The Edredesign Lab at Harvard Graduate School of Education reports on how Leslie County Schools in rural Kentucky implemented the federal program that blends social and health services with academics.  The application cycle for the next cohort of the Full-Service Community Schools program closes on September 12. (See the link in Approaching Deadlines below.)

This case series from the University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center offers three examples of rural hospitals offering high-quality support during pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period.

 Last week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services CMS awarded $98.9 million in grant funding to help consumers navigate enrollment through the Marketplace, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Navigator organizations will focus on outreach to people who identify as racial and ethnic minorities, people in rural communities, the LGBTQ+ community, American Indians and Alaska Natives, refugee and immigrant communities, low-income families, pregnant women and new mothers, people with transportation or language barriers or lacking internet access, veterans, and small business owners.  The Navigator funding can play a key role in addressing coverage gaps in rural areas. An HHS report shows that while the uninsured rate in rural areas has fallen in recent years, it continues to be about 2-3 percentage points higher than in urban areas over the 2018-209 period.

On August 19, the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the Treasury issued final rules concerning standards related to the arbitration process implementing the No Surprises Act, a bipartisan law to protect consumers against surprise medical bills. The increased transparency required under these final rules is designed to help providers, facilities and air ambulance providers engage in more meaningful open negotiations with plans and issuers. They will help inform the offers they submit to certified independent entities to resolve claim disputes. Parties or providers (including air ambulance providers), facilities, plans, and issuers may use an arbitration process known as the Independent Dispute Resolution (IDR) process to determine the total payment amount for out-of-network healthcare services for which the act prohibits surprise billing. The final rules include guidance for certified IDR entities on how to make payment determinations and instructs these entities that they must provide additional information and rationale in their written decisions.

Since 1989, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has increased efforts to raise awareness, promote new evidence-based treatment and practices, and celebrate individuals during their long-term recoveries.  Promotional materials, including social media content, are available on SAMHSA’s National Recovery Month website. At HRSA, nearly every bureau and office has a program focused on the opioid crisis, including an array of ongoing projects in the Rural Communities Opioid Response Program.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recommended the use of Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 12-17 for primary series vaccination. See the CDC statement. This recommendation is in line with the FDA’s Emergency Use Authorization of the vaccine for this age group. A limited supply of Novavax is available for Health Center COVID-19 Vaccine Program participants. Health centers can make a one-time order of one package (100 doses) per health center site. See these CDC resources for more information:

•  Novavax COVID-19 Vaccination Operational Planning Guide
•  Use of COVID-19 Vaccines in the U.S. (This site was formerly called the “Interim Clinical Considerations for Use of COVID-19 Vaccines.”)

PA Project Firstline, in collaboration with the Pennsylvania Department of Health (PA DOH), launched a text messaging program for frontline healthcare workers to receive simple and direct messages and links to infection prevention and control information. Subscribers to the text messaging program will receive, on average, only four text messages per month, and lots of valuable infection prevention and control information. Text JOIN to IPC4U (47248) to sign up.