The Technical Assistance and Service Center (TASC) has partnered with the Northwest Regional Telehealth Resource Center (NRTRC) to produce an update to the Critical Access Hospital (CAH) Telehealth Guide. Recent federal guidance has been included in this edition. The updated guide provides information and guidance for assessing and implementing telehealth services for CAHs, including purchasing, staffing, maintenance, reimbursement, and reporting for outpatient services. For additional guidance on using this tool, please see the introductory webinar that was held with the original release of the guide in September 2021.

The guide includes best practices and resources developed by subject matter experts (SME), technical consultants, and telehealth resource centers (TRCs). The objective is to provide Flex Programs and CAHs with a comprehensive guide that will allow them a singular point of reference for CAH telehealth standards with direct content and links to appropriate public and federal resources.

Further questions and concerns can be directed to tasc@ruralcenter.org.

Count Question Resolution Program

The Census Bureau began accepting and researching case submissions for the 2020 Census Count Question Resolution Operation (CQR) in January. CQR gives tribal, state, and local officials the opportunity to request the Census Bureau review their official 2020 Census boundaries and/or housing counts by block for potential processing errors.

Any corrections made will not impact the apportionment counts, redistricting data, or any other 2020 Census data products. They would, however, be used in the Census Bureau’s Population Estimates and other future programs that use 2020 Census data. The Census Bureau has provided Participant Guides on their website to assist government units prepare their CQR submission.

Governments that would like to request a review of group quarters population counts would be able to through a separate proposed program, the 2020 Post-Census Group Quarters Review (2020 PCGQR). Under this proposal, the Census Bureau will accept 2020 PCGQR cases submitted by tribal, state, and local government units from Spring 2022 through Summer 2023.

American Community Survey (ACS)

1-Year Data:

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Census Bureau changed the 2020 American Community Survey (ACS) release schedule. Instead of providing the standard 1-year data products, the Census Bureau released experimental estimates from the 1-year data. This includes a limited number of data tables for the nation, states, and the District of Columbia. The 2020 ACS 1-year experimental estimates are posted on the 2020 ACS 1-Year Experimental Data Tables page; they are not available on data.census.gov.

5-Year Data:

On March 17, the U.S. Census Bureau will release the standard, full suite of 2016–2020 American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year data products—down to the block group level. Following pandemic-related data collection disruptions, the Census Bureau revised its methodology to reduce nonresponse bias in data collected in 2020. After evaluating the effectiveness of this methodology, the Census Bureau determined the resulting data are fit for public release, government and business uses, and understanding the social and economic characteristics of the U.S. population and economy.

Disclosure Avoidance

The Census Bureau is working on the next phase of 2020 Census data product development. The Updated 2020 Census Data Product Planning Crosswalk is available. The Crosswalk compares the 2020 Census proposed 2020 Census Demographic Profile, Demographic and Housing Characteristics File (DHC), and Detailed Demographic and Housing Characteristics File (Detailed DHC) tables to the published 2010 Census tables. The Bureau plans two releases of demonstration data for the DHC and Detailed DHC products. With feedback from these releases, they plan to begin production of data products in Summer 2022.

Understanding and communicating about mental health is vital, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, when more people report feeling sad, lonely, or stressed. Three new mental health literacy courses provide a foundation of mental health literacy, including effective strategies to help you recognize opportunities to be more thoughtful in the use of language in your everyday life and when treating patients with mental illnesses.

Help reduce mental health stigma. Take a free mental health literacy course today!

If r anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, call the 24-hour National Suicide Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.

CDC Mental Health Literacy

On February 16, the American Cancer Society National Consortium for Cancer Screening and Care (ACS National Consortium) released a set of consensus recommendations in a new report Responding to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Improving Cancer Screening and Care in the US. Companion materials are also available.

The ACS National Consortium launched in March 2021 with the aim to quicken the nation’s collective response to the COVID-19 pandemic’s detrimental impact on cancer screening and care. The group represents a diverse, multi-sector coalition of 28 organizational members including government agencies, leading cancer advocacy organizations, professional societies, research institutions, national roundtables, leading health organizations, and other relevant industry leaders and partners.

More information can be found here at consortium.acs4ccc.org.

The U.S. Senate has passed a continuing resolution (CR), 65-27. This CR will continue to fund the federal government until March 11, 2022.

With passage of the CR, the National Rural Health Association (NRHA) expects Congress to fully fund the fiscal year (FY) 2022 budget before March 11.  In NRHA’s February letter to Congressional Leadership, we encouraged Congress to fully fund the rural health safety net. Items include:

• Fully funding the Rural Maternity Obstetrics Management Strategies (RMOMS) program.
• Reauthorizing and increasing funding for the Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Grant Program. NRHA encourages funding to include technical assistance support for providers interested in applying for the new Rural Emergency Hospital (REH) designation.

NRHA expects the funding package to be an Omnibus package, meaning it will include non-appropriation related provisions. NRHA urges Congress to use this opportunity to provide support to rural providers continuing to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Items includes:

• Extending relief from Medicare sequestration for the remainder of 2022.
• Continuing telehealth provisions beyond the duration of the public health emergency.
• Reinstating uncapped reimbursement for provider-based rural health clinics in exchange for voluntary inclusion in a quality reporting program.

