On February 2, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced 46 communities that will receive grants and vouchers to help people experiencing homelessness in rural areas.  With this funding, the awarded communities will develop an approach that involves coordination with healthcare providers, housing agencies, and people with lived experience.  It is the first time the federal agency has targeted the issue in rural areas. It is also the first push of a broader Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness, launched in December 2022, that aims to reduce all homelessness by 25 percent by 2025.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced a new online tool showing its rural investments, overall and for each state, going back to 2012.  USDA’s Rural Development division offers a wide range of loans, grants, and loan guarantees (many in our Ongoing Opportunities section, below) that provide essential services, help create jobs and support economic development.  With the Rural Data Gateway, USDA shows where and how Rural Development has supported local and regional economies in the last 11 years through 69 programs.

The interactive map shows 56 states and territories that have received grants from the federal Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program.  More than $42 billion has been committed to infrastructure planning and deployment nationwide.  Click each state or territory on the map to learn the details of current internet availability, amount of funding, and contact information for the state/territory Broadband Office.

  This resource highlights the role of a behavioral health care manager (BHCM) to screen and monitor patients, coordinate care with other healthcare providers, track treatment response, and recommend patient medications. The University of Rochester is one of three Centers of Excellence for the federal Rural Communities Opioid Response Program (RCORP).

 Here, you’ll find a recording and presentation slides from the January 18 webinar that gives an overview of the new Rural Emergency Hospital designation, policy and regulatory requirements, and an introduction to technical assistance provided by the Rural Health Redesign Center.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released information on three Medicare accountable care initiatives in which groups of providers collaborate to improve care.  For 2023, the Medicare Shared Savings Program will have 456 accountable care organizations (ACOs), including 2,240 Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) and 467 Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs). The ACO Realizing Equity, Access, and Community Health (ACO REACH) model will have 132 ACOs with 78 RHCs and 15 CAHs.  The Kidney Care Choices Model will have 130 entities with more than 8,000 providers participating, including newly expanded areas in North Dakota and South Dakota.

This week, a federal panel of experts issued new guidelines for people with HIV who are pregnant, have recently given birth, or are trying to conceive.  Thanks to antiretroviral medications and other viral suppression strategies, parent-to-child transmission of HIV is less than 1 percent in the United States. The updated recommendations include new information about the use of antiretroviral drugs before and during pregnancy, guidance for pregnant people who have not achieved viral suppression, and infant feeding options.  The Panel on Antiretroviral Therapy and Medical Management of Children Living with HIV also co-authored sections published in the Guidelines for the Use of Antiretroviral Agents in Pediatric HIV Infection. Updates to these guidelines are anticipated in April 2023.