- 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
New Report on Use of Electronic Health Information Exchange Has Been Released
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) interviewed federal and state officials and reviewed survey data from providers to learn how the use of electronic health information exchange changed since the enactment of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act in 2009. GAO found that the use of electronic exchange among hospitals and physicians increased in recent years but use among small and rural hospitals was lower than that of other hospitals. This finding may be because small and rural providers are less likely to have the financial and technical resources to participate in electronic exchange—such as adequate IT staff and sufficient access to broadband internet.
Read About The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Program in a Rural Context
In a project supported by the federal Administration for Children and Families, researchers gathered administrative data and conducted interviews with human services providers at 11 rural sites in Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina. The resulting brief provides a series of lessons learned and practitioners’ recommendations for the use of federal funding through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program, also known as TANF. For almost 30 years, TANF has provided an annual block grant to states that gives them flexibility to design state-based programs for low-income families with children. In interviews, TANF program staff and members of community partner organizations described various caseload management approaches, service delivery models, and adaptations for their rural contexts.
Recent Study Released Regarding Care Coordination Between Rural Primary Care and Telemedicine for OUD
The study tested a care coordination model in six rural primary care sites during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, from July 2020 to January 2021. Each clinic tracked patients with opioid use disorder (OUD) as they received medication treatment from an external telemedicine provider.