- Weathering the Storm Together: Community Resiliency Hubs Hold the Promise of Local Self-Sufficiency and Supportive Mutual Aid
- Virginia Tech Researchers Bring Rural Families into the Nation's Largest Study of Early Brain and Child Development
- Expanding Access to Cancer Care for Rural Veterans
- VA: Veterans Rural Health Advisory Committee, Notice of Meeting
- Scaling Rural Wellness with Clever Collaboration
- Stroudwater Associates Enhances Rural Healthcare Dashboard with New Data to Support State Rural Transformation Grant Applications
- Harvest Season Is Here: Busy Times Call for Increased Focus on Safety and Health
- HHS Dispatches More Than 70 Public Health Service Officers to Strengthen Care in Tribal Communities
- Wisconsin Rural Hospitals Team up to Form Network
- CMS Launches Landmark $50 Billion Rural Health Transformation Program
- American Heart Association Provides Blood Pressure Kits at Southeast Arkansas Regional Libraries to Support Rural Health
- Broadening Access to Minimally Invasive Surgery Could Narrow Rural-Urban Health Gaps
- Instead of Selling, Some Rural Hospitals Band Together To Survive
- Help Line Gives Pediatricians Crucial Mental Health Information to Help Kids, Families
- Rural Health: A Strategic Opportunity for Governors
COVID-19 & Oral Health: Resource for School Nurses
During the current pandemic, school nurses may be the only avenue for assuring that children receive dental screenings/referrals. The Association and State and Territorial Dental Directors (ASTDD) and the National Association of School Nurses have collaborated to develop a resource to assist with doing so. Please share the below resource with any school nurses you may work with or know.
Report Focuses on Networks for Oral Health Integration
The National Maternal and Child Oral Health Resource Center (OHRC) produced a report that provides information about the “Networks for Oral Health Integration Within the Maternal and Child Health Safety Net” projects funded by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB). The goal of the 5-year initiative is to improve access to and utilization of comprehensive, high-quality oral health care in community health centers for target populations (i.e., pregnant women, infants and children from birth to age 40 months, children ages 6–11) at high risk for oral disease.
CMS Hasn’t Started Garnishing Medicare Pay to Recoup $100 Billion in Loans
Hospitals that received COVID-19 relief loans from Medicare expected that CMS would cut off their fee-for-service reimbursement after four months, but as deadlines have passed the agency apparently hasn’t started garnishing payments. State and national hospital associations, providers and consultants that work with providers said their reimbursements remain the same although CMS said it would begin recouping Medicare Accelerated and Advance Payment Program funds. In March and April, hospitals received more than 80% of the $100.3 billion in relief loans from CMS.
Pennsylvania Governor Renews Coronavirus Disaster Declaration
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf announced on September 1 that he has renewed a 90-day disaster declaration, now for a second time, after he originally signed it in early March following the confirmation of the first positive cases of the coronavirus in Pennsylvania.
The original declaration was set to expire Tuesday, and the new declaration will last through late November, unless Wolf ends it.
“We are going to continue to combat the health and economic effects of COVID-19, and the renewal of my disaster declaration will provide us with resources and support needed for this effort,” Wolf said in a statement.
Under state law, an emergency disaster declaration gives governors the authority to issue or rescind executive orders and regulations, access stockpiles of emergency supplies and equipment and suspend laws or regulations that govern state agencies.
Executive orders have the force of law, under emergency disaster law. As part of it, the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency has been able to assign missions to the National Guard, and it could in the future allow PEMA to rapidly deploy a vaccine, Wolf’s office said.
HHS Providing Up to 125M Face Masks to Schools
HHS is working to support safe school reopening for students, teachers and staff. In support of this, HHS is providing up to 125 million cloth face masks to states and territories for distribution to schools. The Administration intends for these masks to support students, teachers and staff in public and private schools that are reopening – with an emphasis on students who are low-income (or otherwise with high needs) and schools providing in-person instruction.
These masks will be allocated according to the share of students from low-income families in each state. The cloth face masks will be distributed in two shipments, starting in early September 2020.
Additional information on Cloth Face Masks in Schools and State Allocations: Cloth Face Masks in Schools can be found on ASPR’s public facing website.
Pennsylvania Census 2020 Updates
Pennsylvania Census Completion Map for August 2020
- A recent article by NPR highlights how changes to operational timelines may limit the ability for the U.S. Census Bureau to adequately review the data, possibly affecting the data’s accuracy.
- The U.S. Census Bureau announced a new survey, the 2020 Census User Experience Survey, which will measure how satisfied respondents were with their experience using the online questionnaire.
- According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s daily 2020 Census housing unit completion rates, over 73% of housing units have been accounted for in the 2020 Census.
- The U.S. Census Bureau recently released a presentation providing updates for their operational planning and how the Bureau is adapting operations to ensure a complete and accurate count by December 31, 2020.
- Follow response rates to the 2020 Census with the U.S. Census Bureau’s Response Rates page. Or check out the Hard To Count 2020 tool created by SUNY’s Center for Urban Research which has a variety of other useful data in addition to response rates.
- Avoid fraud and scams related to the 2020 Census by reviewing these tips from the U.S. Census Bureau.