- 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
- Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation of the Medicare Program (Executive Order 14192) - Request for Information
- Dr. Mehmet Oz Shares Vision for CMS
- CMS Refocuses on its Core Mission and Preserving the State-Federal Medicaid Partnership
- Social Factors Help Explain Worse Cardiovascular Health among Adults in Rural Vs. Urban Communities
- Reducing Barriers to Participation in Population-Based Total Cost of Care (PB-TCOC) Models and Supporting Primary and Specialty Care Transformation: Request for Input
- Secretary Kennedy Renews Public Health Emergency Declaration to Address National Opioid Crisis
- Secretary Kennedy Renews Public Health Emergency Declaration to Address National Opioid Crisis
- 2025 Marketplace Integrity and Affordability Proposed Rule
- Rural America Faces Growing Shortage of Eye Surgeons
- NRHA Continues Partnership to Advance Rural Oral Health
- Comments Requested on Mobile Crisis Team Services: An Implementation Toolkit Draft
- Q&A: What Are the Challenges and Opportunities of Small-Town Philanthropy?
Pennsylvania Rural Hospitals Honored as Performance Leadership Award Winners
In recognition of National Rural Health Day 2024 which took place on Nov. 21, the Pennsylvania Office of Rural Health (PORH) announced that sixteen of Pennsylvania’s rural hospitals have been recognized as winners of the 2024 Performance Leadership Award.
Compiled by The Chartis Center for Rural Health, the Performance Leadership Awards recognize top quartile performance (i.e., 75th percentile or above) among rural hospitals in quality, outcomes, and patient perspective.
The Performance Leadership Awards are based on the results of the Chartis Rural Hospital Performance INDEX®, a comprehensive and objective framework for assessing how rural hospitals perform. INDEX benchmarks are relied on by rural hospitals, health systems with rural footprints, hospital associations, and state offices of rural health to measure performance across multiple areas impacting hospital operations
and finance.
Pennsylvania’s critical access and other small rural hospitals were recognized for the following awards:
Awards for quality
- Barnes-Kasson County Hospital, Susquehanna, PA
- Conemaugh Meyersdale Medical Center, Meyersdale, PA
- Fulton County Medical Center, McConnellsburg, PA
- Geisinger Jersey Shore Hospital, Jersey Shore, PA
Awards for outcomes
- Evangelical Community Hospital, Lewisburg, PA
- Geisinger Lewistown Hospital, Lewistown, PA
- Penn Highlands Brookville, Brookville, PA
- Schuylkill Medical Center-South Jackson Street, Pottsville, PA
- UPMC Bedford, Everett, PA
- UPMC Horizon, Greenville, PA
- UPMC Northwest, Seneca, PA
- UPMC Somerset, Somerset, PA
- Wayne Memorial Hospital, Honesdale, PA
- WellSpan Waynesboro Hospital, Waynesboro, PA
Awards for patient perspective
- Conemaugh Meyersdale Medical Center, Meyersdale, PA
- Conemaugh Miners Medical Center, Hastings, PA
- LECOM Corry Memorial Hospital, Corry, PA
“Our rural hospitals play a crucial role in enhancing health care quality, patient experience, and overall outcomes, while navigating the complexities of modern health care systems,” said Sandee Kyler, PORH rural health systems manager and deputy director. “The Leadership Awards recognize the exceptional efforts and innovations these hospitals demonstrate in meeting high standards of care. Through their dedication, rural hospitals are driving positive change and achieving remarkable success, despite the challenges they face. This recognition celebrates their unwavering commitment to improving patient care and shaping the future of health care in rural communities.”
“The prestigious awards for quality care and patient outcomes to these small rural hospitals speak volumes about their dedication to excellent care and we are fortunate to have them as health care providers throughout the Commonwealth,” said Lannette Fetzer, PORH quality improvement coordinator. “I am so proud of their tremendous accomplishments and congratulate them all.”
“The Performance Leadership Awards capture the commitment, diligence and innovation with which America’s rural hospitals approach the delivery of care within their communities,” said Troy Brown, Network Consultant, The Chartis Center for Rural Health. “It’s a tremendous honor to be able to recognize the efforts of this year’s award winners and celebrate their achievements.”
The Chartis Center for Rural Health provides services in strategic, clinical, financial, and digital and technology transformation. Other agency brands include Greeley, Healthscape Advisors, and Jarrard. The agency also addresses critical industry priorities like health equity, practitioner burnout, and rural health. More information is available at chartis.com.
PORH was established in 1991 to enhance the health status of rural Pennsylvanians and strengthen the delivery and quality of care in the communities in which they live. Each year, the organization presents awards to recognize rural health programs and individuals who have made substantial contributions to rural health in Pennsylvania. To learn more about the Pennsylvania Office of Rural Health, visit porh.psu.edu.
For more details about the Chartis Rural Hospital Performance INDEX, contact Billy Balfour at wbalfour@chartis.com.
New Brief Released: Understanding Rental Housing Affordability
Affordable rental housing paves the way to stable jobs, education, and other opportunities. The Rental Housing Affordability Data Explorer provides estimates on the availability of affordable rental housing at different income levels in Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, at both the state and regional levels.
Updated with data through 2022, the tool also includes information on:
- the percentage of households who spend over 30 percent and over 50 percent of their income on rent.
- the availability of affordable units for low- and moderate-income renters
- the age and structure types of the low-cost rental housing stock
- federally subsidized rental housing programs and their expiration status.
