The Rural Healthcare Provider Transition Project (RHPTP) is designed to help strengthen value-based care (VBC) for health care organizations by building recipients’ foundation for VBC in efficiency, quality, patient experience, and safety of care.
RHPTP’s goal is to guide small rural hospitals (SRH) and certified rural health clinics (RHC) not currently participating in VBC to prepare for and position their organizations for future participation in alternative payment and care delivery models (APM).
Eligibility Requirements:
- “eligible small rural hospital” is defined as a non-federal, short-term general acute care hospital that: (i) is located in a rural area as defined in 42 U.S.C. 1395ww(d) and (ii) has 49 available beds or less, as reported on the hospital’s most recently filed Medicare Cost Report;
- “rural area” is defined as either: (1) located outside of a Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA); (2) located within a rural census tract of a MSA, as determined under the Goldsmith Modification or the Rural Urban Commuting Areas (RUCAs) or (3) is being treated as if being located in a rural area pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 1395ww (d)(8)(E); and,
- Eligible hospitals may be for-profit or not-for-profit, including faith-based. Hospitals in U.S. territories as well as tribally operated hospitals under Titles I and V of P.L. 93-638 are eligible to the extent that such hospitals meet the above criteria.
Applicant organizations must:
- Not be currently participating in an Advanced Alternative Payment Model (Advanced APM) as defined by CMS
- Be financially stable. Applicants should consider their past and present performance as compared to national benchmarks on variables such as key performance indicators (days cash on hand, total margin, operating margin, patient revenue, days in net accounts receivable, payor mix, etc.) as well as non-measurable variables such as leadership stability and a succession planning for retiring primary care providers. Resources to assist you in determining include Prediction of Financial Distress among Rural Hospitals, CAHMPAS, and Small Rural Hospital and Clinic Finance 101 – An Update.
- Be interested and motivated to become part of an APM
- If a SRH, be meeting quality data reporting requirements of Inpatient Quality Reporting (IQR), Outpatient Quality Reporting (OQR), or Medicare Beneficiary Quality Improvement Project (MBQIP)
- Not be a current participant in the Delta Region Community Health Systems Development (DRCHSD) Program, Vulnerable Rural Hospital Project, or any program that is duplicative in services.