The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ten Field offices reorganized in February 2007 moving from a geography-based structure to a Consortia structure based on the Agency’s key lines of business: Medicare health plans, Medicare financial management, Medicare fee for service operations, Medicaid and children’s health, survey & certification and quality improvement.

The Rural Health Research Centers at the Universities of Minnesota, North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and Southern Maine (the Flex Monitoring Team), are the recipients of a 5-year cooperative agreement award from the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy to continue to monitor and evaluate the Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Grant Program (Flex Program).

Learn about how Critical Access Hospitals around the country are handling the same issues you are by visiting the Rural Assistance Center website. A product of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Rural Initiative, the Rural Assistance Center (RAC) was established in December 2002 as a rural health and human services “information portal.”

The Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP) coordinates activities related to rural health care within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Part of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), ORHP has department-wide responsibility for analyzing the possible effects of policy on 62 million residents of rural communities.