- 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?
PCORI Research on Rural Transitions from Hospital to Home
The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) is a non-profit organization that funds projects that inpatients and other healthcare stakeholders throughout the research process. Patients, doctors, and hospital staff from rural Montana helped design this study comparing standard hospital transition support with a new program. Read more here. Watch a brief video from PCORI on the importance of including rural populations in research.
CDC Provisional Drug Overdose Death Counts
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) counts the number of overdose deaths in the 12 months prior to July 5, 2020, based on mortality surveillance data in the National Vital Statistics System.
Challenges to Rural Harm Reduction During COVID-19
A new commentary in The Journal of Rural Health examines the relationship between substance use and coronavirus in the Southern Mountains region of Appalachia. Authors cite recent data showing greater and faster-increasing COVID-19 rates in Appalachia and the South and rural-specific challenges to programs for overdose prevention and infection control. Read more here.
Rural Philanthropy Response to COVID-19
In a free-access blog post, the publication Health Affairs highlights rural-focused philanthropies responding to the COVID-19 pandemic by quickly providing funding specific to rural communities and organizations. Read more here.
Advance Care Planning: New Realities in Times of COVID-19
Advance care planning (ACP) is decision-making between a care provider and a patient (or their loved ones) about treatment in a sudden medical crisis. A new article in The Rural Monitor provides an inside look at the challenges rural clinicians face when ACP is more urgent due to COVID-19. Read more here.
CMS Updates Influenza Vaccine Payment Allowances for 2020-2021 Season
A new MLN Matters Article MM11882 on Influenza Vaccine Payment Allowances – Annual Update for 2020-2021 Season is available. Learn about payment allowances, effective August 1. The Medicare Part B payment allowance limits for influenza and pneumococcal vaccines are 95 percent of the average wholesale price (AWP), except where the vaccine is provided in a hospital outpatient department, Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) or Rural Health Clinic (RHC). Payment for vaccine provided in these specific settings is based on reasonable cost. Annual Part B deductible and coinsurance amounts do not apply.
U.S. Reports 71,000 Drug Overdose Deaths in 2019
The Associated Press reported on July 15 that nearly 71,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in 2019, with fentanyl and similar synthetic opioids accounting for more than half, according to preliminary data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although some states, like Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Rhode Island saw declines, more than 30 other states showed rising overdose deaths. Read More.
Western PA Selected for “Operation Warp Speed” Trials
Hundreds of people in Western Pennsylvania will be allowed to participate in clinical research trials for COVID-19 vaccines, UPMC and the University of Pittsburgh announced last week. The trials are part of the COVID-19 Prevention Network and Operation Warp Speed, the national initiative to accelerate the development of a safe, effective vaccine for SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Recruitment for the Pittsburgh trials begins immediately. Read more.
ICYMI: REVISED CMS FQHC/RHC Telehealth Guidance
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) updated the MLN Matters Article SE20016 , New and Expanded Flexibilities for RHCs and FQHCs, to clarify how the Cost Sharing modifier can be applied to preventive services furnished via telehealth. This update includes:
- Additional guidance on telehealth services that have cost-sharing waived; in order to distinguish those telehealth services that do not have cost sharing waived from those that do, such as certain preventive services, CMS has modified the descriptor of the CS modifier to account for this additional use
- Additional claim examples
- New section on the RHC Productivity Standard
All other information remains the same.
FCC Designates “988” for National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted rules to establish 988 as the new, nationwide, 3-digit phone number for Americans in crisis to connect with suicide prevention and mental health crisis counselors. The new rules will apply to all telecommunications carriers as well as all interconnected and one-way Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service providers. The rules require all phone service providers to direct all 988 calls to the existing National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by July 16, 2022. Read more.