RHFP Tracking Project

  Publications and Resources

Projects Goals

The purpose of the tracking project is to monitor federal the Rural Hospital Flexibility Program implementation and success in meeting legislative goals.  Equally important to the team will be efforts to continuously feed findings and results back to federal and state governments as well as to participating communities and hospitals. The project seeks to help participants learn from the experience of others. The four overall objectives are to:

• Provide ORHP with a continuous stream of information on the pace of implementation and experience of states and facilities with the program.
• Provide states and local hospitals with periodic feedback on the programs’ implementation experience with an eye to highlighting best practices and problem areas, thereby improving the program as it develops.
• Provide the Federal government as well as state and local participants with a comprehensive assessment of the first three years of program operation.

Methodology

In the study’s first year, teams visited 36 CAHs in 12 states.  The report of the first year's experience is available here.   In the second year, the team will visit 24 CAHs in eight new states.  

• Year Two Report
• Year Three Report

Research Questions

Given the complexity of the intervention, the evaluation will focus on a broad spectrum of issues grouped in the following seven areas:

1. State Use of Grants
   How successfully have states used the program grants to support CAH conversions as well as to help restructure and strengthen rural health care?
2. State CAH Implementation
   How difficult have states found the process of implementing the CAH program; what types of strategies have been employed; and what types of support offered local hospitals and communities have been most effective?
3. Hospital Conversion
   What types of hospitals choose to convert to CAH status; how complex has the process proved to be; to what degree do converting hospitals significantly alter the scale and scope of their operations?
4. Impact on Access
   Are converting hospitals significantly isolated from alternative sources of care; Do the scope and quality of services available to rural communities change: what happens to utilization?
5. Development of Networks and Community Providers
   What is the effect of the CAH program on local health systems. Are effective networks formed? Are there spin off effects on communities such as physician retention and economic development?
6. EMS Development
   Given the goal of improving rural emergency medicine, how have converting hospitals changed local EMS systems?
7. Financial Sustainability
   Does CAH conversion substantively improve financial status? Are changes the result of cost-based reimbursement or of restructuring of the hospitals’mission and operations?

Year Two Preview

In Year Two, centers will continue to conduct site visits and will produce the following reports. See full Year Two proposals at the FORHP.

RHFP Home
RHFP Information | RHFP Tracking Project | RHFP Publications | RHFP Contacts
 

Copyright © 1999, Rural Policy Research Institute
DMCA and other copyright information.
Last updated 20 October 2008 03:43:39 PM -0500
URL: http://www.rupri.org/rhfp-track/eval/index.html