Projects

Each year, the Flex Monitoring Team conducts several projects in the areas of quality performance, financial performance, and community engagement. Select a description below to find out more information about the project and any associated publications. Our current projects are listed first, followed by completed projects.

This project will continue the tracking of Critical Access Hospital (CAH) conversions. A CAH management information dataset, housed at the University…
Current Project
The Critical Access Hospital Measurement and Performance Assessment System (CAHMPAS) is a web-based data query tool that allows users to search…
Current Project
In FY19, the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) presented State Flex Programs (SFPs) with an opportunity to receive $250,000 per year in…
Current Project
The purpose of this project is to fulfill the Flex Monitoring Team’s three-pronged evaluation of the operational and financial health, quality…
Current Project
​​​​​This project seeks to examine the involvement of Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) in multi-sector community health networks and to identify…
Current Project
More than 25 million people in the U.S. have limited English proficiency (LEP), and studies have found several improved health care outcomes when a…
Current Project
​​​​​​This project seeks to understand the details and strategies underlying exemplary models for providing quality cancer care in Critical Access…
Current Project
This project will build upon previous FMT work to collect data from State Flex Programs (SFPs) after the completion of the Flex QI Project and…
Current Project
Program Area 3: Population Health Improvement and Program Area 4: Rural Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Improvement are ongoing, optional areas of…
Current Project
COVID-19 has posed unique challenges to rural communities and rural hospitals, including Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs). The ability of CAHs to…
Current Project
The COVID‐19 pandemic has disrupted the operations of hospitals nationally. However, little is known about the overall impact of COVID‐19 on the…
Current Project
Though the proportion of Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) using at least a basic electronic health record (EHR) is comparable to non‐CAHs, CAHs are…
Current Project
Given the high level of performance achieved by Critical Access Hospital (CAH) antibiotic stewardship programs (ASPs), it is valuable to supplement…
Current Project
​​​​​​This project will produce recommendations for the future of the Flex Program, given challenges posed by COVID-19. COVID-19 has exposed the…
Current Project
Building on the FMT’s extensive body of work related to the role of Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) in supporting the health of their communities,…
Current Project
​​​​​This project will identify a rural-relevant minimum data set of core EMS (Emergency Medical Services) agency licensure elements for…
Current Project
This study will examine rural hospital transformation programs designed to improve the performance of Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) and other…
Current Project
​​​​​This project will compare Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) participating and not participating in Value-Based Care (VBC) initiatives in order to…
Current Project
Rural hospital mergers with health systems increased steadily between 2009 and 2014, which prior research has found may have implications for…
Completed Project
Beginning in 2004, the Flex Monitoring Team developed a set of twenty financial indicators, derived from data contained in Medicare cost reports,…
Completed Project