- Public Inspection: CMS: Medicare Program: Implementation of Prior Authorization for Select Services for the Wasteful and Inappropriate Services Reduction Model
- CMS: Secretarial Comments on the CBE's (Battelle Memorial Institute) 2024 Activities: Report to Congress and the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services
- HHS: Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: Marketplace Integrity and Affordability
- HRSA Announces Action to Lower Out-of-Pocket Costs for Life-Saving Medications at Health Centers Nationwide
- Public Inspection: HHS: Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: Marketplace Integrity and Affordability
- Increased Risk of Cyber Threats Against Healthcare and Public Health Sector
- Eight Hospitals Selected for First Cohort of Rural Hospital Stabilization Program
- Announcing the 2030 Census Disclosure Avoidance Research Program
- CMS: Medicare Program; Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems for Acute Care Hospitals and the Long-Term Care Hospital Prospective Payment System and Policy Changes and Fiscal Year 2026 Rates; Requirements for Quality Programs; and Other Policy Changes; Correction
- CMS: Medicare Program; Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems for Acute Care Hospitals and the Long-Term Care Hospital Prospective Payment System and Policy Changes and Fiscal Year 2026 Rates; Requirements for Quality Programs; and Other Policy Changes; Correction
- CMS: Medicare and Medicaid Programs; Contract Year 2026 Policy and Technical Changes to the Medicare Advantage Program, Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit Program, Medicare Cost Plan Program, and Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly; Correction
- CMS: Medicare and Medicaid Programs; Contract Year 2026 Policy and Technical Changes to the Medicare Advantage Program, Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit Program, Medicare Cost Plan Program, and Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly; Correction
- CMS: Medicare Program; Prospective Payment System and Consolidated Billing for Skilled Nursing Facilities; Updates to the Quality Reporting Program for Federal Fiscal Year 2026
- CMS: Medicare Program; FY 2026 Hospice Wage Index and Payment Rate Update and Hospice Quality Reporting Program Requirements
- Public Inspection: CMS: Medicare Program: Fiscal Year 2026 Hospice Wage Index and Payment Rate Update and Hospice Quality Reporting Program Requirements
Innovative State Responses to the Opioid Crisis
Recently there has been an increase in federal funding to help mitigate the opioid crisis. This funding has allowed some health centers to create and expand partnerships with housing authorities in their communities. This brief provides creative treatment ideas to work with patients who have opioid use disorder (OUD) and struggle with homelessness and includes ways to partner with various housing services to best help your patients.
COVID-19 Resources for Non-English-Speaking People
The COVID-19 Health Literacy Project provides translations of essential information about COVID-19 in more than 35 languages. Harvard faculty has vetted all of the information in this project that was started by a medical student at Harvard. Patients with limited English proficiency are likely to be at higher risk for COVID-19 and its complications. These translational materials, along with a guidance article, Culturally and Linguistically Competent Care from ECRI, can help provide health centers with the information needed to communicate with those patients whose first language is not English and other patients with diverse cultural needs.
Contact Tracing – Guidance on this Path Out of Isolation
Contact tracing is what is now on everyone’s radar in order to help in the next step to begin to open up the country. Contact tracing is a process designed to halt the chain of transmission of an infectious pathogen–like the coronavirus–and slow community spread. When someone tests positive for an infectious disease, they become a “case.” Public health workers then reach out to the case to make sure they have what they need and that they are self-isolating. They will then figure out who they had contact with who may be at risk of infection, too. NPR recently released a guide on the basics of the process and how it might help society restart after the current wave of coronavirus cases.
US’s digital divide ‘is going to kill people’ as Covid-19 exposes inequalities
Amanda Holpuch, The Guardian
Exclusive research shows drop in connectivity is impacting rural and urban areas with populations already underserved by the medical system or racked with poverty
The Covid-19 crisis is exposing how the cracks in the US’s creaking digital infrastructure are potentially putting lives at risk, exclusive research shows.
With most of the country on lockdown and millions relying on the internet for work, healthcare, education and shopping, research by M-Lab, an open source project which monitors global internet performance, showed that internet service slowed across the country after the lockdowns.
