- 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: Prospective Payment System and Consolidated Billing for Skilled Nursing Facilities; Updates to the Quality Reporting Program for Federal Fiscal Year 2026
- Public Inspection: CMS: Medicare Program: Fiscal Year 2026 Hospice Wage Index and Payment Rate Update and Hospice Quality Reporting Program Requirements
- CMS: Request for Information; Health Technology Ecosystem
- VA: Staff Sergeant Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program Funding Opportunity
- State: 60-Day Notice of Proposed Information Collection: J-1 Visa Waiver Recommendation Application
- Public Inspection: CMS: Request for Information: Health Technology Ecosystem
- HHS: Request for Information (RFI): Ensuring Lawful Regulation and Unleashing Innovation To Make American Healthy Again
- VA: Solicitation of Nominations for the Appointment to the Advisory Committee on Tribal and Indian Affairs
- GAO Seeks New Members for Tribal and Indigenous Advisory Council
- VA: Staff Sergeant Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program Funding Opportunity
- Telehealth Study Recruiting Veterans Now
- USDA Delivers Immediate Relief to Farmers, Ranchers and Rural Communities Impacted by Recent Disasters
- Submit Nominations for Partnership for Quality Measurement (PQM) Committees
CMS Now Accepting Applications: Primary Care First Model Cohort 2
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the Request for Applications (RFA) for Cohort 2 of the Primary Care First (PCF) Model. Primary care practices in eligible regions are encouraged to apply. Practices that participate in PCF will have flexibility in terms of care delivery and the opportunity to increase practice revenue through performance-based model payments. The deadline for practice applications is April 30, 2021; the deadline for payer applications is May 28, 2021.
The PCF Model tests whether the way Medicare pays for advanced primary care—shifting from a fee-for-service to a value-based payment approach—can positively affect quality of care and reduce total Medicare expenditures. By tying performance based payment adjustments to health outcomes, the PCF Model seeks to improve advanced primary care for participating practices and patients alike.
What this means for model participants:
- You have greater independence and can tailor care delivery approaches to meet the special needs of your patients.
- You have the opportunity to prioritize the doctor-patient relationship.
- You are supported in offering patients increased access to care, greater engagement in the decision-making process and enhanced care coordination.
Further, participating practices that focus on patients with complex chronic needs receive higher model payments for the care of these patient populations.
PCF Cohort 2 will have five performance years and is scheduled to begin in January 2022. You can access the RFA, practice application, and more information on the PCF Model, on the CMS Primary Care First website.
Webinars for interested applicants will be held in the coming weeks, and will include opportunity for live question and answer:
Introduction to PCF
- Wednesday, March 24, 2021 at 2:00 p.m. EDT
- Registration is open
Become a Primary Care First Payer Partner
- Tuesday, March 30, 2021 at 2:00 p.m. EDT
- Registration is open
Ready, Set, Apply!
- Wednesday, March 31, 2021 at 3:00 p.m. EDT
- Registration is open
Pennsylvanians are Experiencing Hunger at Highest Levels Since Onset of Pandemic
At the end of 2020, more than 12% of Pennsylvania households were experiencing hunger — the highest rate since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to researchers in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences. Their report confirms anecdotal and media reports and highlights the role that community resources, such as food pantries and free school lunches, are playing in the state.
“We’ve seen the media accounts of exceptionally long lines at food banks and wanted to get a better understanding of the magnitude of the problem,” said Stephan Goetz, professor of agricultural and regional economics and director of the Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development (NERCRD).
“Our synthesis suggests that while the state’s rate of food insufficiency tends to be lower than the nation’s as a whole, it is still a significant and growing problem,” he said. “More than one in 10 households in Pennsylvania sometimes or often didn’t have enough food to eat last year, and food insufficiency status has grown worse for all but the wealthiest Pennsylvanians since the beginning of the pandemic.”
Goetz and his colleagues examined data from the U.S. Census Household Pulse Survey, a survey administered in three phases beginning in 2020 to a randomly selected representative sample of U.S. households. The goal of the survey is to better understand the social and economic effects that the coronavirus pandemic has had on households across the country.
Survey respondents answer questions about their employment status, food and housing security, education disruptions, and physical and mental well-being. When responding to questions about food sufficiency and availability, they base their answers on the previous seven days.
Focusing on Pennsylvania, the researchers analyzed the survey data to assess the most recent levels of household food security, how food security has changed over the course of the pandemic, and how households in different income brackets have experienced the crisis. They also assessed how families have adapted to food insufficiency by accessing free food. They released their findings this week in a new report titled “Pennsylvania Food Insufficiency Reached New High at the End of 2020.”
The report shows that food insufficiency in Pennsylvania is closely linked to the state’s unemployment rate. During weeks when unemployment claims are at their highest in the state, reports of food insufficiency also are relatively high, or rising. For policymakers, this underscores the close connection between income from working and food security of individuals. Community safety nets, such as free school lunches and food pantries, play a significant role in meeting household food needs.
“Our synthesis shows an increasingly dire food insecurity situation for many households in Pennsylvania and beyond,” Goetz said. “As the pandemic drags on, it is likely to become an even more serious problem as families deplete their savings and are forced to choose between paying for food or paying for other necessities.”
