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Research Brief: Technical Assistance for Hospitals Applying to the Pennsylvania Rural Health Model—A CMMI-Sponsored Rural Hospital Global Budget Model

Posted on by lad3

The Rural Health Value team recently released a new Rural Innovation Brief focused on technical assistance for rural hospitals considering participation in the Pennsylvania Rural Health Model.

Technical Assistance for Hospitals Applying to the Pennsylvania Rural Health Model—a CMMI-Sponsored Rural Hospital Global Budget Model – Rural hospitals, interested in participating in the Pennsylvania Rural Health Model, participated in a rapid cycle process to develop plans to transition from being volume-oriented to focusing on community health, facilitated by a global budget. This brief summarizes Rural Health Value’s process to facilitate hospital development of a transition plan for those considering developing or participating in a global budget or other transformation models for rural hospitals. (August 2019)

The report can be accessed here.

Does a Lower Income Mean a Shorter Life?

Posted on by lad3

Americans with lower incomes are less likely to live into their 70s and 80s than Americans with comparatively higher incomes, according to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released this week. GAO researchers found average life expectancy in the United States increased from 1992 to 2014, but it “has not increased uniformly across all income groups, and people who have lower incomes tend to have shorter lives than those with higher incomes.” (Source: Washington Post, 9/9)

Technical Assistance For Hospitals Applying to the Pennsylvania Rural Health Model

Posted on by Kalyn Bilger

Technical Assistance for Hospitals Applying to the Pennsylvania Rural Health Model—a CMMI-Sponsored Rural Hospital Global Budget Model – Rural hospitals, interested in participating in the Pennsylvania Rural Health Model, participated in a rapid cycle process to develop plans to transition from being volume-oriented to focusing on community health, facilitated by a global budget. This brief summarizes Rural Health Value’s process to facilitate hospital development of a transition plan for those considering developing or participating in a global budget or other transformation models for rural hospitals.

See document here.

Good Oral Health a Positive Part of the Ageing Process

Posted on by Kalyn Bilger

The world’s population is ageing, and experts predict that by 2050, 25% of the world’s population – 2 billion people – will be over 60 years old. A fifth of these – 400 million – will be over 80 years old. Epidemiological studies show that older persons are particularly affected by poor oral health, with negative consequences on their general health. Oral conditions such as dental caries, periodontal disease, tooth loss, dry mouth or oral cancer affect their chewing function and nutritional intake, as well as their ability to interact socially.

Continue reading “Good Oral Health a Positive Part of the Ageing Process” →

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Awards $9 Million to Develop New Models to Improve Obstetrics Care in Rural Communities

Posted on by Kalyn Bilger

Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), awarded nearly $9 million to launch the Rural Maternity and Obstetrics Management Strategies (RMOMS) program. Recipients from three states, Missouri, New Mexico and Texas, will receive up to $600,000 in a planning year and up to $800,000 in three implementation years to pilot, test, and develop models that improve access to and continuity of maternal obstetrics care in rural communities. Continue reading “U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Awards $9 Million to Develop New Models to Improve Obstetrics Care in Rural Communities” →

Hospital closings hit hard on the edge of the Rust Belt

Posted on by lad3
Associated Press, Wheeling, WV, September 8, 2019
Ohio Valley Medical Center employee Carrie Jones is shown Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2019, outside of the hospital in Wheeling, W.Va. The hospital and sister facility East Ohio Regional Hospital in Martins Ferry, Ohio, are closing after two years of ownership
Ohio Valley Medical Center employee Carrie Jones is shown Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2019, outside of the hospital in Wheeling, W.Va. The hospital and sister facility East Ohio Regional Hospital in Martins Ferry, Ohio, are closing after two years of ownership by Irvine, California-based Alecto Healthcare Services.

Carrie Jones is looking for work for the first time in two decades. She’s even more worried about what will happen to her psychiatric patients.  “Where are they going to go?” Jones said. “We’re honestly like their family.”

Jones is among nearly 1,100 employees being laid off at Ohio Valley Medical Center in Wheeling and sister facility East Ohio Regional Hospital in nearby Martins Ferry, Ohio.

The layoffs are the latest blow to a region on the edge of the Rust Belt that hasn’t fully benefited from the economic recovery that President Donald Trump — who attended a private campaign fundraiser in Wheeling in July — has touted. The area had managed to hang on after steel mills and other manufacturing plants closed, in part by forging a new identity as a health care hub.

But after two years of ownership, Irvine, California-based Alecto Healthcare Services announced both hospitals will close by next month. The company cited several factors, including losses of more than $37 million since taking over, increasing facility improvement needs and the lack of a potential partner or buyer, including a cross-town hospital.

Acute and emergency admissions were suspended Wednesday night at OVMC, where workers held an emotional candlelight vigil just before midnight.

The Appalachian hilltop region’s economy has steadily eroded in recent decades, a trend forecasters expect to continue. Steel mills farther north were shuttered long ago. Aluminum and other manufacturing plants in Ohio left as well.

As the jobs went, so have residents. The population in the three-county area on either side of the river about an hour west of Pittsburgh has fallen steadily since the early 1980s, including a 5.3 percent drop from 2010 to 2018.

Powered by a natural gas fracking boom, employment rebounded after the Great Recession. But a 2018 report by West Virginia University researchers said the area would need “a significant positive economic shock” to halt long-term declines.

North of Wheeling, a natural gas-fired power plant is planned on a reclaimed coal strip mine but would create only 30 permanent jobs. In Ohio, a petrochemical plant proposed in Belmont County has languished in the planning stages for years.

A block away from OVMC, the 166-year-old Centre Market District is filled with restaurants and shops that cater to hospital workers and patients’ families. Some business owners said they will be affected by the hospital closing but are prepared to handle it.

A few miles east, Wheeling Hospital is one of the state’s top 10 private employers. In Ohio, three of Belmont County’s top employers are hospitals. Doctors who work at the two hospitals will be forced to go elsewhere.

Read the entire article here.

Fewer U.S. Households Are Going Hungry, But Cuts In Food Aid Loom

Posted on by lad3

Millions of families in the U.S. struggled to get enough food to eat last year, but conditions appear to be getting better as the economy improves.

In a new report released Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture says that about 11 percent of households — just over 14 million — had trouble putting enough food on the table last year and that in about 4 percent of households, someone went hungry because there was not enough money to buy food.

While the numbers are high, they have steadily dropped in recent years and the government says that the level of what it calls food “insecurity” is finally back to where it was before the Great Recession began in 2007.

“That’s good news,” says Rachel Merker of First Focus, a group that advocates for children and families. But she and other anti-hunger advocates worry that the new numbers will be used to justify cuts in government aid. They say that hunger is still a problem, especially among certain vulnerable groups. “It’s important to note that children are disproportionately living in food insecure households,” Merker says.