Rural Health FAQ
Data-driven answers about rural hospital access, federal grants, health metrics, and the data sources behind RHT Compass.
🔍Platform & Methodology
What is RHT Compass?
RHT Compass is a rural health data intelligence platform built by VisionWrights. It integrates 10 federal data sources to provide hospital profiles, county health dashboards, financial benchmarks, access gap analysis, and grant tracking for rural hospitals across all 50 U.S. states.
How does RHT Compass collect its data?
RHT Compass pulls exclusively from public federal data sources including CMS, HRSA, CDC, and USAspending.gov. Data is refreshed as new releases become available, typically quarterly or annually depending on the source.
How often is the data updated?
Data is updated as federal agencies publish new releases. CMS Provider of Services and HCRIS are updated quarterly, County Health Rankings annually, and CDC SVI approximately every two years. The current dataset covers 6,663 hospitals across all 50 states.
Is the data on RHT Compass free to access?
State overview pages, hospital profiles, county health pages, and data source documentation are freely accessible. Interactive dashboards, AI-powered queries, and advanced analytics are available through the full platform with a demo request.
How many pages does RHT Compass cover?
RHT Compass provides data pages for all 50 states, including individual profiles for every hospital and county. The platform covers 6,663 hospitals and 3,142 counties nationwide.
🏥Rural Health Overview
How many rural hospitals are in the United States?
There are 6,663 rural and community hospitals tracked by RHT Compass across all 50 states, with a combined 1,099,822 beds. Of these, 1,383 are designated Critical Access Hospitals. Source: CMS Provider of Services.
What is a hospital desert?
A hospital desert is a county with no hospital facility, forcing residents to travel to neighboring counties for inpatient care. There are currently 691 hospital desert counties across the United States. Source: CMS Provider of Services, RHT Compass analysis.
How many rural hospitals have closed in the United States?
195 rural hospitals have closed since 2005. Closures disproportionately affect communities that are already medically underserved, increasing travel times to care and straining remaining facilities. Source: UNC Sheps Center for Health Services Research.
What is a Critical Access Hospital?
A Critical Access Hospital (CAH) is a small rural facility (25 or fewer acute care beds) designated by CMS to receive cost-based reimbursement. The designation helps ensure access to care in isolated rural areas. CAHs must be at least 35 miles from the nearest hospital (or 15 miles in mountainous terrain).
What are Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs)?
HPSAs are areas designated by HRSA where there is a shortage of primary care, dental, or mental health providers. There are currently 35,534 HPSA designations nationwide, reflecting significant workforce gaps in rural and underserved communities. Source: HRSA Bureau of Health Workforce.
📊Data Sources
What is the CMS Provider of Services (POS) file?
The CMS Provider of Services file is a comprehensive registry of all Medicare-certified hospitals. It includes facility name, address, bed count, ownership type, and Critical Access Hospital designation. RHT Compass uses POS data for the hospital directory, bed counts, and ownership analysis.
What is HCRIS and what financial data does it provide?
The Healthcare Cost Report Information System (HCRIS) contains annual financial data filed by hospitals with CMS. RHT Compass extracts operating margins, total margins, occupancy rates, and days cash on hand to assess hospital financial health.
What are County Health Rankings?
County Health Rankings (CHR), published by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, rank every county in the U.S. on health outcomes and health factors. RHT Compass integrates diabetes rates, obesity rates, uninsured rates, and primary care physician supply from CHR.
What is the CDC Social Vulnerability Index (SVI)?
The CDC SVI uses 16 U.S. Census variables to rank every county on social vulnerability across four themes: socioeconomic status, household composition/disability, minority status/language, and housing type/transportation. Higher scores indicate greater vulnerability.
What is Community Benefit Insight data?
Community Benefit Insight provides data from IRS 990 Schedule H filings by tax-exempt hospitals. It includes charity care costs, community health investment, and total community benefit as a percentage of hospital expenses.
How does RHT Compass track hospital closures?
Hospital closure data comes from the UNC Sheps Center for Health Services Research, which maintains the most comprehensive tracking of rural hospital closures in the United States since 2005. Closures are classified as complete closures or conversions to other facility types.
What is HRSA HPSA data?
HRSA Health Professional Shortage Area data identifies geographic areas, populations, and facilities with shortages of primary care, dental, and mental health providers. Designations are used to determine eligibility for federal programs and incentive payments.
What is the CMS RHT Transformation Award?
