- 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
HRSA Announces New $350 Million Initiative to Increase COVID-19 Vaccinations
HRSA will distribute funding to health centers to support community-based vaccination events and outreach focused on underserved populations
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), announced a new $350 million initiative for HRSA-supported health centers to increase COVID-19 vaccines in their communities, with a specific focus on underserved populations. This funding will support health centers administering updated COVID-19 vaccines through mobile, drive-up, walk-up, or community-based vaccination events, including working with community-based organizations, and other efforts to increase the administration of COVID-19 vaccines.
“Community health centers save lives,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. “We will continue to reach, vaccinate, and protect our most vulnerable people across the country working together with community health centers and community-based organizations. We have seen COVID infections increase in prior winters, and it does not have to be that way this year. We now have updated COVID-19 vaccines to protect communities against the Omicron strain. Our message is simple: Don’t wait. Get an updated COVID-19 vaccine this fall. It’s safe and effective.”
“As community-based organizations that have built deep relationships with their patients and neighborhoods, health centers are uniquely positioned to increase COVID-19 vaccinations,” said HRSA Administrator Carole Johnson. “These funds will ensure that people who live in underserved communities have access to updated COVID-19 vaccines this winter through community-based vaccination events hosted by health care providers and organizations they trust.”
The Expanding COVID-19 Vaccination initiative will provide resources directly to health centers throughout the country to increase COVID-19 vaccinations this winter by addressing the unique access barriers experienced by the underserved populations that health centers serve. HRSA anticipates these efforts will also increase flu and childhood vaccinations through combined vaccination events. All HRSA-funded health centers, as well as health center look-alikes that received American Rescue Plan funding, will be eligible. These funds build on the previous investments made to HRSA-funded health centers to combat COVID-19 and will help even more Americans have access to updated COVID-19 vaccines. To date, health centers have administered more than 22 million vaccines in underserved communities across the country, of which 70 percent to patients of racial and ethnic minorities.
To facilitate access to COVID-19 vaccination, the initiative will foster new and strengthened coordination, with community-based organizations that provide childcare, early childhood development, housing, food, employment, education, older adult, or behavioral health services. Health centers will be encouraged to support mobile, drive-up, walk-up, or community-based vaccination events; extend operating hours, outreach, and off-site vaccination locations to expand opportunities for COVID-19 vaccination; and support access to COVID-19 vaccination by expanding transportation, translation, education, and interpretation services.
The nearly 1,400 HRSA-funded community health centers serve as a national source of primary care in underserved communities, providing services through more than 14,000 sites across the country. They are community-based and patient-directed organizations that deliver affordable, accessible, and high-quality medical, dental, and behavioral health services to more than 30 million patients each year, with specific initiatives intended to reach people experiencing homelessness, agricultural workers, and residents of public housing.
In 2021, HRSA-funded health centers provided care for one-in-five residents in rural areas and one-in-eleven people nationwide. One-in-three health center patients are living in poverty, and nearly two-thirds are racial/ethnic minorities.
Learn more about the Health Center Program: https://bphc.hrsa.gov/about-health-centers/health-center-program-impact-growth
Read the White House FACT SHEET: Biden Administration Announces Six-Week Campaign to Get More Americans their Updated COVID-19 Vaccine Before End of the Year.
Rural Health System Value-Based Care Innovators Roundtable: Strategies and Insights
The Rural Health Value team recently released a report that describes interviews with five health systems supporting value-based care in their rural affiliates. Interview topics included organizational structure, governance and decision-making, operations, data and communication, contracts, and social determinants of health. The report includes common health system tensions and opportunities as they facilitate rural affiliate success in value-based care. The Rural Health Value team is funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy.
Mapping COVID-19 Response in Rural Communities.
