- 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
- 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
- Comments Requested on Mobile Crisis Team Services: An Implementation Toolkit Draft
Trump Administration Announces Provider Relief Fund Application for Assisted Living Facilities
On September 1, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), is announcing assisted living facilities (ALFs) may now apply for funding under the Provider Relief Fund Phase 2 General Distribution allocation. This announcement bolsters the Trump administration’s commitment to support health care providers in addressing both the economic harm and additional expenses caused by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).This funding was made possible through the bipartisan CARES Act and the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act.
“HHS is committed to ensuring America’s healthcare providers have what they need to protect their patients and continue providing care through the pandemic,“ said HHS Secretary Alex Azar. “By expanding the Provider Relief Fund to assisted living facilities, we are supporting more frontline providers and helping to protect the nearly 1 million vulnerable older Americans in their care.”
Read more here.
HHS Releases Rural Action Plan
On Monday, August 3, President Trump signed an executive order requesting that the Department of Health and Human Services produce a report on existing and upcoming efforts to improve rural healthcare. Today, HHS released the Rural Action Plan, the first HHS-wide assessment of rural healthcare efforts in more than 18 years and the product of HHS’s Rural Task Force, a group of experts and leaders across the department first put together by Secretary Azar in 2019.
This action plan provides a roadmap for HHS to strengthen departmental coordination to better serve the millions of Americans who live in rural communities across the United States. Eighteen HHS agencies and offices took part in developing the plan, which includes 71 new or expanded activities for FY 2020 and beyond. Efforts that will be undertaken in FY 2020 include nine new rural-focused administrative or regulatory actions, three new rural-focused technical assistance efforts, 14 new rural research efforts, and five new rural program efforts. These efforts build on 94 new rural-focused projects the HHS Rural Task Force identified as having launched over the past three years.
Read more here.
Why Broadband Matters: One Pagers from Broadband Connects America
Broadband Connects America, a coalition working for increased broadband across rural America, has put together a series of one pagers outlining why broadband is essential for other issue priorities. Read more here.
Homeless People in Rural America Struggle to Find Help
By Jamie Fields and Katie Surma / Howard Center For Investigative Journalism
Homeless populations in rural America, often hidden from the public eye, suffer from lack of appropriate care and access to health resources during the Covid-19 epidemic. Read more here.
Research Report: States with Broadband Funding Program Have Better Access
By Roberto Gallardo and Brian Whitacre
State broadband policies make a difference, a new report says. In particular, residents of states that have their own broadband funding programs did better. And in states that restrict municipal broadband, residents fared worse. Read more here.
Rural Journalists Deal with Mental-Health Toll Brought by Covid-19
By Liz Carey
With the epidemic still burning through the country and public trust in the media at an all time low, rural journalists struggle with added pressures and mental stress of the new and dangerous reality they help cover in the news. Read more here.
New Covid-19 Cases Are on the Rise Again in Rural Counties
By Tim Murphy and Tim Marema
Rural areas now account for a disproportionately large share of new infections and deaths. Read more here.
With Amtrak’s Proposed Cuts, What Will Happen to Rural Rail?
By Jefferson Sinclair
“There are things we want to pay for as a country so we can have a country,” says a passenger rail advocate. Read more here.
Pandemic Precautions Are Protecting Wildfire Fighters — So Far
By Alex Brown
While fire season picks up steam, wildfire crews are implementing new strategies to stave off the coronavirus. Some of the new measures could become a new standard beyond the pandemic. Read more here.
Farmers Work With Overwhelmed Food Banks to Stay Afloat
By Alex Brown
Programs that route surplus food to food pantries are helping some farmers stay in business during the pandemic. Read more here.