- Students From Across the State Emphasized the Need for Mental Health Resources in Rural Alaska During a Conference
- The South Was the Center of Rural Population Growth Last Year
- How HHS SUD Confidentiality Regulations Will Impact Rural Providers
- 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
- Navajo Psychiatrist Bridges Gaps Between Native American Culture and Behavioral Health Care
- Biden-Harris Administration Releases National Strategy for Suicide Prevention and First-Ever Federal Action Plan
- Rural Communities Face Primary Care Physician Shortage
- Rural Jails Turn to Community Health Workers To Help the Newly Released Succeed
- 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.
- 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
- Using Medicaid to Address Young People's Mental Health Needs in School Settings
- Across the Country, Amish Populations Are on the Rise
- Promotoras Play Essential Role in Connecting Farmworkers with Health Care in Rural NorCal
Health Insurance Exchange 2021 Open Enrollment Window Shopping
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that starting today consumers can preview 2021 healthcare plans and prices on HealthCare.gov. This is an opportunity for consumers to compare coverage options ahead of Open Enrollment for the Federal Health Insurance Exchange, which officially kicks-off on November 1. As in previous years, window shopping allows consumers and those assisting consumers, such as licensed brokers and Navigators, to browse plans without logging in, creating an account, or filling out the official application.
As we get ready for Open Enrollment, CMS has updated and improved the HealthCare.gov experience by incorporating integrated help and enhanced resources. These updates provide content that guides consumers and enables enrollees to easily access and understand information they may need to make informed choices about coverage. HealthCare.gov also added a new planning resource for consumers to estimate their yearly income. CMS will continue to enhance the application, enrollment, and educational support based on consumer feedback.
Starting November 1, consumers can log in to HealthCare.gov and CuidadodeSalud.gov or call 1-800-318-2596 to fill out an application and enroll in a 2021 Exchange health plan. The Federal Health Insurance Exchange 2021 Open Enrollment Period is November 1, 2020 to December 15, 2020, with coverage beginning on January 1, 2021.
- To view the press release, visit: Press Release
- To view the 2021 Fact Sheet for more information, visit: Fact Sheet
- To view the 2021 Plan Landscape Data, visit: Plan Landscape Data
- To view the 2021 Health Insurance Exchange Premium Landscape Issue Brief, visit: Issue Brief
- To see the 2021 Health Insurance Exchange Public Use Files, visit: Health Insurance Exchange Public Use Files
- To see the Plan Year 2021 Quality Rating System Public Use Files, visit: Quality Rating System Public Use Files
Tool for Rural Grant Eligibility Updated
Rural Health Grants Eligibility Analyzer tool to include the Office of Management and Budget-revised delineations for metropolitan, micropolitan and combined statistical areas.
HRSA Announces Two New Aging with HIV Reference Guides
As people with HIV age, their health care and social needs change. All members of the healthcare team can assist in the care and treatment as people age with HIV. The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) HIV/AIDS Bureau (HAB) has released two new aging with HIV reference guides to assist healthcare professionals in supporting this growing population.
- Incorporating New Elements of Care – This reference guide identifies commonly occurring healthcare and social needs of people aging with HIV and highlights the screenings and assessments for these needs.
- Putting Together the Best Health Care Team – This reference guide discusses how all members of the healthcare team can contribute to the care of people aging with HIV.
Life Unites Us – Data-Driven Decision Making
Life Unites Us, the statewide campaign launched by Governor Tom Wolf that focuses on ways to reduce the stigma of Substance Use Disorders (SUD), is hosting a free webinar on Oct. 27 at 12:00 pm on how to make important decisions utilizing your organization’s data. This webinar will help attendees to boost confidence in making programmatic data-driven decisions and will help you to learn ways to implement best practices when working with data in your health center. Register here.
Department of Health Updated COVID-19 and Treatment Drugs FAQs
The Pennsylvania Department of Health updated the COVID-19 and Treatment Drugs FAQ. Substantive changes were made to the July 24, 2020 version and are shown in a red font. Q&As on convalescent plasma and Regeneron have been added, and answers regarding Remdesivir have been updated based on the revised EUA. Click here to review the updated FAQs.
Managing Dental Caries Against the Backdrop of COVID-19: Approaches to Reduce Aerosol Generation
Newly released Managing Dental Caries Against the Backdrop of COVID-19: Approaches to Reduce Aerosol Generation aims to present evidence-based treatments that remove or reduce the generation of aerosols during the management of carious lesions. It maps aerosol generating procedures (AGPs), where possible, to alternative non-AGPs or low AGPs. This risk reduction approach overcomes the less favorable outcomes associated with temporary solutions or extraction-only approaches.
Telebehavioral Health – An Effective Alternative to In-Person Care
A new report presents findings from a pre-COVID 2019 review of telebehavioral health’s effectiveness on key clinical outcomes. This Milbank Memorial Fund report also features insights into the telebehavioral health policies and program structures of Texas and Massachusetts Medicaid and an example from the Veterans Affairs administration. These findings may provide useful lessons for state policymakers as they consider next steps for telehealth. The full report is available here.
Medicaid Telehealth Toolkit Updated, Telehealth Utilization Snapshot Published
On Oct. 14, the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services (CMCS) updated its Medicaid telehealth toolkit to include additional detail on telehealth modalities, tools to support states in analyzing and further developing telehealth benefits, and specific examples from several states. This comprehensive toolkit includes special considerations for pediatric populations and compiles a variety of other federal telehealth resources for states. Alongside the toolkit update, CMCS also released a data snapshot analyzing the dramatic increase in telehealth in Medicaid since the beginning of this year. The snapshot, derived from Transformed Medicaid Statistical Information System (T-MSIS) data, shows telehealth utilization increasing over 2600% between January and June 2020, with significant increases across all age groups. The increases were most pronounced for adults aged 19 – 64.
Weigh in on DHS HIT Survey
The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) is conducting an important survey of the state’s outpatient healthcare provider practices. DHS is conducting the survey because CMS has requested each state to assess the current degree of Health Information Technology (Health IT) adoption, usage and challenges experienced by its healthcare providers. Some important considerations:
- Survey results will be reported to CMS as part of the Pennsylvania’s State Medicaid Health IT Plan, and will be used to inform policy decisions as part of the commonwealth’s efforts to encourage meaningful use of health IT.
- This survey should be completed by one individual on behalf of the entire practice/organization. The individual may be a provider, practice manager, CIO, or any individual who is familiar with the health center’s health IT adoption and is authorized to answer the survey on behalf of the FQHC.
- Your answers will be kept anonymous and reported only in the aggregate.
Access the survey here. For your convenience, DHS has also posted a downloadable copy of the survey (in PDF format) on its website so that you can preview it and use it to gather answers prior to completing the actual survey. Preview the PDF of the survey. The survey is estimated to take 15-20 minutes to complete.
RAND: Americans Pay 8x More for Insulin
Insulin prices are more than eight times higher in the United States than in 32 high-income comparison nations combined, according to a RAND Corporation study. This ranges from 3.8 times higher than Chile to 27.7 times higher than Turkey. Closer to home, they were 6.3 times higher than Canada. Even accounting for rebates and discounts, U.S. consumers are still likely to pay four times the average paid in other high-income nations. The study was sponsored by the Health and Human Services Office for Planning and Evaluation. Read more.