While studies have shown rural children face higher rates of many adverse childhood experiences – also known as ACEs – new research aimed at distinguishing urban-rural differences finds factors that may give rural areas an edge in positive experiences. These include a greater likelihood that children volunteer in their church, school, or community; they are more likely to have a mentor for advice or guidance; and that they are more likely to live in a safe and supportive neighborhood.

The Federal Office of Rural Health Policy awarded approximately $1,990,000 to the Rural Health Redesign Center Organization (RHRCO) from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in a three-year cooperative agreement intended to provide technical assistance (TA) to rural health care providers and organizations in the Northern Border Regional Commission (NBRC). This cooperative agreement will help providers and organizations prioritize health issues, identify funding sources, assist with grant writing and develop strategic plans – with the overall intent to increase health care delivery capacity within the region. In alignment with the Rural Northern Border Region Healthcare Support Program, RHRCO’s proposed project will provide rural healthcare providers with technical assistance to improve access to care, including behavioral health and substance use disorder (SUD) services, workforce development, recruitment, and retention, and support transitions to value-based care. The TA provided in this cooperative agreement will continue to build on FORHP’s efforts to help underserved NBRC rural communities identify and better address their health care needs.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is investigating a case of poliomyelitis, or paralytic polio, in New York state in an unvaccinated patient who presented to an emergency room with lower limb weakness and fever. CDC urges all healthcare providers to ensure their patients are current on the primary polio vaccination series. Healthcare providers should consider polio in the differential diagnosis of patients with sudden onset of limb weakness, especially in unvaccinated individuals and those with recent international travel to places where poliovirus is circulating. During this COCA Call, presenters will discuss the history of polio in the United States and the current New York state outbreak. They will also review clinical aspects of poliovirus infection, how to report suspected cases and recommendations for polio vaccination in the U.S.

As part of National Recovery Month, HRSA’s Office of Women’s Health (OWH) and Office of Intergovernmental and External Affairs Regions 3 and 9 will host a webinar. This webinar is part of OWH’s Women’s Health Leadership Series, which focuses on emerging issues and innovative women’s health practices by and for HRSA-supported organizations and other safety net settings of care. Register here for the Thursday, Sept. 15, 3:00 – 4:00 pm webinar.

CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices updated its flu vaccine recommendations for the 2022-2023 flu season. Influenza vaccination of persons aged ≥6 months will reduce symptoms that might be confused with those of COVID-19. Current guidance for the administration of COVID-19 vaccines indicates that these vaccines can be co-administered with influenza vaccines. Consult the CDC webpage for updated information.

With the state’s economy still in its post-pandemic recovery, a tight labor market and a resurgent labor movement offer new possibilities for the commonwealth’s workers. And if policymakers make the right choices, the state could “enjoy a return to shared prosperity for the first time in decades.” Those are the top line takeaways from the labor-friendly Keystone Research Center’s annual ‘State of Working Pennsylvania’ report, which was released just days ahead of this year’s Labor Day celebrations.

According to a new federal report, U.S. life expectancy estimates have fallen to the worst levels since 1996, marking the second straight year of plummeting estimates in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The drop in life expectancy from 2019 to 2021 has fallen by 2.7 years to 76.1 – the country’s worst two-year decline on record since 1923.

Amazon, CVS, Alphabet (Google’s parent company) are all making major moves in the primary care market. These big players are all experimenting with how to be successful in primary health care and they have the data to make informed decisions and the money to make mistakes. Amazon is in the midst of a $3.9 billion acquisition of One Medical. CVS is buying Signify Health in an $8 billion deal and executives have shared that the company is eyeing a major play in the primary care market by the end of this year. Alphabet’s subsidiary Cityblock has a mission statement that reads much like that of Community Health Centers. All have a motivation to make money.

The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS), to reduce the burden on Community Health Centers when there is a PPS rate change, has added language to the Physical HealthChoices managed care organization (MC0) agreements requiring timely processing. The agreements contain a 90-day MCO processing requirement for rate changes that DHS hopes will help all providers receive timely payments and reduce the burden of fighting for retroactive adjustments with MCOs. The 2022 Physical HealthChoices MCO agreement is available on the DHS website. The first test of the new provision will be when DHS notifies MCOs of the Medicare Economic Index (MEI) adjustment to PPS rates in October.

HRSA issued a Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) particularized determination permitting health centers to prescribe and dispense naloxone to individuals who are not patients of the health center. The determination allows health centers that have been deemed as Public Health Service employees for purposes of liability protections and any officer, governing board member, employee, qualified contractor, or VHP of such an entity (“eligible individuals”), to have liability protections under section 224 of the Public Health Service Act for the provision of health services within the health center’s scope of the project to individuals who are not patients of the health center for prescribing and dispensing naloxone at a health center service site or at offsite locations within the community served by the health center and where the health center is providing care.