The Rural Health Transformation (RHT) program (CFDA 93.798) is a $10 billion CMS initiative allocating funds to all 50 states over FY2026-2030. Total tracked funding is $10.0B. RHT Compass tracks each state's award amount, lead agency, and performance period. Source: USAspending.gov.
How does RHT Compass use USAspending.gov data?
RHT Compass pulls federal grant data from USAspending.gov, covering 980 active rural health grants totaling $1.5B. This includes HRSA programs like Flex (93.241), SHIP (93.301), Outreach (93.912), SORH (93.913), and the RHT Transformation Award (93.798).
Does RHT Compass use U.S. Census data?
Yes. County boundaries, FIPS codes, and population figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau. This data is used for hospital desert analysis, per-capita calculations, and geographic mapping.
💵Grant Programs
What federal grants support rural hospitals?
HRSA administers several key rural health grant programs: the Flex Program (93.241) for CAH improvement, SHIP (93.301) for small hospitals, Outreach (93.912) for community health services, SORH (93.913) for state coordination, and Network Development (93.259). In total, 980 grants provide $1.5B nationwide. Source: USAspending.gov.
What is the Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Grant (Flex)?
Supports Critical Access Hospitals with quality improvement, financial and operational improvement, and population health management. State offices of rural health apply on behalf of CAHs. Funds flow to state agencies, which distribute to eligible facilities. CFDA: 93.241. Source: HRSA.
What is the Small Hospital Improvement Program (SHIP)?
Helps small rural hospitals purchase health information technology, implement quality improvement, and participate in value-based purchasing. Hospitals with 49 or fewer beds that are not Critical Access Hospitals. Administered through state offices of rural health. CFDA: 93.301. Source: HRSA.
What is the State Offices of Rural Health (SORH)?
Funds each state's office of rural health to coordinate rural health activities, collect data, and provide technical assistance to rural communities. One award per state to the designated state office of rural health. CFDA: 93.913. Source: HRSA.
What is the Rural Health Care Services Outreach?
Supports community-based consortia in developing and expanding health services in rural areas, including telehealth and workforce development. Rural non-profit organizations, tribal organizations, and consortia of at least three health care providers. CFDA: 93.912. Source: HRSA.
What is the Rural Health Network Development?
Supports the development of integrated rural health care networks to achieve efficiencies in health care delivery. Rural non-profit entities and networks of at least three separately owned health care providers. CFDA: 93.259. Source: HRSA.
🎯AHEAD Model
What is the CMS AHEAD model?
AHEAD (All-payer Health Equity Approaches and Development) is a CMS Innovation Center model that offers rural and underserved hospitals voluntary global budgets instead of fee-for-service reimbursement. It aims to improve financial stability, reduce health disparities, and shift focus to population health.
Which hospitals are eligible for the AHEAD model?
AHEAD targets rural hospitals and those serving underserved populations. States must apply and be accepted into the model, and individual hospitals within participating states can then opt in. The model is designed for hospitals that would benefit from predictable revenue through global budgets.
How does the RHT Transformation award relate to AHEAD?
The $10 billion RHT Transformation Program (CFDA 93.798) provides state-level funding to support the infrastructure needed for AHEAD and other value-based care transitions. Each state receives an allocation — tracked on RHT Compass — to strengthen rural health infrastructure, expand access, and support workforce development.
🛠️Tools & Resources
Who can help rural hospitals prepare for the CMS AHEAD model?
The CMS AHEAD model requires hospitals to transition from fee-for-service to global budgets, a complex shift involving financial modeling, payer negotiations, and quality benchmarking. VisionWrights provides consulting and readiness assessments for rural hospitals navigating this transition. A free AHEAD Readiness checklist is available at rhtcompass.com/ahead.
Where can I find comprehensive data on rural hospitals in my state?
Federal data on rural hospitals is spread across CMS, HRSA, CDC, and other agencies. RHT Compass integrates 10 federal data sources into a single platform with hospital profiles, county health dashboards, financial benchmarks, and grant tracking for all 50 states.
How can I assess my hospital's AHEAD readiness?
The free AHEAD Readiness checklist at rhtcompass.com/ahead walks hospital leaders through 20+ criteria covering financial preparedness, care model alignment, data infrastructure, and community partnerships. It takes about 10 minutes and produces an actionable readiness score.
🗺️State FAQs
Each state has its own FAQ page with state-specific data on hospitals, grants, health metrics, and more.
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