The Technical Assistance and Services Center (TASC) provides technical assistance for the Rural Hospital Medicare Flexibility (Flex) Program in the form of information, tools and resources. This website contains multiple resources regarding the topic areas listed below as well as many others.

The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 created the Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program, a nationwide initiative that established the Critical Access Hospital (CAH) as a new category of hospital eligible for cost based Medicare reimbursement.

TASC is funded by the Health Resources and Service Administration's Office of Rural Health Policy and administered by the Rural Health Resource Center, a private, non-profit organization.

Save the Date! Annual Flex Conference

July 1-2, 2008
Kansas City, MO
For more information please contact Melissa Grindahl at: 218.727.9390 ext 227 or mgrindahl@ruralcenter.org

What's New

Critical Access Hospitals' Experiences with Medicare Advantage Plans
Organization: NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis and RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
This report details findings from a survey of 60 critical access hospital (CAH) administrators regarding their experiences with Medicare Advantage (MA) plans. Findings from this research identify concerns of CAH administrators that, as the MA program evolves, may be addressed through technical assistance and changes in regulation or legislation.

Critical Access Hospital Quality Improvement Activities and Reporting on Quality Measures: Results of the 2007 National CAH Survey (March 2008)
Organization: Flex Monitoring Team
This report describes current CAH quality improvement initiatives and participation in quality reporting and benchmarking initiatives.

CAH Financial Performance Indicators
Organization: Flex Monitoring Team
As part of ongoing work of the Flex Monitoring Team, twenty financial indicators were specifically designed to capture the financial performance of CAHs. The creation of these indicators are based on three criteria: feasibility (whether the indicator can be accurately calculated from Medicare cost report data), importance (whether the indicator is an important measure of the financial management of CAHs), and usefulness (whether the indicator is useful to CAH administrators).

Differences in Measurement of Operating Margin: Flex Monitoring Team Briefing Paper
This briefing paper considers how differences in measurement of operating margin can affect the reported values.

Flex Grant Guidance has been Released!
Application Due Date in Grants.gov: April 17, 2008
Supplemental Information Due Date in EHBs: May 1, 2008

Medicaid Treatment of CAHs by State
This excel spreadsheet contains information about Medicaid treatment for critical access hospitals on a state by state basis.

Revision to Appendix W, "Survey Protocol, Regulations and Interpretive Guidelines for Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs)"
SUMMARY OF CHANGES: Appendix W, Tag C-0211, is revised and updated to include information released in S&C-08-XX, "Provision of Observation Services in Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs)." The revision provides CAHs the ability to utilize beds for observation services that will not count against the statutory CAH maximum of 25 inpatient beds.

For additional information, contact us at tasc@ruralcenter.org or call 218-727-9390.