- USDA Delivers Immediate Relief to Farmers, Ranchers and Rural Communities Impacted by Recent Disasters
- Submit Nominations for Partnership for Quality Measurement (PQM) Committees
- Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation of the Medicare Program (Executive Order 14192) - Request for Information
- Dr. Mehmet Oz Shares Vision for CMS
- CMS Refocuses on its Core Mission and Preserving the State-Federal Medicaid Partnership
- Social Factors Help Explain Worse Cardiovascular Health among Adults in Rural Vs. Urban Communities
- Reducing Barriers to Participation in Population-Based Total Cost of Care (PB-TCOC) Models and Supporting Primary and Specialty Care Transformation: Request for Input
- Secretary Kennedy Renews Public Health Emergency Declaration to Address National Opioid Crisis
- Secretary Kennedy Renews Public Health Emergency Declaration to Address National Opioid Crisis
- 2025 Marketplace Integrity and Affordability Proposed Rule
- Rural America Faces Growing Shortage of Eye Surgeons
- NRHA Continues Partnership to Advance Rural Oral Health
- Comments Requested on Mobile Crisis Team Services: An Implementation Toolkit Draft
- Q&A: What Are the Challenges and Opportunities of Small-Town Philanthropy?
- HRSA Administrator Carole Johnson, Joined by Co-Chair of the Congressional Black Maternal Health Caucus Congresswoman Lauren Underwood, Announces New Funding, Policy Action, and Report to Mark Landmark Year of HRSA's Enhancing Maternal Health Initiative
HHS is Seeking Input on Smoking Cessation Framework Draft
Last week, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) released a draft framework for an initiative that aims to ensure every person in America has access to comprehensive, evidence-based treatment. The framework is organized around six goals that range from increasing awareness of the benefits of smoking cessation to finding the best measures for the success of the effort. Research released last year showed that, in 2020, smoking prevalence was higher in rural (19.2 percent) than in urban areas (14.4 percent). From 2010 to 2020, the odds of quitting were lower in rural versus urban areas. HHS invites all potentially interested parties—individuals, associations, governmental and non-governmental organizations, academic institutions, and private sector entities—to respond by July 30.
The CDC Awards for High Obesity Program
This week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced awards totaling more than $11 million for its program specifically designed to reach U.S. counties with high rates of obesity. Most awards for the five-year program are in rural areas, cited by the CDC as having a higher obesity prevalence. Sixteen land grant universities will work with local cooperative extension services to increase the availability of affordable, healthy foods and safe, convenient places for physical activity.
CMS Proposes Remedy for 340B Medicare Drug Payment Policy
This proposed rule describes the actions that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposes to take to comply with the United States Supreme Court’s decision about the adjustment of Medicare payment rates for drugs acquired under the 340B Program from calendar year (CY) 2018 through September 27th of CY 2022. As background, in 2018, CMS decreased the Medicare payment rate for 340B drugs from average sales price (ASP) plus 6 percent to ASP minus 22.5 percent. They also made a corresponding increase to payments to all hospitals (340B hospitals and non-340B hospitals) for outpatient non-drug items and services, so the policy change was budget neutral. The Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the differential payment rates for 340B-acquired drugs were unlawful because, prior to implementing the rates, HHS failed to conduct a survey of hospitals’ acquisition costs under the relevant statute. To comply with the ruling, CMS proposes to pay affected 340B providers an estimated $7.8 billion in lump sum payments and to reduce future outpatient non-drug item and service payments to all hospitals starting in CY 2025. CMS would continue to adjust the OPPS payments until the full $7.8 billion is offset, estimated to be 16 years. The proposed actions in this rule would affect all hospitals. Comments are by September 5, 2023.
The Association of State and Territorial Health Officials Presents on Rural Maternal Health
The Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) presents state-level strategies to address the loss of obstetric services and improve financial barriers to care.
Read About the Differences in the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) Performance of Clinicians in Metropolitan and Nonmetropolitan Counties in 2018
The Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) is a pay-for-performance system for clinicians under the Medicare Quality Payment Program designed to reward clinicians for providing higher quality of care and lower costs. This study from the RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis compared clinicians’ MIPS performance in 2018 based on their practice location, size, and minority population proportion.
Spatial Clustering of COVID-19 Mortality Rates Across Counties and by Noncore, Micropolitan, and Metropolitan County Characteristics, December 2020–January 2021.
Among the key findings from the RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis: a higher percentage of clusters of high mortality rates were in noncore and micropolitan counties; these clusters had the highest average nursing home bed density and the highest average proportion of Medicare beneficiaries with multiple chronic conditions.
GAO Calls for Health Information Technology Advisory Committee Advisory Nominations
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) expects to appoint two or three new members for its Health Information Technology Advisory Committee. The appointments will be effective January 1, 2024, and serve a three-year term. Submit by July 31, 2023.
The Impact of COVID-19 Funding on Profitability of Critical Access Hospitals
Using data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) researchers report on the challenges faced by CMS-designated Critical Access Hospitals during the federal Public Health Emergency, and the impact of special funding on their financial performance. The report is the work of the Flex Monitoring Team, a consortium of researchers from the Universities of Minnesota, North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and Southern Maine, funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy to evaluate the impact of the Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Grant Program (the Flex Program).
Obstetric Volume and Severe Maternal Morbidity Among Low-Risk and Higher-Risk Patients Giving Birth at Rural and Urban US Hospitals
In this cross-sectional study of more than 11 million births in urban counties and 519, 953 births in rural counties, researchers identify hospital factors associated with severe maternal morbidity.
Research is Characterizing Social Insecurity in a Rural North Carolina Emergency Department
From May-June 2018, researchers collected 312 survey responses from patients at a rural emergency department and identified three key determinants of social insecurity: 1) access to transportation, 2) food insecurity, and 3) exposure to violence. Findings show significant differences among the three major racial/ethnicity groups represented – Native Americans (34.3 percent), Blacks (33.7 percent), and Whites (27.6 percent).