Flex Program Evaluation Resources

Evaluation is a continuous process that begins with identifying needs, challenges, and gaps and continues throughout the life of a project. Evaluation is used to determine impact by measuring where you are, where you have been, and where you want to go. It is important to evaluate all pieces of your program - your activities, your projects, and your program as a whole. 

This is a list of key resources curated by the Technical Assistance and Services Center (TASC) for use by state Flex Programs to support incorporation of performance management into program operations, feeding into program improvement and evaluation. For more, see this comprehensive list of Flex Program evaluation resources

Key Resources

Flex Performance Management/Evaluation Guide - Includes an overview and key terms, followed by evaluation and performance improvement data, design, tools, samples, and resources.

Flex Program Glossary of Evaluation Terms - A list of key terms every state Flex Program should be aware of for effective evaluation design and performance management.

Flex Program Logic Models - Created by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) to provide guidance on the major program areas of Quality Improvement, Financial and Operational Improvement, Population Health Improvement, and Rural Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Improvement. Use these logic models to design activities and potential evaluative measures within each program area.

Examples of outcomes for Flex Program activities by Program Area

Flex Program Evaluation webinar series playbacks and presentation materials (2023-2024)

Critical Access Hospital Measurement and Performance Assessment System (CAHMPAS) -  Created by the Flex Monitoring Team, this tool allows exploration of critical access hospitals (CAH) performance on financial, quality, and community benefit measures. Explore data by creating graphs and tables of different financial, quality, and community measures to be able to develop strategies to address CAH performance and collaborate with peers.

Population Health Toolkit - This tool aims to provide a web-based dashboard to educate state Flex Program Coordinators, state office of rural health staff, CAHs, rural health networks, and other rural health stakeholders on population health data analytics. This tool allows users to extract data and interact with a dashboard that uses data from multiple federal, publicly available datasets for population health planning. The toolkit also provides users with educational resources about working with the datasets in Microsoft Excel and Tableau Public.

For questions about Flex Program evaluation, please contact tasc@ruralcenter.org

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