- Weathering the Storm Together: Community Resiliency Hubs Hold the Promise of Local Self-Sufficiency and Supportive Mutual Aid
- Virginia Tech Researchers Bring Rural Families into the Nation's Largest Study of Early Brain and Child Development
- Expanding Access to Cancer Care for Rural Veterans
- VA: Veterans Rural Health Advisory Committee, Notice of Meeting
- Scaling Rural Wellness with Clever Collaboration
- Stroudwater Associates Enhances Rural Healthcare Dashboard with New Data to Support State Rural Transformation Grant Applications
- Harvest Season Is Here: Busy Times Call for Increased Focus on Safety and Health
- HHS Dispatches More Than 70 Public Health Service Officers to Strengthen Care in Tribal Communities
- Wisconsin Rural Hospitals Team up to Form Network
- CMS Launches Landmark $50 Billion Rural Health Transformation Program
- American Heart Association Provides Blood Pressure Kits at Southeast Arkansas Regional Libraries to Support Rural Health
- Broadening Access to Minimally Invasive Surgery Could Narrow Rural-Urban Health Gaps
- Instead of Selling, Some Rural Hospitals Band Together To Survive
- Help Line Gives Pediatricians Crucial Mental Health Information to Help Kids, Families
- Rural Health: A Strategic Opportunity for Governors
Integrating Physical and Behavioral Health to Address Co-Occurring Mental Health, SUD, with Chronic Physical Illnesses
The report details the way physical and behavioral healthcare integration can support patients with co-occurring behavioral health disorders and chronic physical issues. It discusses different levels of care integration, evidence-based approaches, and established models for care integration in different settings.
This report sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration also highlights a rural health clinic-based telepsychiatry model in South Carolina.
New Resources Available on Clinically Integrated Networks
The Rural Health Value team has developed two new resources to help rural leaders assess readiness, build infrastructure, and advance clinically integrated network (CIN) strategies.
The first resource, Collaboration to Contracting: A Guide to Rural Clinically Integrated Networks, is a practical roadmap for developing and operating a rural CIN, includes guidance on governance, clinical integration, data infrastructure, financial sustainability, and payer contracting.
The team also developed a companion piece, Rural Clinically Integrated Network Readiness Assessment Tool, that provides a self-assessment to help organizations evaluate readiness, identify opportunities, and spark strategic conversations about CIN participation and value-based care.
This material was developed by Rural Health Value, funded by a cooperative agreement with the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy.
FCC Releases FY 2027 Urban Rural Rate Guidance for Telecom Program
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released guidance regarding the rural telecommunications rates for the Rural Health Care Program’s Telecommunications (Telecom) Program.
The Telecom Program helps eligible rural health care providers (HCPs) reduce the cost of telecommunications and voice services used to support telemedicine and telehealth by providing support for the difference between eligible rural and urban rates within a state. On August 7, 2026 the FCC released an order allowing previously approved rural rates to continue to be used for FY 2027 while the Commission completes its review. The rural rates are based on an applicant’s circumstances and the applicable rate-setting method.
To learn more about determining FY 2027 urban and rural rates, please review the FY 2027 Urban and Rural Rate tip sheet.
CMS Requests Billing Information for Unpaid 2026 APM Incentive Payments
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has identified eligible clinicians who attained Qualifying Alternative Payment Model Participant (QP) status for the 2024 performance period and earned an incentive payment for the 2026 payment year. When processing these payments, CMS was unable to identify a taxpayer identification number (TIN) associated with some QPs and therefore could not disburse their payments.
CMS has compiled a list of QPs for whom it could not identify an associated TIN; these QPs, as well as others who anticipated receiving an APM incentive payment but have not, should provide CMS with updated Medicare billing information and all required documentation by October 13, 2026. After that date, claims for a 2026 APM incentive payment based on QP status for the 2024 performance period will be forfeited, and CMS will not accept requests for additional payment review or reprocessing.
Additional information about the APM Incentive Payment and the QP determination methodology is available in the 2026 Learning Resources for QP Status and APM Incentive Payment and questions about submitting information through the Quality Payment Program website may be directed to the QPP Help Desk at 1-866-288-8292.
The due date is October 13, 2026.
HRSA HIV/AIDS Bureau: Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S. Initiative Data Report 2024
The Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program’s Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S. (EHE) initiative supports expanded programs and services to people who are not receiving regular HIV care or are unaware of their HIV status.
This report discusses providers, programs, and factors influencing access to care in rural areas.
Hallways to Health, School-Based Health Care Conference 2027
Join us for the inaugural Pennsylvania School-Based Health Care Conference 2027.
Pennsylvania’s Hallways to Health inaugural statewide conference for school-based health care will bring together practitioners and providers from across the state and nation to immerse themselves innew knowledge and peer support to ground their work for effective school-based health care.
The Penn Stater Hotel & Conference Center, State College PA. Thursday March 11, 2027, 4:00pm to 7:00pm. Friday, March 12, 2027, 9:00am to 4:00pm.
Rapid Response Stabilization RHTP Payments (Round 2) Information and FAQs Available
The Department of Human Services has answers to your frequently asked questions (FAQs) about the Rapid Response Stabilization Program — Round 2.
Please make sure to review the FAQs prior to submitting an eligibility certification and attachments. The Department will begin accepting eligibility certifications at 8 a.m on Monday, August 17, 2026.
New Interstate Licensing Compacts Overview Released
The Great Plains Telehealth Resource and Assistance Center (gpTRAC), funded by HRSA’s Office for the Advancement of Telehealth, released a new Interstate Licensing Compacts 2026 Overview.
The resource summarizes major healthcare-related interstate licensure compacts for the six states in the Great Plains service area as of July 2026, including how each compact works, how eligible providers can participate, and its current activation status. Find resources for your region at The National Consortium of Telehealth Resource Centers. For additional information about healthcare licensure requirements and interstate compacts, visit Telehealth.HHS.gov/licensure.
New Report: Reimagining Rural Maternal and Child Health
A HRSA-funded publication from the National Governors Association reports on six states (Delaware, Missouri, Alabama, Illinois, Georgia, and North Carolina) making significant investments in maternal and child health through funding from CMS’s Rural Health Transformation Program.
Focus areas include workforce recruitment and retention, technology and regional hubs, and integrated care models.
CCBHCs Expand Access to Rural Areas
That’s one of the findings in a newly released report on the impact of Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHC) from the National Council for Mental Wellbeing.
A federal program that provides community-level services for mental health and substance use disorder for anyone who requests it – regardless of their ability to pay – the CCHBC initiative is operated through an HHS partnership across the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. In calendar year 2025, rural CCBHCs reported serving 552,214 individuals, making a 46.2 percent increase in the number of CCBHC clients since becoming a CCBHC.