National Rural Hospital Flexibility Monitoring Project [Flex Monitoring Team Project]

The Rural Health Research Centers at the Universities of Minnesota, North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and Southern Maine (the Flex Monitoring Team), are the recipients of a 5-year cooperative agreement award from the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy to continue to monitor and evaluate the Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Grant Program (Flex Program). The Flex Monitoring Team will continue to develop relevant quality, financial and community impact performance measures and reporting systems to help state and federal policy makers and rural health care providers understand the impact of the Flex Program. The Team's research will assess the impact of the Flex program on rural hospitals and communities and examine the ability of the State Offices of Rural Health to achieve overall Flex Program objectives. These objectives include improving access to quality health care services; improving the financial and administrative performance of Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs); and engaging rural communities in health care system development.