- Colorectal Cancer Is Rising among Younger Adults. Some States Want to Boost Awareness.
- 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
- Safe and Stable Housing Is a Foundation of Successful Recovery
- Rural RPM Program Is a Lifeline for Pregnant Women
- 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
engAGED Social Engagement Innovations Hub Created
he National Resource Center for Engaging Older Adults created this collection of social engagement programs including description of program, outcomes, resources needed, program contact, and more. The profiles can be filtered by intervention type, population served, organization type, and geographic population including rural, urban, suburban, and frontier.
2024 Update Released on Catalog of Value-Based Initiatives for Rural Providers
This annual update features one-page summaries of federal value-based payment programs that are appropriate for rural participation. The catalog was created by the team at Rural Health Value, an initiative funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy to provide analysis, technical assistance, and strategy for rural health care delivery.
Information Session on CMS Interoperability and Prior Authorization Final Rule Being Offered
Tuesday, March 26 at 1:00 pm Eastern
In January, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a final rule to enhance access to health information and streamline prior authorization processes for medical items and services. CMS’s Office of Burden Reduction & Health Informatics is hosting an online session to educate patients, providers, and administrative, health IT, and government affairs professionals about the provisions in final rule and how it builds on current CMS interoperability policies. Questions can be submitted beforehand via the registration form. If you register and receive a message that the event is full, you will receive an email after the event with a link to both a recording and transcript of the presentation. The use of various electronic exchange methods among hospitals and physicians has increased in recent years, but use among small and rural hospitals is lower than that of other hospitals. Please reach out to CMSInteroperability@cms.hhs.gov with questions.
Expanding Medicaid Skilled Professional Medical Personnel and Nurse Advice Lines
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently issued guidance allowing State Medicaid Directors to expand the pool of skilled professional medical personnel (SPMP) they may employ to include certain additional behavioral health professionals, such as Marriage and Family Therapists, Mental Health Counselors, and Professional Counselors. This expansion will allow states to claim higher administrative federal match and help bolster state resources to provide appropriate behavioral health care coverage and service delivery. The guidance also informs states that they may claim administrative federal match dollars for nurse advice lines, a tool that builds a lifeline between coverage and critical health services, particularly in rural areas.
CMS Releases Updated Medicare Learning Network Information for Rural Health Clinics
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released an updated MLN booklet entitled, Information for Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) which provides updates on RHC patient services, care management services. Specifically, this MLN provides updated billing information for the following new RHC provider types and services: Marriage and Family Therapists (MFTs), Mental Health Counselors (MHCs), remote physiologic monitoring (RPM), remote therapeutic monitoring (RTM), community health integration (CHI) services, principal illness navigation (PIN), PIN-peer support (PIN-S) and Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) services.
CMS Provides Flexibilities in Response to Cyber Attack
Last week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced increased flexibilities for processing claims as well as guidance to help providers serve patients. Hospitals affected by the cyber attack reported difficulties providing patient care, filling prescriptions, submitting insurance claims, and receiving payment for the essential health care services they provided in the weeks since the attack. The CMS guidance is intended to remove or relax prior authorization and other filing requirements for Medicare Advantage and Part D programs, as well as offer waivers or extensions to Medicare providers. Providers should contact their Medicare Administrative Contractors for details.
CMS Releases Updated Guidance on Prospective Payment System for Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) Demonstration
In 2023, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) provided a forum for states, providers, and other stakeholders to comment on proposed changes to payment for services for individuals experiencing a crisis related to substance use and/or mental health. In response to that feedback, CMS updated Prospective Payment System (PPS) guidance for the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic Demonstration addressing the high-cost and specialized care delivered through mobile and on-site crisis intervention. This guidance was effective on January 1, 2024 for existing CCBHC Demonstration states, and on July 1, 2024 for newly selected states added to the program in 2024 and 2026. Requests for technical assistance may be submitted to CCBHCDemonstration@cms.hhs.gov.
Report Released on Nonmetropolitan Premiums, Issuer Participation, and Enrollment in Health Insurance Marketplaces in 2022
This policy brief from the RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis describes differences in unsubsidized and net-of-subsidy premiums in 2022 between nonmetropolitan and metropolitan counties in Health Insurance Marketplace plan design and availability. Features statistics with breakdowns by metropolitan, micropolitan, and noncore areas.
RFI Seeking Comments on Reauthorizing the Older Americans Act
Comment by March 21. First signed into law in 1965, the Older Americans Act (OAA) provides critical services that address the social drivers of health for older adults such as nutrition, transportation, senior centers, elder rights protections, caregiver support, and health promotion. The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee issued a Request for Information (RFI) from stakeholders on policies the Committee should consider during the reauthorization of the OAA. Responses to the RFI must be submitted to OAA@help.senate.gov by March 21, 2024.
Data Released on The Nature of the Rural-Urban Mortality Gap
Using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, researchers at USDA’s Economic Research Service find that the age-adjusted natural-cause mortality rate for the prime working age population was 43 percent higher in rural areas than in urban areas.