“This is going to kill people,” said Sascha Meinrath, co-founder of M-Lab.
In late March, most people in 62% of counties across the US did not have the government’s minimum download speed for broadband internet, according to M-Lab.
Between February and mid March, when the pandemic was only just beginning to hit the US, there was a 10% increase in how many counties saw download speeds fall below the government standard, representing about one in 10 US counties, M-Lab found.
“Now that people’s livelihoods, schools and lives, are literally on the line, we can’t survive,” Meinrath said. “These communities that are underserved are not going to be able to transition to an online workplace or school environment.”
ADA Offers PPE Guidance As States Consider Reopening
The American Dental Association (ADA) has released interim guidance on personal protective equipment (PPE) for states considering reopening dental practices. The interim guidance focuses on the PPE recommended in order to practice during this pandemic and minimize the risk of virus transmission.
Impact of COVID-19 on Dental Practices
The Health Policy Institute (HPI) is conducting a bi-weekly survey of dental providers across the country to gauge the impact of COVID-19 on dental practices. According to the April 6th survey, 29.4% of PA dental practices are closed and not seeing emergency patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, 57.2% of PA dental offices are not able to pay their staff at all during this time. A recording of “How is COVID-19 Impacting the Dental Care Sector” is available at the link below and discusses the data.
Click here for the webinar recording.
Click here for more information.
Click here for Pennsylvania-specific information.
Listen: Pandemic Stresses Already Fragile Rural Health Care Systems
Kaiser Health News (KHN) Midwest correspondent Lauren Weber joined WAMU’s “1A” show with guest host Sasha-Ann Simons to talk about the unique challenges rural health care providers face amid the coronavirus pandemic — even before their communities get overrun with a surge of COVID-19 cases.
Weber has reported on how the suspension of elective surgery and other procedures amid the pandemic has threatened the financial survival of the country’s rural hospitals — and how hospital executives don’t feel the first round of federal bailout relief money was enough. She also has written about the front-line fight at a rural Louisiana hospital that forecasts what the pandemic will look like when it hits the rest of rural America.
Listen to the story here.
COVID-19 Outreach and Enrollment News
From the Pennsylvania Association of Community Health Centers (PACHC)
Income and Eligibility for Health Insurance
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) signed into law on March 27 provided for payments of up to $1200 for every adult and $500 per dependent child. This Stimulus payment does not count as income for Medicaid/CHIP or APTC determinations. It should also not be reported on any application for assistance.
Regular Unemployment is always counted as income. The extension of unemployment of up to 39 weeks and the expansion unemployment to new populations is counted as income. The additional $600/week supplemental unemployment benefit ends July 31, 2020. This benefit does not count toward Medicaid/CHIP but DOES COUNT toward income for Marketplace Coverage and APTC eligibility.
While the Federal government has not issued a special enrollment period or opened the marketplace due to the Pandemic, consumers who have lost coverage may qualify for a special enrollment period. Special Enrollment Period Reference Guide
For more information, visits PACHC’s COVID-19 page.
Emergency SNAP Benefit Distribution to Begin Today, Local Feeding Programs Available in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf announced that the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) will begin an emergency Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefit issuance today in line with the federal government’s interpretation of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. Payments include a supplemental increase for both March and April and will continue to be issued for current SNAP households through April 29. DHS is also advising Pennsylvanians in need of food assistance of local supports that can help meet essential needs during the public health crisis
DHS received approval from the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) to issue emergency payments that will allow DHS to increase a household’s currently monthly payment up to the maximum benefit amount for each household size. DHS had requested authorization to issue an additional benefit equal to a household’s monthly payment to all SNAP households and was denied.
Individuals and families in need of assistance should contact their local food bank through Feeding PA or Hunger-Free PA to find a food pantry or other distribution site in their community. The United Way of Pennsylvania and the 211 program can also connect people and families to local resources that can help during the public health crisis.
COVID-19 Related RHC Resources Added!
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Pennsylvania Office of Rural Health has updated it’s Rural Health Clinic program page to house important information and resources for Rural Health Clinics during this time. This page will be updated regularly.