- 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
- NRHA Continues Partnership to Advance Rural Oral Health
Americorps State Program: Opioid Outreach and Education Positions
The National Nurse-Led Care Consortium (NNCC) has an Americorps State Program grant and is seeking health centers throughout Pennsylvania to participate as host sites for Americorps members. The focus of these positions will be to build outreach and education programs targeted at fighting the opioid epidemic in your communities. For more information or questions, please contact Amy Williams, PACHC Program Specialist for Behavioral Health and Substance Use Disorder.
Save the Dates: Virtual Primary Care Career Fairs
The Pennsylvania Primary Care Career Center will host two statewide virtual career fairs this October. Put these dates on your calendar and look for more details soon.
- Oct. 8 – Medical and Dental Professions
- Oct. 27 – Behavioral Health Professions
Contact Ama Dekyi, Recruitment Coordinator, PA Primary Care Career Center for more details.
Study Finds Racial Bias in COVID-19 Hospital Aid
The federal government has systematically shortchanged communities with large Black populations in the distribution of billions of dollars in COVID-19 relief aid meant to help hospitals struggling to manage the effects of the pandemic. According to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the funding inequities resulted from a formula that allocated large chunks of a $175 billion relief package based on hospital revenue, instead of numbers of COVID-19 cases or other health data. Read more.
Lessons Learned in School Reopening
As countries consider back-to-school strategies for the fall, a coronavirus outbreak at a Jerusalem high school offers a cautionary tale. Confident it had beaten the coronavirus and desperate to reboot a devastated economy, the Israeli government invited the entire student body back in late May. Within days, infections were reported at a Jerusalem high school, which quickly mushroomed into the largest outbreak in a single school in Israel, possibly the world. Read more.
Long-Term COVID Complications Could Cost Billions
With mounting evidence that some COVID-19 survivors face months, or possibly years, of debilitating complications, health care experts are beginning to study possible long-term costs. Bruce Lee, M.D., of the City University of New York estimated that if 20 percent of the U.S. population contracts the virus, the one-year post-hospitalization costs would be at least $50 billion, before factoring in longer-term care for lingering health problems. Read more.
Guidance: Sliding Coinsurance for CMS/Medicare Care Management Services
The National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC), a HRSA-funded national training and technical assistance partner (NTTAP), shares this publication, Guidance: Sliding Coinsurance for CMS/Medicare Care Management Services, to assist health centers with managing the relationship between CMS/Medicare care management services and sliding fee policies. While health centers are required to enforce Medicare coinsurance for CMS/Medicare care management services, the coinsurance may be “slid” in accordance with the health center’s sliding fee discount program (SFDP) policy. Federal anti-kickback statutes and beneficiary inducement prohibitions include exceptions allowing health centers to discount coinsurance for patients who are eligible for the health center’s sliding fee discount program without violating Medicare rules.
Provider Relief Fund: Applications Being Accepted Until Aug. 28
HHS announced that eligible providers have another opportunity to submit their application for the Provider Relief Fund. Examples of eligible Medicare/Medicaid/CHIP/dental providers include:
- Providers who did not receive an initial payment that totals approximately two percent of their annual patient revenue
- Providers who did receive an initial payment but missed the June 3 deadline to submit their revenue information
- Providers who were ineligible for prior General Distribution funds due to a change in ownership or because they did not have Medicare fee-for-service revenue in 2019
- Providers who previously received Phase 1 General Distribution payment(s) but rejected and returned the funds and are now interested in reapplying
All eligible providers will only receive funding of up to two percent of their reported total revenue from patient care. The deadline for applying for funds is Aug. 28, 2020. For the latest information on the Provider Relief Fund Program, visit: hhs.gov/providerrelief. The full press release, can be found here. Questions? Contact Julie Korick, PACHC COO/CFO.
Did You Know? – Advance Premium Tax Credit
A consumer is eligible to have an Advance Premium Tax Credit (APTC) for health insurance on the Marketplace paid on their behalf if they meet all of the following requirements:
- Is not claimed as a dependent by another person
- For one or more months of the year, the consumer or another member of the consumer’s tax family (spouse, if filing jointly, and dependents) is enrolled in coverage (excluding catastrophic coverage) through the Individual Marketplace
- Is not eligible for or enrolled in other minimum essential coverage (MEC); for example, is not offered “affordable” coverage through an eligible employer-sponsored plan that provides minimum value or enrolled in employer-sponsored coverage (ESC) regardless of affordability or provision of minimum value
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- An employer-sponsored plan is affordable if the self-only premium is no more than 9.78 percent of annual household income in 2020
- It provides minimum value if the plan covers at least 60 percent of the total cost of medical services for a standard population and includes substantial coverage of physician and inpatient hospital services
- Is not eligible for coverage through a government program like Medicaid, Medicare, CHIP or TRICARE
In the News: Pennsylvania State-Based Marketplace
Pennsylvania will be transitioning to a state-based marketplace for the 2021 health insurance enrollment period. The Pennsylvania Insurance Department (PID) has released the health insurance plan rate filings as required under the Affordable Care Act. All 67 PA counties will have coverage options available for consumers, with a gain of one new insurer in 13 counties. If these rates are finalized as planned, there will be an average statewide premium decrease of 2.6% on the individual market and an increase of 2.2% in the small group market. PID has been watching enrollment trends across all sectors, including employer-sponsored COBRA, Medicaid, CHIP and Marketplace enrollment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thousands of individuals moved to employer-sponsored COBRA plans during the COVID crisis and many of these individuals may be eligible for Medicaid or may seek a special enrollment period through the Health Insurance Marketplace, which will allow consumers access to subsidies for changes in their income due to loss of employment or coverage. Details are available on the PID website.
HRSA Releases Health Center COVID-19 Testing Dashboard
HRSA has published a new dashboard on data.HRSA.gov compiling the weekly health center COVID-19 data to deliver a high-level view of total COVID-19 tests conducted and the distribution of positive COVID-19 tests. See a breakdown by race and ethnicity as well.