- 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
USDA Increases Funding Limits for the Revolving Fund Program to Help Expand Access to Rural Water and Wastewater Infrastructure
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that it is increasing funding limits for loans financed under the Revolving Fund Program to support water and wastewater infrastructure projects in rural America. This improvement is in accordance with provisions in the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (2018 Farm Bill).
In a final rule published today, USDA increased to $200,000 the maximum loan amount in the Revolving Fund Program. The previous loan limit was $100,000. This change will help expand access to safe, reliable drinking water, and sanitary sewage treatment for households in rural communities.
The Revolving Fund Program helps qualified nonprofit organizations create revolving loan funds to extend and improve water and waste disposal systems in rural areas. The funds may be used for pre-development costs for water and wastewater treatment projects. Funds also may be used for small short-term capital improvement projects that are not part of regular operations and maintenance. Program recipients set the loan terms for the individual communities they serve.
In Pennsylvania, for additional information about the program contact Tom Wellington, acting water and environmental program director, by email at thomas.wellington@usda.gov or phone at 717-2372188.
Additional information is available on page 14525 of the March 17, 2021, Federal Register.
If you’d like to subscribe to USDA Rural Development updates, visit our GovDelivery subscriber page.
MedPAC Examines Rural Access to Care
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) looked at whether seniors in rural areas face barriers to receiving care. While access to care indicators appear good, the Commission said rural beneficiaries often have longer drives to appointments or cannot find specialists, in addition to the problem of local hospital closures. Yet MedPAC said there is reason for optimism that the availability of telehealth services and efforts to bolster rural hospital payments may help.
MedPAC’s work suggests that rural Medicare beneficiaries continue to have difficulty getting to their doctor and accessing specialty care and are more likely to face the challenge of hospital closures.
- The Commission is updating a 2012 report that compared access for rural beneficiaries and their urban counterparts.
- However, MedPAC noted that regional differences are often greater than the rural/urban divide and said that wider use of telehealth and a new Rural Emergency Hospital designation could bolster rural care.
New Study: School-Based Dental Programs and Cavities
A school-based cavity prevention program involving nearly 7,000 elementary school students reduced cavities by more than 50 percent, according to a study led by researchers at New York University College of Dentistry. The findings were published March 1, 2021 in the Journal of the American Dental Association.
ADA Releases Toolkit for Increasing Vaccine Confidence
The American Dental Association (ADA) released a toolkit to help dental providers increase patients’ confidence in COVID-19 vaccines. The downloadable resource includes answers to commonly asked questions, advice for social media interactions, and tip sheets for dispelling myths about the vaccines and sharing science-based recommendations for pregnant women or those planning to start a family.
Visiting Loved Ones in a Nursing Home – UPDATED Graphic Available (English and Spanish)
On March 10, 2021, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), issued updated guidance for nursing homes to safely expand visitation options during the COVID-19 pandemic public health emergency (PHE). Today, CMS is releasing a graphic to further explain the expanded visitation options.
According to the updated guidance, facilities should allow responsible indoor visitation at all times and for all residents, regardless of vaccination status of the resident, or visitor, unless certain scenarios arise that would limit visitation. Read the full press release and review the graphic in English and Spanish.
Pennsylvania Adds 8 Counties to Pennsylvania’s Spotted Lanternfly Quarantine, Highlights New Weapon to Sniff Out Pest
Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding announced that eight counties have been added to Pennsylvania’s Spotted Lanternfly quarantine zone ahead of the 2021 spring hatch. With this addition, the quarantine for this invasive pest is now at 34 counties.
“The Spotted Lanternfly is more than a pest in the literal sense,” said Redding. “It’s wreaking havoc for home and business owners, kids who just want to play outside, Pennsylvania agriculture and the economy of the state we all call home. Whether you think it’s your job or not, we need every Pennsylvanian to keep their eyes peeled for signs of this bad bug – to scrape every egg mass, squash every bug, and report every sighting. We need to unite in our hatred for this pest for our common love: Pennsylvania.”
The new eight counties are not completely infested, but rather have a few municipalities with a known infestation. Cambria, Cameron, Franklin, Lackawanna, Montour, Pike, Wayne, and Westmoreland are new to the quarantine for 2021.
“When we expand the quarantine, our goal is to slow the spread of the Spotted Lanternfly,” said Dr. Ruth Welliver, director of the department’s Bureau of Plant Industry. “And we have slowed it. Last spring we quarantined 12 counties with isolated infestations, and those counties have not been overrun because of the heightened awareness a quarantine brings. With continued aggressive treatment and monitoring, and an actively engaged community, we can help ensure families and businesses in these new counties aren’t inconvenienced by widespread infestation.”