The data explorer sheds light on trends in rental affordability and can inform state, regional, and county strategies to address challenges in affordability and preserve the existing low-cost rental stock.
New Review Published on Effect of Telehealth on Cost of Health Care during the COVID-19 Pandemic
A sudden increase in telehealth use occurred after the declaration of the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE), which led to the easement and removal of barriers to telehealth usage as well as modifications to payment policies for telehealth reimbursement. The PHE provided an opportunity to assess telehealth’s impact on health care costs for payers and patients. We conducted a systematic review in 2023 to understand the impact of telehealth use on health care costs during the COVID-19 pandemic across health conditions and telehealth modalities. An updated search – in November 2023 – followed the same search strategy and methods as the initial systematic review.
Of 820 citations identified in the new search, 6 met the inclusion criteria for review. Most of the studies used a retrospective observational design to identify the differences in costs between the telehealth group and the comparator group. Three studies were conducted within the U.S. and three were conducted internationally. As with the first search, the conditions addressed and costs measured were heterogeneous. Overall, conclusions – consistent with the first review – add to the evidence that telehealth modalities are cost-saving compared to traditional in-person care at a patient perspective and can provide clinic efficiency gains and increases in billing revenue from the health care payer perspective.
Please click here to read the brief.
Rural Telehealth Research Center, University of Iowa, 200 Hawkins Drive, 1008 RCP, Iowa City, IA 52242, Email: rtrc-inquiry@uiowa.edu, www.ruraltelehealth.org
USDA Shares ASPPH’s Announcement for the Next ASPPH/USDA Rural Health Fellowship!
The Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH) has announced the 2025-2026 ASPPH/USDA Rural Health Fellowship opportunity for recent graduates.
The ASPPH/USDA Rural Health Fellowship opportunity launched in 2023. The USDA Rural Health Liaison has been successful in securing two additional years since (2024-2025, and now 2025-2026). The new one-year fellowship will begin in June 2025.
By participating in the ASPPH/USDA Rural Health Fellowship Program, the selected fellow will have the opportunity to:
- contribute to USDA programs related to rural health
- lead the development of tools to better understand and access USDA programs that can be used by federal and non-federal partners
- prepare and implement rural health initiatives or strategies with USDA programs and federal and non-federal partners; and
- build and maintain relationships across USDA and between USDA and partners
The Fellowship will be based in Washington, DC, but hybrid/remote candidates will be considered. The position is a full-time training opportunity for one year (estimated June 2025 – June 2026), with the possibility of a one-year extension. Detailed program information and all application instructions can be accessed on the ASPPH application website.
To be eligible for this program, applicants must have received their Masters or Doctorate degree prior to the beginning of the fellowship (no later than June 2025) or within the last five years (no earlier than May 2020). Graduate degrees must come from an ASPPH member graduate school or program of public health accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH). All applicants must be US citizens or hold a visa permitting permanent residence (“Green Card”) in the US to be eligible for the fellowship program.
Application deadline is 11:59 PM ET Thursday, January 9, 2025.
If you have questions, please send a message to rural.health@usda.gov
USDA Launches Pilot Program to Help Rural Homeowners, People Affected by Disasters, Quickly Access Funding to Repair Their Homes
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development Under Secretary Dr. Basil Gooden today announced that USDA is launching a new pilot program in 23 states, American Samoa and Puerto Rico to make it easier for rural homeowners to repair and rehabilitate their homes.
The pilot will help USDA’s Single Family Housing Home Repair Loans and Grants program better meet industry standards, while continuing to protect homeowners from fraud. It removes regulatory barriers to make it easier and faster for contractors to complete needed home repairs for rural homeowners.
To learn more, read the full Stakeholder Announcement.
For Analysis of the Rural Impacts of Health Policies and Proposals, Federal Lawmakers of All Stripes Look to This Expert Panel
A feature article in The Rural Monitor shares the 30-year history of the RUPRI Health Panel, a nonpartisan policy analysis group.
2025 Rural Emergency Hospital (REH) Additional Facility Payment Announced
The Centers for Medicare & Medicare Services (CMS) announced that the 2025 monthly facility payment amount for REHs will be $285,625.90. Congress created REHs to preserve access to emergency and outpatient services in rural areas. Each REH receives the same Additional Facility Payment amount, and this payment is intended to support the operation and maintenance of the facility and furnishing of services. FORHP funds the Rural Health Redesign Center to provide 1:1 technical assistance to help hospitals and communities make informed decisions about converting to this model of care.
Triad Program Perspectives on Preventing and Addressing Elder Abuse in Rural Communities
This brief from the University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center shares results from key informant interviews with representatives of rural Triads (multi-sectoral community-based partnerships that address elder abuse) to illuminate rural-specific dimensions of this issue.
Bridging the Gap: Addressing the Rural-Urban Imbalance in Health Care through the NHSC
Open-access commentary from JAMA Network examines trends in the rural-urban distribution of clinicians through the federal National Health Service Corps, proposing that the persistent gap should be addressed with policies more purposefully tailored to rural areas. The authors reference new data about the number and distribution of NHSC clinicians reported in cross-sectional study also published in JAMA Network this week.
HRSA-Supported Health Care Workforce Data Available
Check out the fiscal year 2024 data to see where HRSA-supported providers are serving. More than 21,000 clinicians are making an impact across the U.S. and its territories in the areas that need them most. You can filter data discipline, state or territory, rural status, and more.