The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) administers relief grants to states, territories, and tribes to address behavioral health needs post-disaster through community-based outreach, crisis counseling, public education, and other supportive services.  The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funds the program as support for mental health assistance and training. Learn more about how a disaster gets declared at the federal level and search FEMA’s list of disasters and other declarations.

Rural Development at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has a series of loans and grants for community facilities, businesses, water and infrastructure, and housing.

Starting January 1, 2025, eligible providers may use a new payment bundle for Advanced Primary Care Management (ACPM) that reflects the essential elements of advanced primary care, including principal care management, transitional care management and chronic care management.  ACPM services combine elements of several existing care management and communication technology-based services

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) updated the Medicare Benefit Policy Manual Chapter 13 for Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) and Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) with Calendar Year 2025 requirements and payment policies.

In this final rule, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) implements changes related to Medicare Advantage (MA) inpatient admission decisions, vaccine and insulin cost sharing, the Medicare Prescription Payment Plan, Medicare Advantage dual eligible special needs plans (D-SNPs), Star Ratings, and other programmatic areas. CMS is not finalizing three provisions from the proposed rule:

• Enhancing Health Equity Analyses: Annual Health Equity Analysis of Utilization Management Policies;
• Procedures and Ensuring Equitable Access to Medicare Advantage Services—Guardrails for Artificial Intelligence; and
• Part D Coverage of Anti-Obesity Medications (AOMs) and Application to the Medicaid Program.

There are other provisions from the proposed rule that are not included in this final rule. CMS may address them in future rulemaking, as appropriate.  As of January 2023, about 45 percent of rural Medicare beneficiaries were enrolled in an MA plan.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) updated their Hospital Price Transparency Fact Sheet with information on compliance and enforcement. Under Hospital Price Transparency, all hospitals, including Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) and Rural Emergency Hospitals (REHs), and hospital-based departments – which may include some Rural Health Clinics – are required to post pricing information about the items and services they provide on a publicly available website. CMS audits hospitals and investigates complaints from the public to ensure compliance. They also leverage automation to perform over 200 comprehensive hospital reviews per month. Consistent with standing policies, CMS will address non-compliance with swift enforcement, and they are planning a more systematic monitoring and enforcement approach, per the Executive Order.  A variety of resources are available to help hospitals, CAHs, and REHs comply with these requirements.

“GOP lawmakers are hunting for ways to slash federal spending, a process that could mean cuts to Medicaid programs that support more than 3.1 million Pennsylvanians.” Mike Makosky, president and CEO of the Fulton County Medical Center, spoke to the USA TODAY Network about how the loss of federal dollars might undermine his hospital’s ability to provide health care in this rural southcentral Pennsylvania community.” Source: USA Today Network

With the rash of benefit thefts from consumers utilizing the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the PA Department of Human Services is suggesting recipients change their EBT card pins ahead of their monthly benefit distribution. The theft of benefits rarely happens right away but thieves wait until the monthly distribution occurs to steal benefits. Recipients can call DHS’ EBT Recipient Hotline at 1-888-EBT-PENN or use the mobile app ConnectEBT to change their PIN numbers. Consumers are also urged to take extra steps to ensure that where they are utilizing their cards for point-of-sale transactions do not have skimming devices attached. Read here for more tips.