- 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
- Safe and Stable Housing Is a Foundation of Successful Recovery
- Rural RPM Program Is a Lifeline for Pregnant Women
- Expert: Rural Hospitals Are Particularly Vulnerable to Increasing Cyberattacks Targeting Healthcare Facilities
- Biden-Harris Administration Invests Over $200 Million to Help Primary Care Doctors, Nurses, and Other Health Care Providers Improve Care for Older Adults
Pennsylvania Oral Health Coalition Releases Oral Health Workforce Report Part II
PCOH released the second part of a workforce report that uncovers some Pennsylvanians have wait times up to three years to receive dental treatment for tooth decay. The “Access to Oral Health Workforce Report” determined that the average wait time for a new dental appointment in PA is two months with an additional month wait to have a filling placed. Rural residents can face up to a two to three year wait. Over the last three years, Pennsylvania has been affected by a significant number of dental hygienists and dental assistants leaving dentistry as well as increases in dentist retirements. This has resulted in dwindling availability of dental appointments.
KFF Publishes Brief on Pandemic Private Insurance Payments
Early in the Pandemic, Private Insurers Paid Similarly for In-Person and Telemedicine Services, Including for Mental Health Therapy
Telehealth use surged as the COVID-19 pandemic hit, though the shift toward virtual physician and mental health care did not materially affect how much insurers paid for each patient encounter in 2020, a new KFF analysis finds.
Using data from the Health Care Cost Institute, the analysis examines nearly 100 million claims to compare the average paid amount for in-person and telehealth evaluation and management services and mental health therapies.
In each case, the average payments were similar in 2020.
The analysis suggests that the expanded use of telehealth services did not lead to significant cost savings early in the pandemic though likely provided other benefits by making services more convenient and accessible for patients. Whether insurers have continued to pay similar rates for telehealth and in-person services is not yet clear. The analysis also does not assess the extent to which the availability of telehealth substitutes for in-person services or leads to greater use of health care overall.
The analysis is available through the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker, an online information hub that monitors and assesses the performance of the U.S. health system or by clicking here.
CMS Rollout “GO” Final Full Package: 2023 ACO REACH, KCC Model Participants, and MSSP Announcement
CMS posted several updates for the Global and Professional Direct Contracting (GPDC) / ACO REACH Model on innovation.cms.gov. This includes a list of the 110 provisionally accepted ACOs in the ACO REACH model and DCEs participating in the third Implementation Period (IP3) of the ACO REACH model. It also includes quarterly updates to a document with GPDC’s financial and quality performance results. The ACO REACH’s Application Fact Sheet and FAQs also received minor updates to ensure consistency with the newly released documents. We kindly ask that you please share this information with your partners.
Please review the below links for further information.
Web links/Materials:
- Press Release: https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/press-releases/cms-announces-increase-2023-organizations-and-beneficiaries-benefiting-coordinated-care-accountable
- ACO Reach Model Fact Sheet: https://innovation.cms.gov/media/document/aco-reach-model-fs-jan2023
- Kidney Care Choices (KCC) Model Fact Sheet: https://innovation.cms.gov/media/document/kcc-model-fs-jan2023
- MSSP Fact Sheet: https://www.cms.gov/files/document/2023-shared-savings-program-fast-facts.pdf
- Public Use Files (PUFs): ): https://data.cms.gov/medicare-shared-savings-program/accountable-care-organizations & https://data.cms.gov/medicare-shared-savings-program/accountable-care-organization-participants
Any technical questions should be directed to the model team at ACOREACH@cms.hhs.gov.
The Federal Telehealth Flexibilities are Set to Continue for at Least Two Years
The omnibus budget bill passed by Congress last month included a two-year telehealth extension. The goal is to give regulators more time to determine which flexibilities should be made permanent.
A Recent Study Finds That Diversity Efforts Need to Target Medical Debt
Black medical trainees were far more likely to carry a heavier debt burden than their peers in other racial and ethnic groups, a study published yesterday in Health Affairs found. Differences In Debt Among Postgraduate Medical Residents By Self-Designated Race And Ethnicity, 2014–19 finds that efforts to diversify the healthcare workforce — which has been tied to improved patient care and outcomes — have fallen short, even as recognition of the merits grows. Among the most intractable hurdles are the costs of medical school, including the add-on expenses. The study was led by the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and researchers examined the association between race and debt among roughly 121,000 medical residents between 2014 and 2019. “Scholarships, debt relief, and financial guidance should be explored to improve diversity and inclusion in medicine across specialties,” the authors write.
The Nurse Corps Loan Repayment Program Now Accepting Applications
Would you like help to pay off your loans? The Nurse Corps Loan Repayment Program provides loan repayment to nurses in exchange for a minimum two-year full-time service commitment, at an eligible healthcare facility with a critical shortage of nurses or an eligible school of nursing. Community Health Centers automatically qualify as sites for Nurse Corps. To be eligible you must be a licensed registered nurse, advanced practice registered nurse, such as a nurse practitioner; or nurse faculty member and you received your nursing education from an accredited school of nursing located in a U.S. state or territory. You must also work full-time in either: an eligible critical shortage facility in a high-need area; or an eligible school of nursing. Applications will be accepted through Thursday, Feb. 23, at 7:30 pm. For more information review the Fact Sheet and read the Application & Program Guidance. Application assistance webinars will be held on Thursday, Jan. 26 from 2:00-3:30 pm via Zoom and Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2:00-3:30 pm via Zoom.
A New Report Concludes That the U.S. Needs More People
The U.S. needs more people, whether through Americans having more babies or more immigrants settling in this country, a new report, “Economic Policy in a More Uncertain World,” concludes. The report from an arm of the Aspen Institute led by two former Treasury Secretaries avers that failure to increase the U.S. population is among the biggest economic risks for the years and decades ahead. For much of the 21st century, a lack of adequate demand has been a predominant challenge, but now the central challenge is supply: improving the ability of the economy to make stuff. Worsening demographic trends imply persistent labor shortages, slumping growth, and struggles to fund Social Security and other retirement programs. The U.S. fertility rate has fallen sharply since 2007 and is well below the “replacement rate” that implies a steady population, in the absence of immigration. The “total fertility rate,” the average number of children born to a woman over her lifetime, was 2.12 in 2007 and dropped down to 1.65 in 2021, the lowest ever recorded in the U.S.
The New 988 Hotline Fields Millions of Calls Since Its Launch
The new national mental health/suicide hotline, 988, received more than 9.2 million calls in its first six months of operation, according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS). HHS indicated that the call volume is well beyond what was anticipated.
Pennsylvania Set to Fund Regional Recovery Hubs
The Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs (DDAP) will fund nine regional recovery hubs throughout Pennsylvania that will work to embed, expand and promote recovery-oriented systems of care in each region. Each hub will provide technical assistance and collaborate with a variety of entities to enhance a recovery-supportive community and facilitate recovery-support service delivery.
Census Releases Updated List of Urban Areas
Last week, the Census Bureau released the official list of urban areas (UA) which includes definition changes to urbanized areas made Spring of 2022. The data is used to define rural areas for multiple programs, including Rural Health Clinic eligibility. The release of the UA files will allow organizations to start calculating updated rural definitions with 2020 Census data. All places with urban land use meeting the Census criteria are now delineated as UAs. All other places are rural when using the Census definition. See the December Federal Register Notice for more information on the UA changes for the 2020 Census.