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.

Read the full article here.

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.

View here.

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

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.

Click here to listen.

This is the second round of new Medicare funding for residency positions to train physicians in highest need areas, prioritized by Health Professional Shortage Area scores.  The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) awarded the first round last winter, kicking off a five-year process legislated by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 to distribute 200 new residency slots each year.  This week, researchers at the FORHP-supported program that helps hospitals plan and develop rural residencies released analysis of the 99 hospitals that were awarded in this round to determine rural location of physician placements – whether sites were rural as defined by CMS or by FORHP – and the time they are required to train in these locations.  They found only three programs training their residents for 50 percent of the time or greater in a CMS or FORHP rurally located area. Next month, the FORHP-supported RuralGME.org will be joined by CMS representatives to co-host a webinar to help rural hospitals understand how to apply for round three, expected to open in January.

Click here to read the full article.

 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.

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.

 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.