The Center for Rural Pennsylvania will hold the 2021 Rural Policy Summit: Health Care on October 20 at 9 a.m. This is the third summit in the series.

“Health care access and availability in rural Pennsylvania are long-standing concerns among providers and consumers,” said Dr. Kyle C. Kopko, Director of the Center for Rural Pennsylvania. “This Rural Policy Summit will be a virtual, roundtable discussion on the successes achieved and the challenges faced by rural health care facilities and programs over the years. Leaders and experts representing various rural populations and health care providers will share insights that can help inform policy and best practices on expanding access and availability.”

The summit panelists are: Thomas Kurtz, President and CEO of Chan Soon-Shiong Medical Center at Windber; Dr. Omrana Pasha-Razzak, Professor of Medicine and Public Health Sciences and Attending Physician, Division of Hospital Medicine at Penn State Hershey Medical Center and Penn State College of Medicine; Joanne Corte Grossi, AARP Pennsylvania State President; and Steven Ross, Special Assistant to the Secretary, Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs.

The series is being cohosted by the Pennsylvania Office of Rural Health, Pennsylvania Rural Development Council, Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, Pennsylvania Downtown Center, and Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank’s Community Development and Regional Outreach Department.

The Rural Policy Summit will be held via Zoom webinar. Attendees are asked to please register in advance at https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_0v4Q7sjIQyifFINVHREH_w.

The Center for Rural Pennsylvania is a bipartisan, bicameral legislative agency that serves as a resource for rural policy within the Pennsylvania General Assembly. The Center works with the legislature, educators, state and federal executive branch agencies, and national, statewide, regional and local organizations to maximize resources and strategies that can better serve Pennsylvania’s nearly 3.4 million rural residents. 

The nation recently paused to reflect on the events of September 11, 2001, and on those we lost on that tragic day. Even though two decades have passed since 9/11, that day, and the months afterward, continue to impact the physical and mental health of hundreds of thousands of people who rushed to help and whose daily lives exposed them to the dust cloud and toxins.

As director of NIOSH, I serve as administrator of the World Trade Center (WTC) Health Program, which provides expert medical monitoring and treatment to those directly affected by the 9/11 attacks in New York, the Pentagon, and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Currently, more than 112,000 responder and survivor members are enrolled in the WTC Health Program. Over 65,000 of our members are certified with at least one WTC-related health condition. Some of the most common conditions we’re seeing in people are chronic rhinosinusitis, gastroesophageal reflux disease or GERD, many types of cancer, asthma, sleep apnea, post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD, and depression.

To support our mission and provide the best possible care to members, the WTC Health Program funds research on physical and mental health conditions that may be related to the 9/11 attacks. Research aimed to improve the diagnosis and treatment of existing WTC-related health conditions is also funded. We also support the WTC Health Registry, run by the New York City Health Department, which has tracked and investigated the health of those affected by 9/11 since 2002. Through this work, the WTC Health Program highlights the extensive ongoing health impact on the exposed population. It also shows the importance of continued research funding for 9/11-related health care, especially as the affected population ages.

Read more.

Every year, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) takes action to protect the health and safety of our nation’s patients and providers to help keep you updated on the latest influenza (flu) vaccine resources from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

The best way to protect yourself and your loved ones against flu is to get a flu vaccine every year, especially since flu viruses are constantly changing and the flu vaccines may be updated from one season to the next. Flu is a contagious respiratory disease that can lead to serious illness, hospitalization, or even death especially for those 65 and older. CDC recommends everyone six months and older get an annual flu vaccine. This year the flu vaccination is critical due to the ongoing COVID-10 pandemic.  Co-administration of the flu and COVID-19 vaccines are possible so if you have not yet received your COVID-19 vaccine, please be sure to do so.

With information coming from many different sources, CMS has summarized resources and materials to help you communicate with the people that you serve including:

• Providers
• Medicare beneficiaries
• State Medicaid plans
• Minority health resources

You can find these and more resources on the CMS Flu Vaccine page and Flu Vaccine and Partner Toolkit page.

Please share these materials, bookmark the page, and check back often for the most up-to-date information. We look forward to working with you to encourage our beneficiaries and consumers –especially those with chronic conditions – to protect themselves and their loved ones from flu.

Flu vaccines are offered in many doctors’ offices and clinics. Flu vaccine is available in many other locations, including health departments, pharmacies, urgent care clinics, health centers, and travel clinics. Vaccines may also be offered at your school, college health center, or workplace. Visit: www.vaccinefinder.org at to find a flu or COVID-19 vaccination clinic near you.

The Biden-Harris Administration, through the Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Labor (DOL), Treasury (collectively, the Departments), and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued an interim final rule with comment period to further implement the No Surprises Act – a consumer protection law that helps curb the practice of surprise medical billing.

This rule details a process that will take patients out of the middle of payment disputes, provides a transparent process to settle out-of-network (OON) rates between providers and payers, and outlines requirements for health care cost estimates for uninsured (or self-pay) individuals. Other consumer protections in the rule include a payment dispute resolution process for uninsured or self-pay individuals. It also adds protections in the external review process so that individuals with job-based or individual health plans can dispute denied payment for certain claims.

The National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors present three resource guides for mental health, including a section for rural communities.  The resource guide for Topic A covers bed registries and services for behavioral health crises; Topic B gives guidelines on diversion from jail; and Topic C provides resources for improving mental health services within jails.