Rural Health Information Hub Latest News

CMS Issues Final Rule on Medicare Enrollment and Eligibility Rules to Advance Health Equity

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a final rule that updates Medicare enrollment and eligibility rules to expand coverage for people with Medicare and advance health equity. The final rule, which implements changes made by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CAA), makes it easier for people to enroll in Medicare and eliminates delays in coverage. Among these changes, individuals will now have Medicare coverage the month immediately after their enrollment, thereby reducing any delays in coverage. In addition, the rule expands access through Medicare special enrollment periods (SEPs) and allows certain eligible beneficiaries to receive Medicare Part B coverage without a late enrollment penalty.  The FACT SHEET attached details the SEPS.

To view a fact sheet on the final rule, visit: https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/implementing-certain-provisions-consolidated-appropriations-act-2021-and-other-revisions-medicare-2

To view the final rule, visit: https://www.federalregister.gov/public-inspection

Healthy Eating for Healthy Children: A Course for Dental Hygienists

The Oral Health Program at the Rhode Island Department of Health released a new online course to teach dental hygienists how to talk to parents and caregivers about food choices for children. This innovative approach focuses on using accessible and encouraging language as well as providing talking points and conversation starters to use with parents during dental visits. The course is free and takes approximately 80 minutes to complete.

Click here for more information and to take the workshop.

CDC Issues Health Advisory For Dental Health Care Personnel

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a Health Alert Network Health Advisory regarding nontuberculous Mycobacteria infections associated with contaminated dental unit waterlines and the need for dental health care personnel (DHCP) to follow established recommendations to ensure the safety of their patients. While rare, there have been multiple documented cases of disease transmission from dental unit waterlines. Dental unit waterlines promote bacterial growth and development of biofilm, thus all dental unit waterlines must be treated regularly with chemical germicides. The health advisory contains recommendations and a list of resources for DHCP to visit to learn more information.

Click here for the recommendations.

American Institute of Public Health Releases Dental Workforce Report

The American Institute of Public Health (AIDPH) released a research brief, “The Financial and Policy Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on U.S. Dental Care Workers.”

The brief evaluates trends and differences of the dental health care workforce before and after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and assesses the impact of dental health care worker shortages by state and geographic region. Executive Director Helen Hawkey and Dr. Sean Boynes are among the authors. An interactive dashboard is being developed to map the changes among dental health care workers.

Click here to read the report.

New! Rural Health System Value-Based Care Innovators Roundtable: Strategies and Insights Released

The Rural Health Value team recently released a new Innovators Roundtable Report:

  • Rural Health System Value-Based Care Innovators Roundtable: Strategies and Insights
    This report describes interviews with five health systems supporting value-based care in their rural affiliates. Interview topics included organizational structure, governance and decision-making, operations, data and communication, contracts, and social determinants of health. The report includes common health system tensions and opportunities as they facilitate rural affiliate success in value-based care.

 Related resources on the Rural Health Value website:

Contact information:

Clint MacKinney, MD, MS, Co-Principal Investigator, clint-mackinney@uiowa.edu