- Rural Hospitals Built During Baby Boom Now Face Baby Bust
- Food Stamps Go Further in Rural Areas — Until You Add Transportation Costs
- CMS Announces Resources and Flexibilities to Assist with the Public Health Emergency in the State of Texas
- CMS Proposes New Payments for Digital Health Under CY2025 PFS Draft Rule
- Improving Public Health by Strengthening Community Infrastructure
- Biden Harris Administration Proposes Policies to Reduce Maternal Mortality, Advance Health Equity, and Support Underserved Communities
- Nearly Half of U.S. Counties Don't Have a Single Cardiologist
- Randolph County, Ill. Turns Unused Part of Nursing Home Into State-Of-The-Art Behavioral Health Center
- Rural RPM Program Is a Lifeline for Pregnant Women
- Safe and Stable Housing Is a Foundation of Successful Recovery
- Expert: Rural Hospitals Are Particularly Vulnerable to Increasing Cyberattacks Targeting Healthcare Facilities
- Biden-Harris Administration Invests Over $200 Million to Help Primary Care Doctors, Nurses, and Other Health Care Providers Improve Care for Older Adults
- AJPH Call for Papers Special Section on Intersections of Public Health And Primary Care
- NIH HEAL Initiative Turns Attention to Pragmatic Trials in Rural Communities
- Limited Continuing-Care Options in Rural Virginia Create Challenges for an Aging Population
ACF Bringing Safe Water to Rural Communities
The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) provides this background brief on the Rural Community Development Program and its grants to create safe water systems for unincorporated areas and communities with high and persistent poverty. Get more details of successful outcomes in a series of videos that include the story of the Colorado River Indian Tribes.
CMS Requests Information on Issues of Health Equity
In addition to seeking feedback from the public on maternal health, CMS also included other requests for information in the Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) proposed rule. This includes requests for information on how health care providers may prepare for climate change, social determinants of health (particularly related to homelessness), and measurement of health care quality disparities. Additionally, CMS is seeking feedback and comments on the appropriateness of payment adjustments that would account for additional resource costs associated with the procurement of surgical N95 respirators that are wholly domestically made. Rural stakeholders interested in providing input to CMS can review the full details, along with instructions on how to respond, in the Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) proposed rule.
CMS Proposes a “Birthing-Friendly” Hospital Designation
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released additional details about the proposed “Birthing-Friendly” hospital designation intended to drive improvements in maternal health outcomes and assist consumers in choosing hospitals. Initially, the publicly reported maternity care quality hospital (“Birthing-Friendly”) designation would be based on a hospital’s attestation to the Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting Program’s Maternal Morbidity Structural Measure. Rural stakeholders interested in providing input to CMS on the “Birthing-Friendly” hospital designation should review the full details of the proposal, along with instructions on how to respond, in the Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) proposed rule (also posted above). Eventually, CMS intends to expand the criteria for which this designation would be awarded in the future. In the IPPS proposed rule, CMS also included a request for information on additional activities to advance maternal health equity.
CMS Proposes a Medicare Inpatient Hospital Payment and Rules
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued the fiscal year 2023 Medicare Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) and Long‑Term Care Hospital (LTCH) Prospective Payment System (PPS) proposed rule. The proposal would update Medicare fee-for-service payment rates and policies for inpatient hospitals and LTCHs and build on key priorities to address quality and maternity care. CMS proposes to continue policies finalized in the FY 2020 IPPS/LTCH PPS final rule to address wage index disparities affecting low wage index hospitals and also proposes to limit year-to-year decreases in hospitals’ wage indexes. This proposed rule includes changes to graduate medical education policies, including increased flexibility for rural hospitals participating in a rural track program. This rule also includes proposed revisions to the hospital and Critical Access Hospital Conditions of participation for infection prevention and control and antibiotic stewardship programs – Comment by June 17
Read about A Study on Video-Enabled Tablets for Rural Veterans’ Mental Health Care
In an open-access article on the JAMA Network, researchers describe their findings when 471,791 rural U.S. veterans with a history of mental health care use received video-enabled tablets to access services. The study included rural veterans identified by the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) as a high risk for suicide and compared monthly mental health service utilization for patients who received VA tablets during COVID-19 with patients who were not issued tablets over 10 months before and after tablet shipment.
Funds Awarded to Strengthen the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program
Also last week, HRSA announced $16 million in awards administered by its Maternal and Child Health Bureau to support pregnant people and parents with young children.
HRSA Set to Host First National Telehealth Conference
Over the course of two days (May 16-17), public and private sector leaders will discuss best practices and lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic. Topics include the role of telehealth in underserved communities, achieving health equity through improved broadband connectivity, and telehealth as a model for integrating behavioral health care during the pandemic and beyond.
USDA Launches Effort to Fund Economic Development in Rural Communities
On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced a new collaboration between federal agencies and local leaders and residents. The Rural Partners Network is a whole-of-government approach that includes 16 federal agencies and regional commissions to help rural communities access government resources and funding. At launch, selected communities in Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, New Mexico, and certain Tribes within Arizona will participate to share local concerns and ensure rural communities have a voice in policymaking.
NRHA Comments on OSHA COVID-19 IFR
The National Rural Health Association (NRHA) team submitted comments in response to the OSHA COVID-19 notice of limited reopening of comment period.
NRHA recognizes the need to protect healthcare and healthcare support service workers from occupational exposure to COVID-19 in settings where people with COVID-19 are reasonably expected to be present. As OSHA works towards permanent regulator solutions, we encourage the agency to recognize already established protocols given where healthcare providers are at this point in the pandemic. NRHA maintains the position that adding burdensome standards, like the prior ETS proposes, will not protect patients or employees. Rather it will pull limited staff and financial resources in directions that could be better used providing health care to patients, especially in rural areas. We have heard from members across the country about loss of staff due to the mandatory vaccination requirements, which perpetuates significant workforce shortages in our rural health care facilities.
Please feel free to reach out to Carrie (ccochran@ruralhealth.us) with any questions.
ARC Leadership Institute Accepting Applications!
The Appalachian Leadership Institute (ALI) is now accepting applications!
ARC is seeking 40 fellows from all 13 Appalachian states, and all walks of community life, for the Class of 2022-2023.
ALI is a FREE leadership and economic development program designed to help anyone who lives or works in Appalachia gain skills to strengthen their community. From October 2022 – July 2023, participants will attend six multi-day seminars across the Region, and end with a capstone graduation event held in Washington, DC.
Apply by June 1 at arc.gov/leadership.