Quick, aggressive treatment to newly identified populations of Spotted Lanternfly in Pennsylvania has been funded through the Rapid Response Disaster Readiness line of Governor Wolf’s Pennsylvania Farm Bill for the past two years. The 2021-22 PA Farm Bill proposes another $3 million to combat Spotted Lanternfly.
New to Pennsylvania’s fight against the Spotted Lanternfly this Spring is Lucky, a female German Shepherd, trained as a puppy at PennVet’s Working Dog Center to detect Spotted Lanternfly eggs, often in places humans can’t access. Lucky joined the department in November 2020 and helps to inspect businesses like nurseries, greenhouses, vehicle fleets, and log yards. She is the first dog in the nation trained to detect Spotted Lanternfly.
Businesses that operate in or travel through quarantined counties are required to obtain a Spotted Lanternfly permit. Homeowners with questions about treatment are encouraged to contact their local Penn State Extension office or learn about management, including approved sprays, online. Pennsylvanians who live inside the quarantine zone should also review and sign the Compliance Checklist for residents.
Since 2015, the department has received more than $34 million to combat Spotted Lanternfly in Pennsylvania — $20 million in federal funds and another $14 million in state investment. The department also awarded more than $260,000 in January for four priority research projects.
For more information on Spotted Lanternfly, visit agriculture.pa.gov/spottedlanternfly. For more about Governor Tom Wolf’s PA Farm Bill and its investments in a sustainable agriculture industry visit agriculture.pa.gov/pafarmbill.
Note: High quality, public domain photos of the Spotted Lanternfly are available for download through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Spotted Lanternfly Flickr album. Designed graphics for social or other media use to raise awareness of the Spotted Lanternfly and new quarantine can be downloaded from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture’s 2021 Spotted Lanternfly Flickr album.
Pennsylvania Governor and COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force Announce Targeted Vaccination Strategies, Including for Food Processing & Farmworkers
Agriculture is essential. While so many people saw their world turn upside down last March, not much changed for this industry. People need to eat, so we continued farming, planting, growing; caring for livestock; processing and packing; and putting food on the shelves.
Governor Tom Wolf and the Legislative Vaccine Taskforce recognize agriculture’s invaluable service. On March 12, 2021, they announced that farm workers, food manufacturing employees, and grocery workers are the next targeted groups to receive the FDA approved Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine which has been approved by the FDA for targeted administration.
This effort is separate from Phase 1B, where agriculture falls in the commonwealth’s vaccine rollout plan. It’s recognition that these groups have had no choice but to continue working to keep Pennsylvania and the world fed through a pandemic.
Strengthening the resiliency of agriculture requires acknowledging the transformative power of science and research. And that’s what we have in the COVID-19 vaccine.
Read the Governor’s announcement here. Check out the FAQs here.
Effective April 4, More Options in Pennsylvania for Restaurants and Other Businesses, Mass Gathering Maximums Increase
As COVID-19 cases have declined and vaccination rates are climbing, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf today announced the lifting of some targeted restrictions on restaurants and other businesses, as well as increased gathering limits.
Effective April 4, restaurants may resume bar service; alcohol service will be allowed without the purchase of food; the curfew for removing alcoholic drinks from tables will be lifted; and indoor dining capacity will be raised to 75 percent for those restaurants that are currently self-certified and those that undergo the self-certification process, which involves agreeing to strictly comply to all public health safety guidelines and orders, including the cleaning and mitigation protocols and other operational requirements contained in the Governor and Secretary of Health’s mitigation and enforcement orders issued on November 23, 2020, as amended. Those restaurants that do not self-certify may raise capacity to 50 percent. Outdoor dining, curbside pick-up and takeout are still encouraged.
Requirements such as mask-wearing, and social distancing, including 6 feet between diners, also still apply.
Capacity for other businesses also will be increased effective April 4, including moving personal services facilities, gyms and entertainment facilities (casinos, theatres, malls) to 75 percent occupancy.
The governor also announced revised maximum occupancy limits for indoor events to allow for 25% of maximum occupancy, regardless of venue size, and maximum occupancy limits for outdoor events to allow for 50% of maximum occupancy, regardless of venue size. Maximum occupancy is permitted only if attendees and workers are able to comply with the 6-foot physical distancing requirement.
“Pennsylvanians have stepped up and done their part of help curb the spread of COVID-19,” Gov. Wolf said. “Our case counts continue to go down, hospitalizations are declining, and the percent positivity rate gets lower every week – all very positive signs. The number of people getting vaccinated increases daily and we are seeing light at the end of the tunnel. It’s time to allow our restaurants, bars and other service businesses to get back to more normal operations.”
While the lifting of these restrictions is good news, Gov. Wolf cautioned that mask-wearing, social distancing and business adherence to all safety orders are still imperative.
