Retaining furloughed employees is critical to the future of your organization. Here are some ideas to help employers, human resource professionals and employees successfully stay engaged and navigate reentry to the workforce. Communication is key. Employers and HR could build dedicated support websites or webpages to keep furloughed employees informed. Another tip is exploring social media and using it to create open forums and discussions between employers and furloughed staff. Employers and HR professionals can also nominate an employee to function as an ambassador to offer additional support. Employers and HR professionals should continue to offer resources that focus on the health and wellbeing of all employees. Employers can also take advantage of this time to optimize your remote-work platforms. Retooling your remote platforms can enable furloughed employees to connect through mobile devices. A solid plan to reengage furloughed employees can offer stability during these uncertain times. This short synopsis was based on a unily.com article for tips to help furloughed employees reenter.

While many primary care practices are struggling to keep their doors open during the pandemic, others are leveraging it as an opportunity to innovate. Commonwealth Fund researchers looked at three practices that have gotten creative in how they reach patients and deliver care. These providers have benefited from investments made prior to the pandemic in remote monitoring tools, telehealth and texting platforms to identify high-risk patients. Read, Primary Care as a Bulwark Against COVID-19: How Three Innovative Practices Are Responding.

Gabriel Perna | April 24, 2020

The ongoing struggles of rural health care in America are not a secret to anyone in this industry.  

In 2019, a record 19 rural hospitals closed. Thus far in 2020, nine hospitals have already closed and the COVID-19 pandemic, with its devastating impact on hospital operating margins, threatens to make it a much more staggering amount.  

Financial resources dedicated to providers in the CARES Act and the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act will help, rural health advocates say. The National Rural Health Association says that half of rural hospitals and providers operated at a financial loss before the pandemic. The loss of revenue from the pandemic meant hundreds were at risk of closure before the funding came in. 

But the funding from Congress hasn’t come without hiccups or concerns. There were complaints that the initial $30 billion to be distributed from HHS didn’t give enough to rural providers. HHS said the next round will be geared towards rural health providers, but America’s Essential Hospitals, a trade group for vulnerable health systems and hospitals, has concerns about how the agency targets its funding dollars.  

“Targeting will require complete and accurate data, and we have concerns about technical problems providers now face as they try to comply with the department’s request for targeting data. We call on the department to extend its data submission deadline until it has resolved these technical issues and clearly and publicly communicated how it will use this information,” stated Bruce Siegel, MD, President and CEO of America’s Essential Hospitals. The group also wants HHS to minimize the application process to streamline funding.  

Read more.

In response to the increased need for providing telehealth due to COVID-19, CMS has given additional consideration to telehealth services in HHS-operated risk adjustment for issuers in the individual and small group health insurance markets inside and outside the Marketplaces. CMS’ new guidance clarifies which telehealth services are valid for HHS-operated risk adjustment data submission in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Frequently Asked Questions

CMS issued a letter thanking clinicians for their ongoing efforts to treat patients and combat COVID-19 and shared additional details on the new Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) improvement activity. As announced earlier this month, clinicians who participate in a COVID-19 clinical trial and report their findings to a clinical data repository or registry many now earn credit in MIPS under the Improvement Activities performance category for the 2020 performance period by attesting to this new activity.

Dear Clinician Letter

CMS has approved 140 requests for state relief in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including recent approvals for Arkansas, Hawaii, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wyoming. These approvals help to ensure that states have the tools they need to combat COVID-19 through a wide variety of waivers, amendments, and Medicaid state plan flexibilities, including for programs that care for the elderly and people with disabilities. CMS developed a toolkit to expedite the application and review of each request and has approved these requests in record time. These approved flexibilities support President Trump’s commitment to a COVID-19 response that is locally executed, state managed, and federally supported.

 Section 1135 Waivers

Section 1115(a) Waivers 

1915(c) Waiver Appendix K Amendments

Medicaid State Plan Amendments

CHIP State Plan Amendments

By Bill Bishop and Tim Marema

In the first jobs report after the pandemic forced widespread shutdowns, rural employment dropped 1.2% from February to March. Metropolitan counties fared worse, with a drop of 1.9% of total employment.

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By Tim Marema

A rural county’s economic type seems to have a strong impact on how quickly the coronavirus is spreading. Hotspot counties with meatpacking plants or prisons have infection rates much higher than the national average.

Read more.