Rural Health
Research Gateway

Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs)

Current Projects

  • Rural-based Accountable Care Organizations Accepting Downside Risk
    The RUPRI Center will update its studies of rural provider participation in accountable care organizations, including differences between those who exit the program, those who remain, and those who enter. In particular, this project will address participation decisions made after a rule change in July 2019 that requires conversion to two-sided risk.
    Research center: RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
    Topics: Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs), Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), Health reform, Hospitals and clinics, Legislation and regulation, Medicare
  • Third Party Negotiated Pricing in Rural and Urban Hospitals
    We will use third party negotiated pricing information to compare prices in urban and rural hospitals, across a variety of common services. Because there has been poor compliance with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) requirement to publish third party negotiated pricing, we will also examine if the availability of this information differs for rural and urban hospitals.
    Research center: Rural and Underserved Health Research Center
    Topics: Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs), Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), Healthcare financing, Hospitals and clinics, Medicare, Medicare Prospective Payment System (PPS), Private health insurance
  • Usual Source of Primary Care for Rural Medicare Beneficiaries Before and During COVID-19
    The global pandemic was highly disruptive to existing health care use patterns, potentially affecting rural America more than urban communities. This study will describe the usual sources of primary care (USC) for rural Medicare beneficiaries before and during COVID-19 to provide insight into how COVID-19 affected USC of Medicare beneficiaries.
    Research center: North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center
    Topics: Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), Healthcare access, Hospitals and clinics, Medicare, Rural Health Clinics (RHCs)