Frontier Community Health Integration Project Technical Assistance, Tracking, and Analysis Program

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his announcement solicits applications for Frontier Community Health Integration Project (FCHIP) Technical Assistance, Tracking, and Analysis (TA) Program. The purpose of the FCHIP TA Program is to provide technical assistance to ten (10) critical access hospitals (CAHs) selected by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to participate in the FCHIP demonstration to test new approaches to health care delivery, reimbursement, and coordination in sparsely populated rural areas in three states: Montana, Nevada, and North Dakota. Technical assistance to the CAHs must include support for implementing one or any combination of three specific health care interventions: (1) the waiver of the 35-mile rule for ambulance services, allowing cost-based reimbursement for ambulance services regardless of nearby providers; (2) the waiver of the fixed $25 originating site fee for telehealth services, instead allowing cost-based reimbursement for 101 percent of cost for overhead, salaries, fringe benefits, and the depreciation value of the telehealth equipment; and (3) the waiver of the 25-bed inpatient bed limit, allowing up to 10 additional beds to be used for skilled nursing facility (SNF)/nursing facility (NF) care. Other technical assistance activities should include support for quality measurement and performance improvement projects, strategic planning to improve patients’ access to services, and other tracking, analytic, and administrative tasks as appropriate for the individual needs of the participating CAHs. The FCHIP demonstration began operation as of August 1, 2016 under the administration of the CMS. You can find more information on the FCHIP demonstration on the CMS website at https://innovation.cms.gov/initiatives/Frontier-Community-Health-Integration-Project-Demonstration/. The FCHIP TA Program is administered by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP), located in the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).

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