- 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?
State Rural Hospital and Community COVID-19 Vulnerability
Researchers at the University of North Carolina Rural Health Research Program created a chart that shows the number of rural hospitals in each state and measures community vulnerability using the CDC’s Social Vulnerability Index. Read more here.
HHS Announces Partnership with Morehouse School of Medicine to Fight COVID-19 in Vulnerable Communities
On Monday, June 22, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) announced the selection of the Morehouse School of Medicine as the awardee for a new $40 million initiative to fight COVID-19 in racial and ethnic minority, rural, and socially vulnerable communities. The initiative – the National Infrastructure for Mitigating the Impact of COVID-19 within Racial and Ethnic Minority Communities (NIMIC) – is a three-year project designed to work with community-based organizations across the nation to deliver education, information, and resources. Read more here.
Postal Worker Worries about Threats to Rural ‘Lifeline’ During Pandemic
By Jan Pytalski and Tim Marema
The Postal Service delivers economic access and democracy to small communities during the Covid-19 crisis, says a rural letter carrier. Privatization would leave rural America behind, he says. Read more here.
For Rural Hospital, Pandemic Hasn’t Materialized, but the Fiscal Harm Arrived on Schedule
By Liz Carey
Folks at Ferry County Memorial Hospital in northeast Washington are grateful that the steps they took to prevent Covid-19 appear to be working. But the cost to the hospital and community have still been substantial. Read more here.
Providing in a Pandemic: The Challenges of Rural Maternity Care Just Got More Difficult
By Mikhal Ben Joseph
Rural moms already faced a host of obstacles to get good prenatal care. Rural nurse midwives and doulas are trying to fill the gap. (Part of a series.) Read more here.
Rural Hotspots: A Handful of Counties Produce Over Half of New Infections
By Tim Marema
More than half of the latest new Covid-19 cases in rural America came from a small number of hotspot counties, most of which are in the Southeastern United States. Read more here.
The Future of Rural Value-Based Care and Surge Capacity
A short brief from the Rural Health Value Team examines the conflict between the long-term transition to value-based care and the immediate needs brought by the pandemic. Find more information here.
AHA Case Study: Managing COVID-19 in a Rural Community
The American Hospital Association (AHA) provides details on how St. James Parish Hospital in Lutcher, Louisiana worked with local government and community partners to prepare for COVID-19. Find more information here.
MACPAC Publishes Telehealth Guide
In addition to the June 2020 report, MACPAC also recently published a catalog providing high level, state-specific information on telehealth policy changes during the COVID-19 pandemic pertaining to services and specialties, providers, modalities, originating site and licensure rules, and payment. Read more here.
MACPAC Releases June 2020 Report
The Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC) recently released its June 2020 Report to Congress on Medicaid and CHIP, which contains six chapters addressing some fundamental challenges facing Medicaid: improving integration of care for low-income people age 65 and older, and people with disabilities who are dually eligible for Medicaid and Medicare; ensuring that Medicaid is the payer of last resort when its beneficiaries also have coverage from another insurance program; and addressing concerns about high rates of maternal morbidity and mortality. Rural considerations feature prominently in Chapter 5 on maternal health. Read more here.