A new interactive mapping tool provides rural-specific information on COVID-19 vaccination rates, including newly released data on bivalent boosters, COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, and other health and sociodemographic information at the community level. The tool was created by the NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis – with support and data provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – to help decision-making about vaccination efforts and resources. All data can be downloaded for free; every county also has an individual fact sheet comparing all county-level data to the rest of their state and the nation.
Take a Look at the FORHP Grants in Motion
Each quarter, The Rural Monitor features an in-depth look at the work of FORHP grantees. This edition of Grants in Motion focuses on the South Dakota Palliative Care Network, a grantee of the Rural Health Network Development Program (RHND). The RHND program supports integrated healthcare networks that collaborate with other local providers and services to achieve efficiencies and strengthen the rural healthcare system as a whole.
New Research on Rural-Urban Disparities in Medicare
This report from CMS highlights (1) rural-urban differences in Medicare beneficiaries’ health care experiences and clinical care, (2) how rural-urban differences in quality of care vary by race and ethnicity, and (3) how racial and ethnic differences in quality of care vary between rural and urban areas.
AmeriCorps VISTA Accepting Concept Papers for Projects to Alleviate Poverty
Volunteers in Service to America – also known as VISTA – is a federal service program that provides resources and staffing to public and nonprofit organizations to address poverty and poverty-related problems. AmeriCorps VISTA members are placed at sponsoring organizations and serve for one year at approximately 40 hours per week. The concept paper is a preliminary screening tool that AmeriCorps uses to evaluate whether the organization would be an appropriate VISTA sponsor and if the proposed project meets core criteria. Priorities include economic opportunity, education, access to health care, and environmental stewardship for rural areas, tribal communities, and areas of concentrated poverty. Accepting Papers Until January 18
Spread the Word About Health Insurance.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has a collection of tools for helping individuals and families get health insurance during the Marketplace Open Enrollment period, November 1, 2022, through January 15, 2023. Graphics, social media messages, and customizable posters and fact sheets, are available in English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese. Marketplace plans are an important source of coverage for people in rural areas, who represent approximately 15 percent of Marketplace enrollees in states using HealthCare.gov.
Surge in Pediatric Respiratory Infections
HRSA’s Maternal and Child Health Bureau is asking providers to share an important message about an unprecedented surge of respiratory illness in children. While the typical RSV season begins in late fall, this year’s outbreak started in the spring and severe illness continues to increase. Most children are exposed to the respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, in the first year of life and almost all have been infected within 2 years. While RSV infections can be severe in the first 6 months, subsequent infections are usually milder, causing cold-like symptoms. During the first 18 months of the pandemic, masking and distancing measures kept the virus from circulating. But this year and last, as in-person gatherings increased and children when back to school and daycare without masks, the virus has affected kids with little to no immunity.
New Funding Available to Promote Affordable Broadband
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will make $70 million available to governmental and non-governmental entities to increase participation in the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), an ongoing program that provides qualifying low-income households with discounts on broadband service and connected devices. The Affordable Connectivity Outreach Grant Program (Grants.gov posting) will make approximately 300 awards between $50,000 and $1 million each to eligible applicants including, but not limited to: state, local, and tribal governments; public housing agencies; social service providers; education organizations; nonprofit and community-based organizations. Funding Deadline January 9.
Review the Highlighting for Fiscal Year 2022 Federal Office of Rural Health Policy Investments
Over its 36-year history, the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy has provided billions of dollars in funding to increase healthcare access, strengthen health networks, and focus on care quality improvements for Critical Access Hospitals and small rural hospitals. In the fiscal year 2022, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) – through the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) – provided approximately $408 million in funding to increase healthcare access, strengthen health networks, and focus on care quality improvements for Critical Access Hospitals and small rural hospitals as detailed in this HRSA Rural Health Fact Sheet.
FORHP is also supporting HRSA’s goal to achieve health equity by supporting efforts to strengthen healthcare delivery systems, reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with substance use disorder, and provide COVID-19 pandemic relief in rural communities. See this State-by-State summary for grants to rural communities and states.