- Senator Baldwin Introduces HSHS Act to Protect Communities from Hospital Closures
- What to Know about Smoke, Heat and Health
- Tribal Partnership With UW-Madison Combines Ag Research With Indigenous Food Knowledge
- The Rewards of Working as Rural Docs
- Request for Information (RFI): Evolving the Network of the National Library of Medicine
- Dental Therapists, Who Can Fill Cavities and Check Teeth, Get the OK in More States
- 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
MedPAC June Report to Congress Highlights Rural Considerations for Medicare Advantage Provider Networks
As part of its mandate from Congress, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) reports each June on improvements to Medicare payment systems and issues affecting the Medicare program, including changes to health care delivery and the market for health care services. This year’s report addresses approaches for updating clinician payments and incentivizing participation in alternative payment models, rural considerations for network adequacy standards and prior authorization in Medicare Advantage, assessing health care utilization data sources for Medicare Advantage enrollees, paying for software technologies in Medicare, and Medicare’s Acute Hospital Care at Home program.
Deadline for Disputes Under No Surprises Act Extended
The Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and the Treasury announced that providers, facilities, and providers of air ambulance services whose ability to timely initiate open negotiation under the No Surprises Act was impacted by the Change Healthcare cybersecurity incident in February may initiate negotiations for independent dispute resolutions at any point between 6/14/2024 and 10/12/2024, regardless of when the payment or notice of denial of payment and disclosures were transmitted. To take advantage of this exception period, providers must furnish an attestation that their ability to initiate a timely open negotiation for an item or service was impacted by the effects of the cybersecurity incident alongside the standard open negotiation initiation form.
HHS Finalizes Final Rule Establishing Disincentives for Health Care Providers Who Have Committed Information Blocking
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) agencies, including the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the Office of Inspector General (OIG) released the 21st Century Cures Act: Establishment of Disincentives for Health Care Providers That Have Committed Information Blocking (Disincentives Final Rule). Information blocking by healthcare providers is when they engage in practices they knew were unreasonable and likely to interfere with, prevent, or materially discourage the access, exchange, or use of electronic health information (EHI), except as required by law or covered by a regulatory exception. This final rule establishes disincentives for Medicare-enrolled providers determined by the OIG to have engaged in information blocking. Specifically, under the Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program, hospitals found to have committed information blocking would no longer be a meaningful user, so they would not receive the program’s positive payment adjustment. Critical Access Hospitals would have their payments reduced from 101% to 100% of reasonable costs, while clinicians in Medicare’s Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) would receive a score of zero in the MIPS Promoting Interoperability performance category. Under the Medicare Shared Savings Program (SSP), accountable care organizations (ACOs) or providers participating in the ACO that commit information blocking may be ineligible to participate in SSP for at least one year and may not receive revenue they may have earned through the program. ONC and CMS released a fact sheet and Frequently Asked Questions which provide an overview of select provisions of the final rule.
New Research Examines Rural Hospital Profitability from 2018 to 2023
Profitability of rural hospitals in 2020-21 and 2021-22 was influenced by the Public Health Emergency (PHE) funding distributed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Three briefs from the North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center examine hospital profitability from 2018 to 2023, taking PHE funding into account.
Updated Fact Sheets from ERS Highlight the Rural Economy
The Economic Research Service (ERS) at the U.S. Department of Agriculture provides the latest on population, income, poverty, food security, education, and more in State Fact Sheets. County-level poverty rates, population change, educational attainment, and unemployment rates/median household income have been updated in County-Level Data Sets.
Surgeon General Declares Firearm Violence a Public Health Crisis
This week, the nation’s top health official made the first-ever advisory addressing the issue, citing new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and declaring firearm violence as an “urgent threat to the health and well-being of our country.” Compared with rates of emergency medical service (EMS) encounters in 2019, EMS increased among multiple demographic groups and across all county-level factors. The largest age group-specific increases occurred among children and adolescents aged 0-14 years; for children aged 1-19 years, firearms are now the leading cause of death. Last year, the nonprofit KFF used federal data to report that firearms contributed to a record-high number of suicide deaths in 2022. Rates were highest among American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) people, males, and people who live in rural areas.
New Funding: CMS Transforming Maternal Health (TMaH) Model Released
– Apply by September 20. The TMaH Model’s primary focus is improving health outcomes for mothers and their infants who are enrolled in Medicaid and Childrens’ Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Under TMaH, selected state Medicaid agencies will receive targeted technical support to develop a whole-person approach to pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum care. Medicaid pays for nearly half of all births nationally and covers a greater share of births in rural areas. Rural residents have a 9 percent greater chance of experiencing severe maternal morbidity and mortality compared with urban residents. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) expects to award cooperative agreements to up to 15 state Medicaid agencies.
CMS Now Accepting Applications from States for Innovation in Behavioral Health Model
– Apply by September 9. Last week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the Innovation in Behavioral Health (IBH) Model. The IBH Model is focused on improving the behavioral and physical health outcomes and quality of care for people with Medicaid and Medicare who experience moderate to severe behavioral health conditions. The IBH Model is a state-based model, led by state Medicaid agencies (SMAs), and CMS will select up to eight SMAs to participate in the IBH model via cooperative agreement funding. CMS is hosting a webinar for states interested in applying on Thursday, July 11 at 2:00 pm Eastern.
Communicating Public Health to Rural Communities During a Crisis
The Georgia Department of Community Health offers a toolkit with links to comprehensive, accessible, and ready-to-use materials to provide local health department staff with information to improve communication efforts. The material places emphasis on challenges encountered in rural settings and targeted for use among county health department nurse managers, supervisors, and other public health staff.
Informational Bulletin: Medicaid and CHIP Managed Care Monitoring and Oversight Tools
Last week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the informational bulletin Medicaid and CHIP Managed Care Monitoring and Oversight Tools, including States’ Responsibility to Comply with Medicaid Managed Care and Separate CHIP Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Parity Requirements. The bulletin will help states to improve the monitoring and oversight of managed care in Medicaid and CHIP by providing additional tools for the States. Additionally, this bulletin reminds States of Medicaid managed care and separate CHIP mental health and substance use disorder parity requirements. This is the fourth in a series of bulletins on increasing states’ monitoring and oversight of managed care.