The report is part of an ongoing series of briefs and reports authored by NERCRD researchers, focusing on the coronavirus pandemic in the context of direct farm sales, the fruit and vegetable industry, consumer spending and sourcing, network science, and regional science.
The center also has available the data included in the report for other states in the northeastern U.S.
Other members of the research team who contributed to the report described here include Zheng Tian, research associate; Claudia Schmidt, assistant professor of marketing and local/regional food systems; and Yuxuan Pan, graduate research assistant.
USDA Increases Funding Limits for the Revolving Fund Program to Help Expand Access to Rural Water and Wastewater Infrastructure
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that it is increasing funding limits for loans financed under the Revolving Fund Program to support water and wastewater infrastructure projects in rural America. This improvement is in accordance with provisions in the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (2018 Farm Bill).
In a final rule published today, USDA increased to $200,000 the maximum loan amount in the Revolving Fund Program. The previous loan limit was $100,000. This change will help expand access to safe, reliable drinking water, and sanitary sewage treatment for households in rural communities.
The Revolving Fund Program helps qualified nonprofit organizations create revolving loan funds to extend and improve water and waste disposal systems in rural areas. The funds may be used for pre-development costs for water and wastewater treatment projects. Funds also may be used for small short-term capital improvement projects that are not part of regular operations and maintenance. Program recipients set the loan terms for the individual communities they serve.
In Pennsylvania, for additional information about the program contact Tom Wellington, acting water and environmental program director, by email at thomas.wellington@usda.gov or phone at 717-2372188.
Additional information is available on page 14525 of the March 17, 2021, Federal Register.
If you’d like to subscribe to USDA Rural Development updates, visit our GovDelivery subscriber page.
MedPAC Examines Rural Access to Care
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) looked at whether seniors in rural areas face barriers to receiving care. While access to care indicators appear good, the Commission said rural beneficiaries often have longer drives to appointments or cannot find specialists, in addition to the problem of local hospital closures. Yet MedPAC said there is reason for optimism that the availability of telehealth services and efforts to bolster rural hospital payments may help.
MedPAC’s work suggests that rural Medicare beneficiaries continue to have difficulty getting to their doctor and accessing specialty care and are more likely to face the challenge of hospital closures.
- The Commission is updating a 2012 report that compared access for rural beneficiaries and their urban counterparts.
- However, MedPAC noted that regional differences are often greater than the rural/urban divide and said that wider use of telehealth and a new Rural Emergency Hospital designation could bolster rural care.
New Study: School-Based Dental Programs and Cavities
A school-based cavity prevention program involving nearly 7,000 elementary school students reduced cavities by more than 50 percent, according to a study led by researchers at New York University College of Dentistry. The findings were published March 1, 2021 in the Journal of the American Dental Association.
ADA Releases Toolkit for Increasing Vaccine Confidence
The American Dental Association (ADA) released a toolkit to help dental providers increase patients’ confidence in COVID-19 vaccines. The downloadable resource includes answers to commonly asked questions, advice for social media interactions, and tip sheets for dispelling myths about the vaccines and sharing science-based recommendations for pregnant women or those planning to start a family.
Visiting Loved Ones in a Nursing Home – UPDATED Graphic Available (English and Spanish)
On March 10, 2021, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), issued updated guidance for nursing homes to safely expand visitation options during the COVID-19 pandemic public health emergency (PHE). Today, CMS is releasing a graphic to further explain the expanded visitation options.
According to the updated guidance, facilities should allow responsible indoor visitation at all times and for all residents, regardless of vaccination status of the resident, or visitor, unless certain scenarios arise that would limit visitation. Read the full press release and review the graphic in English and Spanish.
Pennsylvania Adds 8 Counties to Pennsylvania’s Spotted Lanternfly Quarantine, Highlights New Weapon to Sniff Out Pest
Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding announced that eight counties have been added to Pennsylvania’s Spotted Lanternfly quarantine zone ahead of the 2021 spring hatch. With this addition, the quarantine for this invasive pest is now at 34 counties.
“The Spotted Lanternfly is more than a pest in the literal sense,” said Redding. “It’s wreaking havoc for home and business owners, kids who just want to play outside, Pennsylvania agriculture and the economy of the state we all call home. Whether you think it’s your job or not, we need every Pennsylvanian to keep their eyes peeled for signs of this bad bug – to scrape every egg mass, squash every bug, and report every sighting. We need to unite in our hatred for this pest for our common love: Pennsylvania.”
The new eight counties are not completely infested, but rather have a few municipalities with a known infestation. Cambria, Cameron, Franklin, Lackawanna, Montour, Pike, Wayne, and Westmoreland are new to the quarantine for 2021.
“When we expand the quarantine, our goal is to slow the spread of the Spotted Lanternfly,” said Dr. Ruth Welliver, director of the department’s Bureau of Plant Industry. “And we have slowed it. Last spring we quarantined 12 counties with isolated infestations, and those counties have not been overrun because of the heightened awareness a quarantine brings. With continued aggressive treatment and monitoring, and an actively engaged community, we can help ensure families and businesses in these new counties aren’t inconvenienced by widespread infestation.”
