Produced by The National Rural Health Resource Center, this six-part podcast series was developed by the Small Rural Hospital Transition Project for rural hospital mid-level management (MLMs). Guests feature MLMs from rural hospitals and subject-matter experts. Tune in to learn best practices for leading through the transition to value and population health. New episodes released every Tuesday through the end of July. Find the podcast here.

The National Rural HIT Coalition is an informal network of rural and Health Information Technology (HIT) leaders from organizations at every level, working to advance implementation of HIT in rural areas.  The group meets by conference call several times a year and meeting notes with presentations on issues for rural HIT are archived by the National Rural Health Resource Center.

In this 20-minute video, the nonprofit Center for Connected Health Policy (CCHP) provides an overview of the complicated structure of telehealth policy in the United States.  The  CCHP forms the National Telehealth Resource Centers to provide assistance and information to rural and under-served populations. Find the video here.

On July 6, The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed updates to payment policies and rates under the End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Prospective Payment System (PPS) for CY 2021. The proposal includes an expansion of the transitional add-on payment adjustment for new and innovative equipment and supplies (TPNIES) to qualifying home dialysis machines to support greater access and innovation for dialysis in the home setting.  Proposed changes also include an ESRD base rate increase, updates to the outlier policy and adoption of new OMB delineations.  CMS projects that rural ESRD facilities will experience a 0.6 percent increase in their CY 2021 estimated payments.  The proposed rule is currently on display and was published in the federal register on July 13, 2020. Find more information here.