HHS and CMS are pleased to announce a series of listening sessions to obtain feedback on CMS’ efforts to help ensure robust awareness, outreach, and education for consumers and consumer stakeholders of important new No Surprises Act (NSA) protections. 

In this series of listening sessions, we wish to first understand from consumer advocates the role they can play to help educate consumers about the protections in the NSA as well as to receive input from the field about the consumer experience so far.  We also want feedback from consumer advocates on the tools, consumer website, guidance, social media, paid media, marketing, word of mouth awareness, and other resources necessary to help educate consumers on their rights and protections under NSA.  

The sessions will have a question and answer chat and we will address as many on-topic comments, ideas, and questions as time permits. We will likely not be able to respond to all comments individually, but all those we receive will be used to improve our efforts and help plan future sessions.

During the session we will be focusing on consumer outreach, education, and implementation and will not be addressing technical questions specific to NSA provisions or policy, or from a provider’s perspective. We really want your feedback and innovative ideas to help educate consumers and we encourage you to participate. To learn more about the No Surprises Act, visit: https://www.cms.gov/nosurprises

When: 3:00 PM ET on March 3, April 7, and May 5.  

If you have already registered for this series, which began on February 10, there is no need to re-register.

Who should attend: This series is designed for organizations who advocate for and/or assist healthcare consumers.

RSVP: Click here 

Registering for the listening sessions will register you for all sessions. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

This meeting is closed to press. 

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has released a Request for Information (RFI) on the topic of access for people enrolled in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). The RFI feedback will be used to identify ways to help ensure that individuals eligible for Medicaid and CHIP can enroll in, maintain coverage, and have equitable access to timely, high-quality, and appropriate health care services and support in all payment and delivery systems, regardless of whether care is delivered through fee-for-service or managed care. This Request for Information (RFI) is one of the first steps CMS is taking to develop its comprehensive access strategy.  I attached the Press Release for your convenience.

Interested parties may access the RFI questions and provide comment on Medicaid.gov. The RFI is open for a 60 day public comment period beginning February 17, 2022.

To read the RFI, visit: https://cmsmedicaidaccessrfi.gov1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6EYj9eLS9b74Npk

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released another addendum – “Considerations for Conducting Rapid Community Assessment in Migrant and Seasonal Farmworker Communities” – to its field guide for conducting a Rapid Community Assessment (RCA).  The addendum was developed in partnership with the Oregon Health Authority, the National Center for Farmworker Health, CDC’s Global Migration Task Force, and Oregon and Yuma County Farmworker Deployment Teams.

An RCA is a process for quickly collecting community insights about a public health issue to inform program design. The assessment involves reviewing existing data and conducting community-based interviews, listening sessions, observations, social listening, and surveys.  In addition to the farmworker communities addendum, the CDC RCA webpage provides an assessment guide and tools for those who wish to better understand their community’s needs regarding COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and uptake among adults, adolescents, and children.

Please share widely!  Questions may be directed to jqi3@cdc.gov.

Welcome to the fourth edition of Health Equity Quarterly, our quarterly newsletter that highlights the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Office of Minority Health’s (CMS OMH) activities, messages from leadership, and some of the great work the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is doing to address health care disparities.

While the nation continues to deal with the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is imperative that you and your family get vaccinated. Children ages 5-11 recently became eligible for vaccination and it is critical that we encourage parents to get their children vaccinated, answer questions about the vaccine and how it will affect this age group, and provide resources that will further inform parents so they feel safe getting their child vaccinated.

In addition to getting your children vaccinated, we also continue to stress the importance of getting your COVID-19 vaccine booster, if eligible. Boosters have been authorized for all three of the vaccines that are currently available – Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson – with the requirements for getting your booster varying according to which vaccine you initially received. Research suggests the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines wanes over time, which means that the booster is essential to protect yourself and your family as we continued to deal with this pandemic.

Throughout 2021, CMS OMH held multiple webinars related to the COVID-19 vaccine, with the most recent being our Pediatric Vaccine Partner Webinar, which was co-hosted with the Connecting Kids to Coverage National Campaign. The webinar highlighted newly released recommendations on COVID-19 vaccines for children ages 5-11, federal COVID-19 resources, and more. Panelists detailed their ongoing work to further emphasize the importance of vaccines, discussed the availability of vaccines, and provided messaging that viewers could use to reach different populations and stakeholders. View the recording and slides from the webinar. We also encourage you to view the information from our other webinars, the COVID-19 Vaccine Webinar for Rural Communities (recording and slides) and the Building COVID-19 Vaccine Confidence Webinar (recording, slides, and supplemental handout).

CMS OMH strives to ensure that all of the populations that we serve have access to quality health care, including vaccinations and other preventive services. These webinars offered us a chance to work with various partner organizations and individual providers to ensure that the concerns of the various populations that we serve are heard as we continue to shape our strategies.

Finally, this February, CMS OMH is proud to celebrate Black History Month as well as American Heart Month. Black communities are often disproportionately affected by heart conditions and related risk factors. By examining these two monthly observances together, CMS OMH has an opportunity to advance health equity for all Americans by highlighting resources and initiatives that can help those disproportionately impacted by heart disease. Visit the CMS OMH Health Observances website for a list of resources to share during February and beyond.

– Dr. LaShawn McIver, Director, CMS OMH