Southern Maine
Principal Investigator: Andrew F. Coburn, Ph.D. 207-780-4435 or andyc@usm.maine.edu
Contact Person: John A. Gale, M.S. 207-228-8246 or
jgale@usm.maine.edu