- 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
- Biden-Harris Administration Announces $60 Million Investment for Adding Early Morning, Night, and Weekend Hours at Community Health Centers
- Volunteer Opportunity for HUD's Office of Housing Counseling Tribe and TDHE Certification Exam
- Who Needs Dry January More: Rural or Urban Drinkers?
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.
View the 2024 Physician Fee Schedule Webinar Recording
RHIhub posted a recording of the hour-long webinar from February 27 where experts from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) reviewed rural-relevant policy updates from the Calendar Year 2024 Physician Fee Schedule final rule. The new rule makes policy updates that may increase accessibility of behavioral health services, telehealth services, and other vital health services in rural areas. Presentation materials, video recording, and audio recording are also now available. Additional documents from CMS that may be helpful in understanding these updates:
- The CMS Manual System provides new provider specialty codes and payment instruction for Marriage and Family Therapists and Mental Health Counselors;
- The Medicare Learning Network gives guidance on health equity services – such as Caregiver Training Services, and Community Health Integration – that are now covered under the Physician Fee Schedule.
NARHC Hosting Free Webinar: Mobile Units and Your RHC – Is This a Good Fit? – Wednesday, February 21 at 3:00 pm Eastern
The National Association of Rural Health Clinics (NARHC) will host the free, FORHP-supported webinar with details about operational considerations for expanding RHC services and patient access opportunities through mobile unit, either as an extension of their current clinic or through a stand-alone unit. This webinar will feature representatives from Baptist Health in Kentucky who will share their successes and lessons learned in opening a mobile RHC, include information from RHC accreditor, Kate Hill, and provide additional time for Q&A.
Nurse Corp Loan Repayment Program is Now Open for Applications
Registered nurses, advanced practice nurses, and nursing faculty are encouraged to apply for the Nurse Corp Loan Repayment Program, which is open for applications through March 7. All Federally Qualified Health Centers are eligible places of employment for nurses applying for Nurse Corps. A “New Application Technical Assistance” webinar will be held Feb. 13, 2024, from 2:30 to 4:30 pm. Funding preference is given to applicants with the greatest financial need defined as those qualified applicants with the highest debt-to-salary ratio. Debt-to-salary ratio is determined by the total qualifying education loan balance divided by the base annual salary. You are eligible to apply if:
- You are a licensed registered nurse; advanced practice registered nurse, such as a nurse practitioner; or a nurse faculty member with qualifying nursing debt.
- You received your nursing education from an accredited school of nursing located in a U.S. state or territory.
- You work full-time in an eligible Critical Shortage Facility or an accredited school of nursing
CMS Hosting Webinar on AHEAD Model Hospital Global Budgets – February 14 at 3:00 pm Eastern
In this hour-long webinar, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will provide an overview of the hospital global budget methodology for the new States Advancing All-Payer Health Equity and Development (AHEAD) Model and answer audience questions. AHEAD is a state total-cost-of-care model, and global budgets are a key feature to control the growth of health care costs and improve care. A hospital global budget pays a pre-determined, fixed annual budget for hospital inpatient and outpatient facility services, rather than paying a fee for each service provided. This webinar will describe the method CMS will use to calculate the Medicare hospital payment amount for the AHEAD model as well as operational considerations for hospitals. States interested in participating in the model should submit their applications by Monday, March 18, 2024, at 3:00 p.m. ET (for Cohorts 1 and 2) & Monday, August 12, 2024, at 3:00 p.m. ET (Cohort 3). To get notified about model events and resources, sign up for email updates about the AHEAD Model on the CMS website.
Keeping Rural EMS Reliable and Sustainable, featuring James Small
An episode of the Exploring Rural Health podcast featuring James Small, Rural EMS Outreach Director for the Wisconsin Office of Rural Health. Focuses on rural emergency medical services workforce and funding shortages, and how rural EMS can be maintained and expanded.
The Exploring Rural Health Podcast: Behavioral Health Has Been Released!
An episode of the Exploring Rural Health podcast featuring Holly Andrilla, Deputy Director of the FORHP-supported WWAMI Rural Health Research Center. Focuses on rural availability of psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric nurse practitioners, social workers, and counselors, as well as recent developments in access to medication for opioid use disorder.
RHCs & the Medicare Shared Savings Program – What You Need to Know
Recording of a March 7 webinar providing an overview of the transition to value-based care, Accountable Care Organizations, and the Medicare Shared Savings Program. Discusses considerations for Rural Health Clinic (RHC) participation in the Shared Savings Program.
A New Podcast Has Been Released, Rural Roads – The RCORPodcast
Get an inside look at the Rural Communities Opioid Response Program (RCORP) in this series of interviews with federal project officers (our own Kim Nesbitt in episode 2), grantees, and experts from the organization that provides technical assistance to community-based organizations in rural areas across the country.
Rural Health Leadership Radio: A Conversation with Lisa Davis
The global budget is underway in Pennsylvania, but there is a lot more than that taking place. In this episode of Rural Health Leadership Radio™ we are talking about Medicaid expansion, rural hospital budget transformation, medical student community orientation and other topics of interest to rural health leaders. We are having that conversation with Lisa Davis, Director of the Pennsylvania Office of Rural Health and Outreach Associate Professor of Health Policy and Administration at Penn State.
“Pennsylvania is considered to be one of the most rural states in the nation.”
In her role, Lisa is responsible for the overall direction and leadership of the state office of rural health, including ensuring that the office meets its mission of being a source of networking, coordination, and technical assistance to organizations focused on rural health care delivery; developing and sustaining linkages with state and national partners; and seeking ways to expand the office’s role in enhancing the health status of rural Pennsylvanians.
“Medicaid expansion has been very important here in the state for a number of reasons.”
On the national, state, and university levels, Davis serves on a wide range of boards of directors, advisory committees, and task forces focused on rural health policy, rural health research, economic development, outreach and education, and vulnerable populations and specific health issues such as oral health and cancer. She has extensive experience in the field of rural health research.
“They learned about what it means to be those individuals, what it means to live there, what the social structure is, what the economy is like in those communities.”
Davis is the recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from the National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health, an Outstanding Leadership Award from the Pennsylvania Rural Health Association, and an Award for Individual Contributions to Public Health from the Pennsylvania Public Health Association. The Pennsylvania Office of Rural Health received the Award of Merit from the National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health.
She holds a graduate degree in Health Administration from Penn State.