Dr. Matt McCullough recently joined the Utah Hospital Association (UHA) to help bridge the gap between rural and urban healthcare. As the Rural Hospital Improvement Director, Dr. McCullough works to bring support to rural hospitals in Utah through the state’s Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program (Flex).
Dr. McCullough graduated from the University of Utah with a bachelor’s degree in geography. In 2015, he changed his career to public health and healthcare. His background in geographic information system (GIS) analysis propelled him to join the PCRH office as a research analyst in 2016. In 2017, he became the director of PCRH in the Utah Department of Health for 4 years, where he made significant strides in forging connections between PCRH and rural hospitals.
In 2020, he left the PCRH office to work in telehealth services as the Director of the Utah Telehealth Network and the Northwest Regional Telehealth Resource Center. There he worked to understand the complexities of expanding broadband and access to healthcare in rural communities. He earned his Ph.D. in health geography in 2021 to help him better understand health outcomes and how geography affects those outcomes.
“I am on a mission to make geography irrelevant in medicine,” Dr. McCullough said. “It doesn’t matter where you live, what zip code you are in, your geography should not determine your health outcome.”
PCRH partners with Dr. McCullough to implement the Utah Flex program. His role at UHA includes representing all rural hospitals in communications between UHA leadership and legislators, serving as the Director of the Utah Independent Rural Hospital Network (Rural 9). He represents the voice of rural hospitals in creating sustainable hospital operations and financial projects as part of Utah Flex’s initiatives.
The Health Services and Resources Administration funds the Utah Flex program. The goal of Flex is to ensure that high-quality healthcare is available in rural communities and meets their healthcare needs. Utah Flex supports financial, operational, and quality initiatives and indicator-driven health improvement projects.
To be eligible for Utah Flex funding, a facility must be a Critical Access Hospital that is participating in the Medicare Beneficiary Quality Improvement Program. A Critical Access Hospital is a federal designation that allows a hospital to be reimbursed on a reasonable cost basis for services provided to Medicare and Medicaid patients.
To learn more about Utah Flex, visit ruralhealth.utah.gov/rural-hospital-programs