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
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
The regionalization of services using a hub-and-spoke model has the potential to minimize unnecessary competition and better utilize scarce health…
Current Project
Over the past decade, obstetric unit closures have left roughly half of rural counties without a hospital offering obstetrics services. These…
Current Project
One of the five core areas in the Flex Program is Financial and Operational Improvement (FOI) to enhance the overall viability of Critical Access…
Current Project
Rural hospital finances and patterns of care were heavily disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Updated research is needed to understand the post-COVID…
Current Project
Given the importance of CAH-based Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) to Critical Access Hospital (CAH) operations and population health performance…
Current Project
Clinically Integrated Networks (CINs) are an evolving model to support rural hospitals that wish to remain independent rather than merge with or be…
Current Project
To improve clinical outcomes for maternity patients, the Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health (AIM) developed several patient safety bundles (…
Current Project
Over the past decade, hundreds of rural hospitals have stopped offering Labor & Delivery services, and many remaining programs face financial and…
Current Project
This project will advance the next phases of current activities related to the Medicare Beneficiary Quality Improvement Project (MBQIP) and quality…
Current Project
Maternity care in rural areas continues to be a national priority with roughly half of rural counties lacking a hospital with obstetric services.…
Current Project
This project will investigate the relationship between quality and finance in Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs). Utilizing established benchmarks to…
Current Project
Frontier Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) are likely among the most challenged CAHs due to the geographic isolation, persistent poverty, and low…
Current Project
Since 2005, 64 of the 182 total rural hospital closures were Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs). Considering the unique challenges that exist in small…
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
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…
Completed Project
The Flex Monitoring Team’s past research indicates Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) need support in their efforts identifying and addressing…
Completed Project