Quick, aggressive treatment to newly identified populations of Spotted Lanternfly in Pennsylvania has been funded through the Rapid Response Disaster Readiness line of Governor Wolf’s Pennsylvania Farm Bill for the past two years. The 2021-22 PA Farm Bill proposes another $3 million to combat Spotted Lanternfly.
New to Pennsylvania’s fight against the Spotted Lanternfly this Spring is Lucky, a female German Shepherd, trained as a puppy at PennVet’s Working Dog Center to detect Spotted Lanternfly eggs, often in places humans can’t access. Lucky joined the department in November 2020 and helps to inspect businesses like nurseries, greenhouses, vehicle fleets, and log yards. She is the first dog in the nation trained to detect Spotted Lanternfly.
Businesses that operate in or travel through quarantined counties are required to obtain a Spotted Lanternfly permit. Homeowners with questions about treatment are encouraged to contact their local Penn State Extension office or learn about management, including approved sprays, online. Pennsylvanians who live inside the quarantine zone should also review and sign the Compliance Checklist for residents.
Since 2015, the department has received more than $34 million to combat Spotted Lanternfly in Pennsylvania — $20 million in federal funds and another $14 million in state investment. The department also awarded more than $260,000 in January for four priority research projects.
For more information on Spotted Lanternfly, visit agriculture.pa.gov/spottedlanternfly. For more about Governor Tom Wolf’s PA Farm Bill and its investments in a sustainable agriculture industry visit agriculture.pa.gov/pafarmbill.
Note: High quality, public domain photos of the Spotted Lanternfly are available for download through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Spotted Lanternfly Flickr album. Designed graphics for social or other media use to raise awareness of the Spotted Lanternfly and new quarantine can be downloaded from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture’s 2021 Spotted Lanternfly Flickr album.
Pennsylvania Governor and COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force Announce Targeted Vaccination Strategies, Including for Food Processing & Farmworkers
Agriculture is essential. While so many people saw their world turn upside down last March, not much changed for this industry. People need to eat, so we continued farming, planting, growing; caring for livestock; processing and packing; and putting food on the shelves.
Governor Tom Wolf and the Legislative Vaccine Taskforce recognize agriculture’s invaluable service. On March 12, 2021, they announced that farm workers, food manufacturing employees, and grocery workers are the next targeted groups to receive the FDA approved Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine which has been approved by the FDA for targeted administration.
This effort is separate from Phase 1B, where agriculture falls in the commonwealth’s vaccine rollout plan. It’s recognition that these groups have had no choice but to continue working to keep Pennsylvania and the world fed through a pandemic.
Strengthening the resiliency of agriculture requires acknowledging the transformative power of science and research. And that’s what we have in the COVID-19 vaccine.
Read the Governor’s announcement here. Check out the FAQs here.
Effective April 4, More Options in Pennsylvania for Restaurants and Other Businesses, Mass Gathering Maximums Increase
As COVID-19 cases have declined and vaccination rates are climbing, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf today announced the lifting of some targeted restrictions on restaurants and other businesses, as well as increased gathering limits.
Effective April 4, restaurants may resume bar service; alcohol service will be allowed without the purchase of food; the curfew for removing alcoholic drinks from tables will be lifted; and indoor dining capacity will be raised to 75 percent for those restaurants that are currently self-certified and those that undergo the self-certification process, which involves agreeing to strictly comply to all public health safety guidelines and orders, including the cleaning and mitigation protocols and other operational requirements contained in the Governor and Secretary of Health’s mitigation and enforcement orders issued on November 23, 2020, as amended. Those restaurants that do not self-certify may raise capacity to 50 percent. Outdoor dining, curbside pick-up and takeout are still encouraged.
Requirements such as mask-wearing, and social distancing, including 6 feet between diners, also still apply.
Capacity for other businesses also will be increased effective April 4, including moving personal services facilities, gyms and entertainment facilities (casinos, theatres, malls) to 75 percent occupancy.
The governor also announced revised maximum occupancy limits for indoor events to allow for 25% of maximum occupancy, regardless of venue size, and maximum occupancy limits for outdoor events to allow for 50% of maximum occupancy, regardless of venue size. Maximum occupancy is permitted only if attendees and workers are able to comply with the 6-foot physical distancing requirement.
“Pennsylvanians have stepped up and done their part of help curb the spread of COVID-19,” Gov. Wolf said. “Our case counts continue to go down, hospitalizations are declining, and the percent positivity rate gets lower every week – all very positive signs. The number of people getting vaccinated increases daily and we are seeing light at the end of the tunnel. It’s time to allow our restaurants, bars and other service businesses to get back to more normal operations.”
While the lifting of these restrictions is good news, Gov. Wolf cautioned that mask-wearing, social distancing and business adherence to all safety orders are still imperative.
“We’ve come so far and now is not the time to stop the safety measures we have in place to protect ourselves, our families and our communities,” Gov. Wolf said. “Keep wearing a mask, social distancing, and, please, get vaccinated when it’s your turn.”
Find more on the restaurant self-certification process here.