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
Many rural communities rely on emergency medical services (EMS) and ambulance services to meet the prehospital needs of their residents. However,…
Current Project
Given the importance of CAH-based Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) to Critical Access Hospital (CAH) operations and population health performance…
Current Project
Frontier Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) are likely among the most vulnerable of CAHs due to the geographic isolation, persistent poverty, and low…
Current Project
Provider-based Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) can be an important strategy to support primary care services in rural communities and other essential…
Current Project
Approximately 60 Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) merged with other hospitals or health systems between 2009 and 2016. As hospitals continue to…
Current Project
This project will investigate the relationship between quality and finance in Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs). Utilizing established benchmarks to…
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
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 advance the next phases of current activities related to the Medicare Beneficiary Quality Improvement Project (MBQIP) and quality…
Current Project
Shortages of health care professionals are common in rural counties, and recent issues brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic have exacerbated…
Current Project
This project will evaluate rounds 2 and 3 of the Flex Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Supplement projects. The evaluation focuses on monitoring…
Current Project
The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted people living in rural areas and highlighted the need to address the underlying systemic…
Current Project
This project builds on the FMT’s substantial body of evaluation projects as well as the development of internal memorandums providing guidance to the…
Current Project
As many rural communities become increasingly racially diverse, data-driven strategies to identify and mitigate health disparities both between rural…
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
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