The Shapiro Administration announced Acting Secretary of Health Dr. Debra Bogen is being honored as 2023 Pediatrician of the Year by the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (PA AAP). The chapter gives this award annually to recognize a pediatric fellow who exemplifies the ideals of the profession and advocates for children’s health and increased access to health services. Before joining the Commonwealth, Dr. Bogen was the Director of the Allegheny County Health Department where she was a key partner with Community Health Centers in Pittsburgh. Prior to that appointment, she was a member of the Pittsburgh region medical and research community for more than two decades. She held a primary academic appointment as Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh and secondary appointments in psychiatry and clinical and translational science. Dr. Bogen also served as the Vice Chair of Education for the Department of Pediatrics at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. She was one of the founders of the Mid-Atlantic Mothers’ Milk Bank and served as the organization’s Volunteer Medical Director until assuming her role at the state. Read more.

This week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued the final Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters for 2024, which specifies requirements for issuers, agents, brokers, and Assisters, to offer qualified health plans (QHPs) through the Federal Marketplace, Healthcare.gov. The final rule includes policies pertaining to plan options, health equity, risk adjustment, and consumer experience.  It also expands the network adequacy requirements by adding Mental Health Facilities and Substance Use Disorder Treatment Centers as new categories of Essential Community Providers (ECPs) and rural emergency hospitals as a new provider type in the Other ECP Category.  The number of QHPs offered in rural areas has been growing but still lags urban areas.

  This brief from the National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP) considers strategies drawn from states that participated in NASHP’s Policy Academy on Rural Mental Health Crisis Services.

  Commentary from the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices summarizes themes and key takeaways from two virtual roundtables focused on equitable economic development and equitable healthcare for rural communities.

   The National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health will continue to update this list of community development resources from national, federal, regional, and philanthropic organizations.

In a project supported by the federal Administration for Children and Families, researchers gathered administrative data and conducted interviews with human services providers at 11 rural sites in Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina.  The resulting brief provides a series of lessons learned and practitioners’ recommendations for the use of federal funding through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program, also known as TANF.  For almost 30 years, TANF has provided an annual block grant to states that gives them flexibility to design state-based programs for low-income families with children.  In interviews, TANF program staff and members of community partner organizations described various caseload management approaches, service delivery models, and adaptations for their rural contexts.