Department of Health and Human Services Grant: Technical Assistance for Rural Hospital Flexibility Program

Applicants must have significant experience with providing technical assistance virtually and on-site to a wide range of stakeholders, to include State and hospital staff. Expert knowledge and demonstrable national recognition in the realm of CAH Finance, Performance Improvement, Quality Improvement, Health Systems Development, and Network Development are required. Applicants must have established methodologies for the creation and dissemination of TA related to the aforementioned focus areas.

The Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility (Flex) Program supports improvements in the quality of health care provided in communities served by Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs), supporting efforts to improve the financial and operational performance of the CAHs, and supporting communities in developing collaborative regional and local delivery systems Very few hospitals remain eligible for conversion to critical access status and therefore State Flex Programs concentrate their efforts on the core program areas. The Flex Program core program areas include: (1) improvement of quality of care in CAHs and other rural care providers, (2) improving the financial and operational performance of CAHs, and (3) encouraging health system development through the engagement of the rural community with CAHs and other care providers, and integrating rural Emergency Medical Services (EMS) into the health care system while assuring the quality of services provided.

The cooperative agreement is to support the rural safety net by providing technical assistance to State level Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility (Flex) grantees, Small Rural Hospital Improvement Program (SHIP) grantees, and rural hospitals in the Delta Region. State Flex grantees are tasked with supporting quality improvement, financial and operational improvement, and health systems development in rural America. The cooperative agreement awardee, in coordination with ORHP project officers, provides the technical expertise and content knowledge to effectively maintain educational and operational support to the facilities within the 45 Flex States, the 46 SHIP hospital state level grantees, and hospitals in the Delta Region (252 counties). The awardee creates educational materials and trainings, and promotes peer-to-peer learning situations through services it supports.