- CMS: Medicare Program; Prospective Payment System and Consolidated Billing for Skilled Nursing Facilities; Updates to the Quality Reporting Program for Federal Fiscal Year 2026
- CMS: Medicare Program; FY 2026 Hospice Wage Index and Payment Rate Update and Hospice Quality Reporting Program Requirements
- Public Inspection: CMS: Medicare Program: Prospective Payment System and Consolidated Billing for Skilled Nursing Facilities; Updates to the Quality Reporting Program for Federal Fiscal Year 2026
- Public Inspection: CMS: Medicare Program: Fiscal Year 2026 Hospice Wage Index and Payment Rate Update and Hospice Quality Reporting Program Requirements
- CMS: Request for Information; Health Technology Ecosystem
- VA: Staff Sergeant Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program Funding Opportunity
- State: 60-Day Notice of Proposed Information Collection: J-1 Visa Waiver Recommendation Application
- Public Inspection: CMS: Request for Information: Health Technology Ecosystem
- HHS: Request for Information (RFI): Ensuring Lawful Regulation and Unleashing Innovation To Make American Healthy Again
- VA: Solicitation of Nominations for the Appointment to the Advisory Committee on Tribal and Indian Affairs
- 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
Event Recording: Watch the Integrating Behavioral Health and Primary Care in Rural America
On May 31, the Bipartisan Policy Center convened a panel of experts (including FORHP’s leadership) to discuss findings in their newly-released report, Achieving Behavioral Health Care Integration in Rural America.
Research in this section is provided by the HRSA/FORHP-supported Rural Health Research Gateway. Sign up to receive alerts when new publications become available.
Psychological distress is more common in some occupations; Read About a thirty-seven year panel study
Researchers found that occupations with a high risk of mental health problems are those with workers who: 1) have high physical or psychological job demands yet little control over work processes; 2) limited support at work; 3) limited ability to use their skills or discretion in how they do so; 4) low or inconsistent income; or 5) low occupational prestige. It’s estimated that about 19 million Americans have a major depressive episode in a given year and that mental health disorders cost employers nearly $200 billion in 2018. See the Funding section below for a new federal program aimed at improving job quality in specific sectors of the economy.
The Clinician Job Search Tool Gets an Upgrade
HRSA’s Health Workforce Connector, a free tool for connecting clinicians to job and training opportunities, is now easier to use. New features simplify job searches by discipline and program, and an expanded display for Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) helps clinicians looking for qualifying positions. The most recent quarterly report on HPSAs (pdf) shows that of all designated shortage areas, two-thirds are primary medical HPSAs in rural areas.
Here You Can Watch the Testimonial Video on How Telehealth Helps Patients Access Care
Telehealth can make it easier for patients to find or connect to a healthcare appointment. Watch this video to see how an HRSA grantee, Cherokee Health Systems, is using telehealth to help patients connect to a healthcare appointment and how they use resources on Telehealth.HHS.gov.
Labor Numbers Improve: Is the Great Resignation Over?
The Great Resignation — workers furiously quitting for new, likely higher-paying jobs — is a thing of the past according to Axios. The historic surge of quitters was a symptom of an on-fire labor market, where demand for workers far outstripped supply. Axios based its analysis on U.S. Department of Labor numbers that showed the quits rate falling to 2.4% in April. “We are pretty much back to a strong, robust labor market, but one that is no longer overheating,” Julia Pollak, an economist at ZipRecruiter, told Axios. Read the Labor Department’s press release.
Applications for the Federal Loan Repayment for SUD Providers Are Now Being Accepted
Applications are now being accepted for the Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Recovery Loan Repayment Program (STAR-LRP) administered by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). You are eligible if you provide direct treatment or recovery support to patients with or in recovery from a substance use disorder at a Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Recovery Loan Repayment Program-approved facility. That facility must be in either a county (or a municipality, if not contained within any county) where the mean drug overdose death rate is higher than the most recent available national average overdose death rate per 100,000 people or in a mental Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA). The program pays up to $250,000 for six years of service. Check out the STAR-LPR details including registering for application Q&A sessions.
Learn More Here About the Pediatric Specialty Loan Repayment Program
Eligible clinicians—pediatric medical subspecialists, pediatric surgical subspecialists, psychologists, licensed clinical social workers (LCSW), licensed or certified master’s level social workers (LSW or LCMSW), psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners, marriage and family therapists (MFT), licensed professional counselors (LPC) and substance use disorder counselors (SUD counselors)—providing pediatric subspecialty services or child and adolescent mental and behavioral health care including SUD prevention and treatment services may apply for up to $100,000 in loan repayment. Learn more about HRSA’s Pediatric Specialty Loan Repayment Program on HRSA’s website.
Read How Value-Based Care Revenue is Driving Primary Care Practice Acquisitions
Big corporations are scooping up primary care practices to get access to vast numbers of patients while positioning themselves for the shift to value-based care, The New York Times reported May 8. The story cites CVS Heath’s $10.6 billion purchase of Oak Street Health, Amazon’s $3.9 billion deal for One Medical, and Optum’s employment of roughly 70,000 physicians. The companies hope to treat the more than 30 million Americans on Medicare Advantage, which the federal government is paying private payers $400 billion a year to administer.
The Pandemic’s Toll on Community Health Centers
Community health centers are often the first line of defense during health crises in America, including the opioid and HIV epidemics, operating as a safety net for 30 million patients who would otherwise struggle to access primary care, including 13 million patients living in poverty, 6 million uninsured patients, and 1 million patients experiencing homelessness. Despite their vital role, health centers are in a precarious financial position. Operating within tight financial margins leaves them with little room for investments in technology, staffing, and other resources and when financial uncertainty grows, health centers often impose hiring freezes or reduce services. Read more in Underfunded and Overburdened: The Toll of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Community Health Centers.
One Third of Pennsylvania’s May Medicaid Reapplications Ineligible
New data from the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services show that 43,546, or 32%, of the 137,611 Pennsylvanians who completed the reapplication process in the first month were slated to lose Medicaid, declared ineligible because their income was too high or due to a procedural problem, such as not returning documentation, The Philadelphia Inquirer reports.