- 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?
CMS Final Rule: Streamlining Medicaid and CHIP Eligibility Determination, Enrollment, and Renewal Processes
The final rule from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) makes changes to simplify the eligibility and enrollment processes in Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and the Basic Health Program. This rule aligns enrollment and renewal requirements for most individuals in Medicaid, creates timeliness requirements for redeterminations of eligibility, removes barriers to children enrolled in CHIP, and updates recordkeeping requirements. These changes are intended to reduce coverage disruptions and increase retention of eligible individuals. CMS also released new and updated resources to support the end of the Medicaid continuous enrollment, or ‘unwinding’, including guidance on unwinding processes and requirements for states; guidance to Medicaid managed care plans; and new resources for partners to help families navigate their state Medicaid fair-hearing process, such as if someone was determined no longer eligible for Medicaid.
Hospital Price Transparency: What Hospitals Need to Know
Thursday April 4 at 1:00 pm Eastern. Subject matter experts with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will present the latest hospital price transparency policies and enforcement actions effective January 1, 2024, in a webinar produced by the Rural Health Information Hub (RHIhub). These policies were effective January 1, 2021 and affect all hospitals operating in the United States. For those who are unable attend, RHIhub keeps an archive of all webinars on its site.
Brief Published on Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) in Rural Communities: Perspectives from Key Informant Interviews
In this brief from the University of Minnesota Rural Health Research center, respondents from advocacy and support organizations identified challenges faced by rural victims across six themes: 1) lack of access to IPV related support services and health care, 2) knowledge and competency limitations among professionals providing services to IPV victims, 3) insufficient resources to meet basic needs, 4) harmful attitudes and norms, 5) detrimental policies and systems, and 6) intersecting risks for IPV victims who belong to marginalized or at-risk groups (e.g., those who are pregnant/postpartum, immigrants, BIPOC [Black, Indigenous, and People of Color], and/or LGBTQ+ [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning]).
RHIhun Releases New Toolkit: Preventing Unintentional Injury
Named by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as one of the five leading causes of death for rural populations in the United States, unintentional injuries can be fatal or nonfatal injuries that are unplanned and often preventable. This new resource from the Rural Health Information Hub (RHIhub) gives the how and why injuries are so prevalent, and then provides a collection of effective program models with resources for planning, funding, and sustainability.
Study Published on the Effects Of Medicaid Expansions on Coverage, Prenatal Care, and Health among American Indian/Alaska Native Women
In a study funded by the National Institutes of Health, researchers examined how expansions for state Medicaid for American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) women were associated with health insurance, prenatal care, health conditions, and birth outcomes. They found Medicaid expansions increased the proportion of AI/AN women reporting healthcare coverage, had no effects on the first-trimester prenatal care usage or birthweight of AI/AN women, and mixed evidence of increased rates of pre-pregnancy chronic conditions after expansions.
Quality Improvement Course for Rural Emergency Medical Services Being Offered
The online course, funded by FORHP, introduces rural EMS providers to the concept of quality improvement (QI). The program, which was initially designed for the staff of healthcare organizations, has been modified to meet the needs of rural EMS by dividing the QI concept into three distinct levels that build upon each other.
ICYMI: Achieving Birthing-Friendly Status in Rural Hospitals
In case you missed it, the Rural Health Information Hub provides a transcript and recording of the hour-long March 12 webinar discussing maternity care improvements rural hospitals must make to earn the Birthing-Friendly designation from CMS.
CMS Releases LTCH Continuity Assessment Record and Evaluation Data Set Q&As
The Long-Term Care Hospital (LTCH) Continuity Assessment Record and Evaluation Data Set is the assessment instrument LTCH providers use to collect patient assessment data in accordance with the LTCH Quality Reporting Program. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) have published a consolidated set of Q&As based on inquiries to the LTCH Post-Acute Care (PAC) Quality Reporting Program (QRP) Help Desk from September 2020 to March 2024. This set of Q&As offers LTCH providers additional clarifications to existing guidance. CMS has archived some previous Q&As, all of which can be found in the LTCH Quality Reporting Archives.
Partnerships to Address Social Needs Across Metropolitan and Non-Metropolitan Prospective Payment System Hospitals and Critical Access Hospitals
The RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis Explores the extent to which hospitals partner with community organizations to address population and/or community health needs.
Research Released on the Availability of Diabetes Self-Management Education and Dialysis in High Need Rural Counties
Researchers at the Rural and Minority Health Research Center assess the availability of in-county diabetes self-management education and dialysis across rural and urban counties.