The Washington Post reports that newly released federal drug data shows that more than 100 billion doses of oxycontin and hydrocodone were shipped across the nation in the nine-year period from 2006 through 2014. The data, which traces the path of every pill shipped in the U.S. from manufacturers and distributors, shows how the drugs flooded the nation and reaffirms that six companies distributed the vast majority of pills. Read more.

A new analysis examines the continued growth of America’s Community Health Centers. The authors analyze health center activity for 2018 and comparative years based on data from the Uniform Data System (UDS) and document the near tripling of health center capacity from 9.6 million patients served in 2000 to 28.4 million in 2018. While this growth is attributed to several factors, key among them is the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Medicaid expansion. Despite the significant growth in both health center capacity and scope, the authors caution that health centers are vulnerable to major federal policy decisions that directly affect the healthcare safety net, including uncertainty regarding the future of the Community Health Center Fund, the administration’s public charge rule, changes to the Title X family planning program, and Medicaid work requirement programs.  Download the report here.

On Jan. 8, 2020, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released a new Information Bulletin, Best Practices for Avoiding 340B Duplicate Discounts in Medicaid. While the bulletin makes clear that the exclusion file is solely for fee-for-service Medicaid (not managed care), an issue on which the Department of Human Services had disagreed with PACHC, there are also provisions of the bulletin that might prove problematic. PACHC and NACHC are reviewing the bulletin and its implications.

The Department of Health and Human Services has published its annual update of federal poverty guidelines. The new guidelines are effective Jan. 14, 2020, unless an office administering a program using the guidelines specifies a different effective date for that program. You can find the new guidelines here.

In testimony before the House Energy and Commerce Committee in Washington D.C. during the week of January 19, Jennifer Smith, Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Drug & Alcohol Programs, shared how federal funding has helped Pennsylvania have an impact on the opioid crisis.  She credited the contribution of $230 million in federal funding combined with state and local resources and the expansion of Medicaid with supporting an 18% drop in the state’s overdose deaths in 2018.  She also shared that a rise in stimulant use challenged the state in 2019 and the state was bound, in many cases, by drug-specific federal grants that couldn’t be shifted to address issues related to drugs like meth and cocaine. She urged shifting of funding to block grants to give states increased flexibility to address additional substances. Ms. Smith joined state officials from West Virginia, North Carolina, Massachusetts and Rhode Island in sharing how their governments have used federal funds earmarked to fight the opioid epidemic.

During the C-Suite Forum in the week of January 19, PACHC learned many community health centers are using Uber Health for patient transportation. The HIPAA-secure program allows patients to book rides at no charge to and from your health center as well as to clinician referral locations. The program limits your patient’s use of the ride share program to ensure you won’t be charged for rides beyond healthcare appointments. Your organization is billed monthly based on ride usage and you’ll receive a report with patient names and ride details. The system also offers integration directly into your organization’s EHR. Visit Uber Health’s website to learn more. Contact PACHC at pachc@pachc.org to let them know if your organization is using the program or if you want to connect with one of the centers utilizing the ride share service.

CMS requests input from rural and urban advocates, caregivers, providers, and States on best practices for using out-of-state providers to care for Medicaid-eligible children with medically complex conditions. Input may address how to coordinate care when providers are out-of-state; how to reduce barriers from receiving out-of-state care in a timely fashion; and best practices for screening and enrolling out-of-state providers in Medicaid. For more information, click here.

This project from the RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis included a non-exhaustive review of recent literature and interviews with three large health systems to explore their organizations’ strategies, and their approach, for engaging in telemedicine to support rural healthcare. For more information, click here.

According to a new report from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, parental drug use was a factor in 36 percent of cases where a child was removed from the home.  The brief examines the challenges specific to rural areas and recommends strategies to increase workforce capacity, improve access to services, and coordinate efforts of child welfare agencies and treatment providers. To read the report, click here.

Three decades after the first Surgeon General’s report on smoking cessation, on January 23, 2020, the Surgeon General released a new report that reviews and updates evidence on the importance of quitting smoking. The report finds that more than two-thirds of U.S. adult cigarette smokers report interest in quitting cigarette smoking; and the majority of adult cigarette smokers in the United States have tried to quit during the past year.

In addition to discussing the immediate and long-term health and economic benefits of smoking cessation at the individual and societal levels, this report presents updated findings on nicotine addiction and genetic factors that may impact smoking behaviors. Finally, the report discusses the wide variety of clinical and population-based interventions that have been scientifically shown to effectively increase smoking cessation.

“We know more about the science of quitting than ever before. As a nation, we can and must do more to ensure that evidence-based cessation treatments are reaching the people that need them,” said Surgeon General Vice Adm. Jerome M. Adams. “Today, I’m calling on healthcare professionals, health systems, employers, insurers, public health professionals, and policy makers to take action to put an end to the staggering—and completely preventable—human and financial tolls that smoking takes on our country.”

“The steady decline in the number of Americans who smoke cigarettes is one of the great public health victories of recent decades, and this success has continued under President Trump,” said HHS Secretary Alex Azar. “Americans who quit cigarettes can add as much as a decade to their life expectancy.

Unfortunately, millions of Americans still smoke cigarettes. But the good news is that, as the Surgeon General’s report shows, we know more than ever before about effective ways to help Americans quit. Working together, we can make tobacco-related disease and death a thing of the past.”

Though cigarette smoking among American adults is at an all-time low (14%), it remains the leading cause of preventable disease, disability, and death in the United States. Approximately 34 million American adults currently smoke cigarettes.

For more information on the Surgeon General’s Report:

• Read the press release here
• Read the full report here
• Additional information from the CDC here