The interactive map shows 56 states and territories that have received grants from the federal Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program.  More than $42 billion has been committed to infrastructure planning and deployment nationwide.  Click each state or territory on the map to learn the details of current internet availability, amount of funding, and contact information for the state/territory Broadband Office.

  This resource highlights the role of a behavioral health care manager (BHCM) to screen and monitor patients, coordinate care with other healthcare providers, track treatment response, and recommend patient medications. The University of Rochester is one of three Centers of Excellence for the federal Rural Communities Opioid Response Program (RCORP).

 Here, you’ll find a recording and presentation slides from the January 18 webinar that gives an overview of the new Rural Emergency Hospital designation, policy and regulatory requirements, and an introduction to technical assistance provided by the Rural Health Redesign Center.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released information on three Medicare accountable care initiatives in which groups of providers collaborate to improve care.  For 2023, the Medicare Shared Savings Program will have 456 accountable care organizations (ACOs), including 2,240 Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) and 467 Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs). The ACO Realizing Equity, Access, and Community Health (ACO REACH) model will have 132 ACOs with 78 RHCs and 15 CAHs.  The Kidney Care Choices Model will have 130 entities with more than 8,000 providers participating, including newly expanded areas in North Dakota and South Dakota.

Last week, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) published a notice and request for comments on their effort to improve the quality and usefulness of Federal race and ethnicity data. The topics for evaluation include 1) whether the guidelines for collecting and reporting race and ethnicity data can be improved, 2) how to best address detailed race and ethnicity groups; and 3) the wording of questions and instructions for respondents.  The working group is also seeking participants for their virtual, bi-monthly listening sessions to hear directly from members of the public. According to one study analyzing the latest  Census data, the rural population declined between 2010 and 2020 to just 14 percent of the U.S. total.  At the same time, racial and ethnic diversity in rural areas increased overall, with Hispanics representing 9 percent of the rural population, followed by non-Hispanic Black people, representing 7.7 percent.  Nearly one-third of all rural children (32.5 percent) come from racial or ethnic minority populations, compared to 28.1 percent in 2010. Comments are due by April 12, 2023.

This week, a federal panel of experts issued new guidelines for people with HIV who are pregnant, have recently given birth, or are trying to conceive.  Thanks to antiretroviral medications and other viral suppression strategies, parent-to-child transmission of HIV is less than 1 percent in the United States. The updated recommendations include new information about the use of antiretroviral drugs before and during pregnancy, guidance for pregnant people who have not achieved viral suppression, and infant feeding options.  The Panel on Antiretroviral Therapy and Medical Management of Children Living with HIV also co-authored sections published in the Guidelines for the Use of Antiretroviral Agents in Pediatric HIV Infection. Updates to these guidelines are anticipated in April 2023.