Here, you’ll find a recording and presentation slides from the January 18 webinar that gives an overview of the new Rural Emergency Hospital designation, policy and regulatory requirements, and an introduction to technical assistance provided by the Rural Health Redesign Center.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released information on three Medicare accountable care initiatives in which groups of providers collaborate to improve care.  For 2023, the Medicare Shared Savings Program will have 456 accountable care organizations (ACOs), including 2,240 Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) and 467 Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs). The ACO Realizing Equity, Access, and Community Health (ACO REACH) model will have 132 ACOs with 78 RHCs and 15 CAHs.  The Kidney Care Choices Model will have 130 entities with more than 8,000 providers participating, including newly expanded areas in North Dakota and South Dakota.

This week, a federal panel of experts issued new guidelines for people with HIV who are pregnant, have recently given birth, or are trying to conceive.  Thanks to antiretroviral medications and other viral suppression strategies, parent-to-child transmission of HIV is less than 1 percent in the United States. The updated recommendations include new information about the use of antiretroviral drugs before and during pregnancy, guidance for pregnant people who have not achieved viral suppression, and infant feeding options.  The Panel on Antiretroviral Therapy and Medical Management of Children Living with HIV also co-authored sections published in the Guidelines for the Use of Antiretroviral Agents in Pediatric HIV Infection. Updates to these guidelines are anticipated in April 2023.

  Last week, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced efforts to make it easier for rural healthcare providers to access funding for high-speed broadband connections and telecommunications services.  Four new proposals for the FCC’s Rural Health Care Program are intended to make it easier for providers to receive support, reduce delays in funding commitments, and improve the overall efficiency of the program.  Public response to FCC proposals in February 2022 brought about the current changes that include the way service rates are determined and invoiced.  The Second Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking announced on January 26 includes fine-tuning rules for determining rural and urban rates, and making it easier for healthcare providers to receive funding as soon as they become eligible.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a Special Enrollment Period for qualified beneficiaries of Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Between March 31, 2023, and July 31, 2024, CMS will allow Marketplace-eligible consumers to submit a new application or update an existing application through HealthCare.gov. A recently released study, conducted pre-pandemic, showed that nearly two-thirds of disenrolled beneficiaries had a period of uninsurance.  Healthcare providers and other community-based organizations can assist with outreach to individuals and families who may lose coverage. To help you better understand what states can do, the nonprofit State Health & Value Strategies provides two resources for state Medicaid agencies, state-based marketplaces, labor departments, and employers.  The first is an issue brief discussing strategies for helping people understand and navigate their coverage options.  A companion brief describes the importance of a Medicaid disenrollment survey to monitor coverage changes (p. 4) associated with the unwinding of continuous enrollment.