- VA Announces Expansion of "Close to Me" Cancer Program as Part of the Cancer Moonshot, Bringing Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment Closer to Thousands of Veterans
- Biden-Harris Administration Releases National Strategy for Suicide Prevention and First-Ever Federal Action Plan
- Biden-Harris Administration Takes Historic Action to Increase Access to Quality Care, and Support to Families and Care Workers
- Biden Administration Sets Higher Staffing Mandates. Most Nursing Homes Don't Meet Them.
- Rural Jails Turn to Community Health Workers To Help the Newly Released Succeed
- Rural Communities Face Primary Care Physician Shortage
- Miles for Milk: How Student-Run Grocery Store Reshaped Rural Community's Food Access
- Native Americans Have Shorter Life Spans, and It's Not Just Due to Lack of Health Care
- Promotoras Play Essential Role in Connecting Farmworkers with Health Care in Rural NorCal
- Across the Country, Amish Populations Are on the Rise
- Using Medicaid to Address Young People's Mental Health Needs in School Settings
- Sunsets, Wildlife and Limited Care: Challenges of Aging in Place in Rural America
- City-Country Mortality Gap Widens amid Persistent Holes in Rural Health Care Access
- Tribal Environmental Impact Network
- Minnesota's Rural Ambulance Providers Look to State Capitol for Their Own Lifeline
Confronting Rural America’s Health Care Crisis
Offers policy recommendations to stabilize the rural healthcare infrastructure and ensuring local access to care. Discusses strategies to provide financial relief to rural providers, preserve obstetric services, expand telehealth services, and address workforce shortages.
Responding to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Toolkit for Emotional Coping for Healthcare Staff (TECHS): Putting it into Practice
Listen to a webinar introducing a toolkit for the benefit of frontline healthcare workers and psychosocial professionals helping to support healthcare workers who may be experiencing traumatic stress. Adapted from an intervention used for parents of children with cancer. Transcript available by clicking the three dots above the Subscribe button. Sponsoring organization: Center for Pediatric Traumatic Stress
Federally Qualified Health Centers & Rural Health Clinics Acting as Distant Site Providers in Medicare
Provides answers to common questions regarding guidance from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services allowing FQHCs and RHCs to serve as telehealth distant site providers during a public health emergency. Includes information on reimbursement for telehealth services and billing for virtual communication services.
COVID-19: Health Care in Rural America
A podcast focusing on how rural areas are taking action in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Looks at public health responses, volunteer activities, the effects of social distancing, and healthcare workforce issues. Features Alana Knudson, co-director of the Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis, and physician Dr. James Hotz.
COVID-19 Cases in Rural Persistent Poverty Counties
A map comparing the number of COVID-19 cases in rural persistent poverty counties between March 16, 2020, when the CDC issued national social distancing guidelines, and April 16, 2020. Based on data collected by the New York Times.
Cash-Strapped and Volunteer-Dependent, Rural EMS Providers Scramble to Keep Responders Safe
When COVID-19 arrived in a rural Wisconsin county, local EMS providers increased their use of personal protective equipment (PPE) to stay safe, but replenishing those supplies has proven difficult. Highlights efforts to keep paramedics safe, such as ordering gear from auto suppliers and limiting interaction with patients.
Coronavirus Pandemic Threatens to Take Crushing Toll on Rural Areas, Data Show
Summarizes an analysis of every U.S. county’s preparedness level, revealing that rural areas are less prepared to handle the coronavirus pandemic. The dashboard scores are based on measurements such as nearby critical care capacity and underlying demographics of the community. Describes how existing disparities in underserved populations may also put them at a higher risk.
Livestream Conversation Offers First-Hand Accounts of Broadband Challenges During Coronavirus Pandemic
Summarizes the first Daily Yonder/National Rural Assembly Livestream Conversation on rural broadband, featuring leaders from a school district in Central Texas, a hospital in a Washington tribal community, a community nonprofit in Mississippi, and groups serving rural youth in Vermont. Includes a recording of the webinar, discusses challenges to rural broadband access and highlights how they are responding to COVID-19.
WalkWorks Funding Opportunity Announcement for the Development of Plans and Policies to Establish Activity-Friendly Routes that Connect to Everyday Destinations
COVID-19 has confirmed what many of us already knew: walking and bicycling are critical modes of transportation that warrant attention and funding. Walking, biking and any form of wheeling are independent, reliable and resilient transportation modes that are healthy for our minds, bodies and the environment.
WalkWorks is pleased to announce its fourth round of assistance to advance policy development related to active transportation. Once again, grants will be offered to a limited number of municipalities and other governmental bodies to assist with the development of Active Transportation Plans, Complete Streets policies and/or Vision Zero policies. These plans and policies are essential to the efforts to establish activity-friendly routes that connect people to everyday destinations, thereby expanding opportunities for physical activity.
In the context of this Funding Opportunity, active transportation includes walking, wheeling and public transit. Eligible applicants include municipalities, Metropolitan and Rural Planning Organizations (MPOs/RPOs) and other governmental agencies with the capacity to accomplish the proposed project.
Because WalkWorks is sensitive to the environment in which we are presently living and working, the timeframe to develop and submit applications is longer than it has been in previous years. WalkWorks hopes that this affords all interested parties adequate time to address the possibility of applying with their governing bodies, colleagues, and others as well as to complete the application. Though detailed throughout the Funding Opportunity Announcement, which includes the application (Appendix E), the following are some pertinent dates:
May 14, 2020: A non-mandatory webinar will highlight aspects of the Funding Opportunity Announcement and provide an opportunity for potential applicants to ask questions. Log-in information is detailed on page 6 of the Announcement.
July 2, 2020: Applications must be received by this date/time or they will not be considered.
September 3, 2020: Grant recipients will be notified on or close to this date; those not being awarded funding in this cycle will receive notice shortly thereafter.
If interested, please consider whether your organization meets the eligibility requirements and share with the decision-making body of your municipality or agency. Let the elected officials know of your interest in and the rationale for wanting to apply. By doing so, you can ensure and expedite obtaining the support of your decision-makers — documentation of which must be included with your application.
WalkWorks is seeking broad distribution of this announcement and would very much appreciate your sharing it with others, such as municipal and county planners and MPOs/RPOs. Further, we hope that the MPOs/RPOs will inform the municipalities within their respective regions of this opportunity.
In addition to the link, above, the full announcement, including the application and appendices, will be available on the PA WalkWorks website.
All questions/comments should be sent to pawalkworks@pitt.edu.
HHS Launches COVID-19 Uninsured Program Portal
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has launched a new COVID-19 Uninsured Program Portal, allowing health care providers who have conducted COVID-19 testing or provided treatment for uninsured COVID-19 individuals on or after February 4, 2020 to submit claims for reimbursement. Providers can access the portal at COVIDUninsuredClaim.HRSA.gov.
The Trump Administration is committed to ensuring that individuals are protected against financial obstacles that might prevent them from getting the testing and treatment they need for COVID-19. As part of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, health care providers can request claims reimbursement electronically through the COVID-19 Uninsured Program Portal and receive reimbursement, generally at Medicare rates for testing uninsured individuals for COVID-19 and treating uninsured individuals with a COVID-19 diagnosis.