“We’ve come so far and now is not the time to stop the safety measures we have in place to protect ourselves, our families and our communities,” Gov. Wolf said. “Keep wearing a mask, social distancing, and, please, get vaccinated when it’s your turn.”
Find more on the restaurant self-certification process here.
Pennsylvania Funding for Volunteer Fire Companies to Increase Protection from Wildfires in Rural Areas
Pennsylvania Governor Wolf’s Administration announced that funding is now available to help Pennsylvania’s rural communities increase protection from wildfires.
“Weather can be friend or foe in our wildfire prevention and suppression efforts, but DCNR has no stronger ally — especially during these most difficult times of the pandemic — than the men and women of the volunteer fire companies serving rural areas and communities where forest and brush fires are common,” said Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn. “To appreciate the value of well-equipped and highly trained wildfire fighters, one only has to look outside Pennsylvania to the horrific fires that sometimes plague other states.”
Fire Commissioner Bruce Trego praised volunteer fire companies’ service to communities close to home, as well as those members who often join DCNR’s Bureau of Forestry crews battling wildfires far beyond Pennsylvania’s borders.
“Wildfires continue to pose a dangerous and growing threat to our state’s forests, economic interests and the communities that live and recreate near them,” Trego said. “Grant programs like these are vital tools for state government to ensure volunteer firefighters get needed equipment and training so they may perform their jobs as professionally and safely as possible.”
Local firefighting forces in rural areas or communities with fewer than 10,000 residents qualify for the aid, which is used for training and equipment purchases directly related to fighting brush and forest fires.
Grant applications must be electronically submitted through DCNR’s grant website by 4:00 PM, Thursday, May 13, 2021. To expedite applications and decision-making processes, DCNR is accepting only online applications.
The key objective is to better equip and train volunteers to save lives and protect property in unprotected or inadequately protected rural areas. Grant recipients are selected based on vulnerability and adequacy of existing fire protection.
In application reviews, priority will be placed on projects that include the purchase of wildfire suppression equipment and protective clothing. Grants also may be used for purchasing mobile or portable radios, installing dry hydrants, wildfire prevention and mitigation work, training wildfire fighters, or converting and maintaining federal excess vehicles. These vehicles are presented to the local departments exhibiting the greatest needs and those that commit to outfitting them for fire suppression.
Aid is granted on a cost-share basis. Grants for any project during a fiscal year cannot exceed 50 percent of the actual expenditures of local, public, and private nonprofit organizations in the agreement. The maximum grant that will be considered from any fire company in 2021 is $10,000.
Both Trego and Dunn noted the readiness of volunteer fire companies is demonstrated every spring and summer when they answer assistance calls coming from other states, while also responding regularly to local woodland and brush fires. They noted the wildfire grants help enable smaller companies to concentrate more on public safety and training while easing their fiscal constraints.
In 2020, almost $592,000 was awarded to 109 volunteer fire companies serving rural areas and communities where forest and brush fires are common. The grant program, offered through DCNR and paid through federal grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, has awarded more than $13 million since it began in 1982.
Pennsylvania Transportation Department Invites Pennsylvanians to Share Feedback on Winter Services
Statewide Online Survey Available Until April 6
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) is seeking the public’s feedback on winter services through an online survey found at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PDWinter2021.
“PennDOT is proud of our winter operations and communications,” said PennDOT Secretary Yassmin Gramian. “The results from this survey will help us measure public expectations and identify education opportunities.”
The survey is available through April 6 and should take about five minutes to complete. All responses are completely anonymous.
The 12-question survey asks respondents about their timeline expectations for safe and passable roadways, how they rank snow-removal priorities, and how they rate PennDOT’s winter services.
Respondents are also asked how they receive PennDOT roadway information, and whether or how they use the state’s 511PA traveler information services. During the winter, www.511PA.com offers its standard traffic and incident information while adding PennDOT plow-truck locations, winter roadway conditions, and other services.
At any time, motorists can check conditions on more than 40,000 roadway miles by visiting www.511PA.com. 511PA, which is free and available 24 hours a day, provides traffic delay warnings, weather forecasts, traffic speed information, and access to more than 1,000 traffic cameras.
511PA is also available through a smartphone application for iPhone and Android devices, by calling 5-1-1, or by following regional Twitter alerts accessible on the 511PA website.
As construction season begins, information on projects occurring or being bid this year is viewable at www.projects.PennDOT.gov. Visit the “Regional Offices” page at www.PennDOT.gov to sign up for travel alerts in a specific area.
Subscribe to statewide PennDOT news at www.PennDOT.gov/news. Follow PennDOT on Twitter at www.twitter.com/PennDOTNews, like the department on Facebook at www.facebook.com/PennsylvaniaDepartmentofTransportation and Instagram at www.instagram.com/pennsylvaniadot.