This brief from the Maine Rural Health Research Center serves to fill the information void on the costs of running ambulance services for three population-based service tiers and establishes a minimum access standard for ambulances servicing a 25-minute travel time radius from the ambulance station. The model enables policymakers and community stakeholders to develop strategic plans for the financing and provision of ambulance services.

 The FORHP-supported Rural Health Value team recently released a new Rural Innovative Profile on the South East Rural Physicians Alliance Accountable Care Organization. A physician-led ACO that includes 16 physician-owned clinics in Nebraska has been leveraging healthcare payment and delivery models to provide high-quality, comprehensive, coordinated, and patient-centered care at a lower cost.

  The Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) provide a recording of their hour-long webinar that discusses federal priorities and policy efforts related to rural health care.

Pennsylvania lawmakers are considering a shortcut of sorts to expand healthcare access, letting psychologists, not just psychiatrists, prescribe medication. A handful of states and the federal government already do so, but critics worry about a lack of proper training and other innovations of the past that have not panned out. HB 1000 would allow psychologists to qualify for prescription authority by meeting educational and training requirements set by the state Board of Psychology, granting them similar privileges as primary care physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants for psychotropic medications.

Pennsylvania has disenrolled 137,000 Medicaid beneficiaries since eligibility redeterminations began in April. Approximately 44% have been disenrolled for procedural reasons and the remaining 56% lost coverage due to ineligibility. Read More.

The Pennsylvania Insurance Department (PID) announced a public comment period on health insurance marketplace rates for the 2024 enrollment period. While the average 2024 Rate Increase of 4.2% is tracking below the current medical information rate and represents a smaller increase according to PID, health insurance coverage affordability is a message health center enrollment assisters hear consistently. The same insurers from 2023 will remain in the market to provide coverage options: Capital Blue Cross, Cigna, Geisinger, Highmark, IBX, Oscar, Ambetter, and UPMC. Highmark plans to expand into Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia Counties. Geisinger plans to expand into Bedford County. Public comment on rate requests and filings will be accepted through Sept. 8, 2023, and can be emailed to ra-in-comment@pa.gov.

Short-term health insurance plans don’t offer the same consumer protections guaranteed in Affordable Care Act marketplace plans, such as a ban on excluding coverage of preexisting conditions. They also don’t typically come with the comprehensive benefits that ACA plans provide, like coverage for prescription drugs, mental health care, and maternity care. Recently, the Biden administration proposed new regulations to protect consumers from plans that may leave them without affordable access to needed care. On To the Point, experts from Georgetown University’s Center on Health Insurance Reforms discuss how states can build on these regulations. Among the steps, they outline: prohibiting short-term plans from selling policies during open-enrollment periods, banning plans from rescinding coverage, and requiring them to cover essential benefits. The authors also say aggressive plan marketing tactics that hinder consumers from making informed decisions may require policy action.

The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) said in a notice that was posted on August 4, that it is open to creating a special registration process that would allow providers to prescribe certain controlled substances for patients without requiring the patient to ever have an in-person medical evaluation. The agency will hold a listening session next month to allow the public to weigh in on the issue. Stakeholder groups and lawmakers have been pressing the DEA to change its policy, given the shortage of mental health providers and the increased need for access to prescribers through telehealth.

View a presentation to understand the recent changes in training requirements for providers prescribing medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD). Physicians, psychiatrists, nurse practitioners, and behavioral health professionals can visit HRSA’s behavioral health technical assistance website to watch the 11-minute presentation.

On August 3, 2023, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a new report showing that the national uninsured rate reached an all-time low of 7.7% in early 2023. Approximately 6.3 million people gained coverage since 2020. Nationally, uninsured rates among adults ages 18-64 declined from 14.5% in late 2020 to 11% in early 2023. The uninsured rate among children ages 0-17, which had increased during 2019 and 2020, fell from 6.4% in late 2020 to 4.2% in early 2023.