- 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
- Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation of the Medicare Program (Executive Order 14192) - Request for Information
- Dr. Mehmet Oz Shares Vision for CMS
- CMS Refocuses on its Core Mission and Preserving the State-Federal Medicaid Partnership
- Social Factors Help Explain Worse Cardiovascular Health among Adults in Rural Vs. Urban Communities
- Reducing Barriers to Participation in Population-Based Total Cost of Care (PB-TCOC) Models and Supporting Primary and Specialty Care Transformation: Request for Input
- Secretary Kennedy Renews Public Health Emergency Declaration to Address National Opioid Crisis
- Secretary Kennedy Renews Public Health Emergency Declaration to Address National Opioid Crisis
- 2025 Marketplace Integrity and Affordability Proposed Rule
- Rural America Faces Growing Shortage of Eye Surgeons
- Comments Requested on Mobile Crisis Team Services: An Implementation Toolkit Draft
CMS Issues COVID-19 FAQs
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has issued Frequently Asked Questions to Ensure Individuals, Issuers and States have Clear Information on Coverage Benefits for COVID-19. This action is part of the broader, ongoing effort by the White House Coronavirus Task Force to ensure that all Americans – particularly those at high-risk of complications from the COVID-19 virus – have access to the health benefits that can help keep them healthy while helping to contain the spread of this disease.
The COVID-19 FAQs for EHB can be found here: https://www.cms.gov/CCIIO/Resources/Fact-Sheets-and-FAQs/Downloads/EHB-Benchmark-Coverage-of-COVID-19.pdf
These FAQs, and earlier CMS actions in response to the COVID-19 virus, are part of the ongoing White House Task Force efforts. To keep up with the important work the Task Force is doing in response to COVID-19 click here www.coronavirus.gov. For information specific to CMS, please visit the Current Emergencies Website.
National Guidelines for Mental Health Crisis Care: A Best Practices Toolkit
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) created this online toolkit for implementing behavioral health crisis care. The guidelines are intended to help states and communities develop a no-wrong-door integrated crisis system with a regional crisis call center, crisis mobile response teams, and receiving and stabilization facilities.
Healthy People 2020 Progress for Leading Causes of Death in Rural and Urban America: A Chartbook
This study from the Southwest Rural Health Research Center examines rural versus urban differences in how the U.S. is meeting the Healthy People 2020 mortality objectives for many of the leading causes of death. Overall, the findings indicate rural America is lagging behind urban America in achieving these objectives. Furthermore, key findings indicate men have been less likely than women to achieve these objectives, the rural South has seen less progress than other regions, and suicide mortality has increased across all levels of rurality.
Congressional Research Service on HRSA Maternal Health Programs
The Congressional Research Service provides objective policy and legal analysis to committees and members of the U.S. House and Senate. For this report, researchers provide an overview of five maternal health programs administered by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), including the Rural Maternity and Obstetrics Management Strategies (RMOMS) Program, a pilot program that aims to improve access to services in rural areas.
Hidden Pain: America’s Oral Health Crisis
The production Hidden Pain: America’s Oral Health Crisis, is a short film by The Jon C Burr Foundation that addresses the pain, suffering and enormous cost to the American people of not providing access to Oral Healthcare. Dr. Mike Monopoli, Executive Director of Grant Strategy for the DentaQuest Partnership offered his subject matter expertise, and several Partnership grantees are featured sharing their perspectives about how to change the system and improve health outcomes. Watch this important documentary here.
Hospital Utilization for Non-Traumatic Dental Conditions in Oregon from 2013 to 2015
Access to oral health benefits is a state by state issue – either the coverage is uneven or totally lacking – and can result in costly trips to the hospital for non-traumatic dental conditions. The DentaQuest Partnership took an in-depth look into Emergency Department (ED) visits specifically in Oregon for non-traumatic dental conditions, and found a need for multi-level solutions, such as teledentistry, to decrease ED utilization across the state. Read the study here.
The Burden of Out-of-Pocket Expenditures for Dental Care on Medicare-Enrolled Elderly and Disabled
The DentaQuest Partnership’s latest report is a continuation of compelling research about how out-of-pocket spending on health care presents challenges for patients on fixed incomes. The report findings show that Medicare recipients pay for at least 75% of dental costs out-of-pocket, contributing to financial strain and poor oral health. Read the report.
Census Bureau: Request for Nominations of Members To Serve on the National Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic, and Other Populations
The Census Bureau is accepting nominations to fill eight vacancies on the National Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic and Other Populations (NAC). The NAC provides advice to the Director of the Census Bureau on the economic, housing, demographic, socioeconomic, linguistic, technological, methodological, geographic, behavioral, and operational variables affecting the cost, accuracy, and implementation of Census Bureau programs and surveys, including the decennial census. The committee should have representatives with a variety of experience and from varied backgrounds in order to have balanced representation in terms of geography, age, sex, race, ethnicity, technical expertise, community involvement, and knowledge of census programs. Some members may serve as representatives for broad populations groups, including hard-to-count populations and racial and ethnic populations, among others. Nominations are due by August 1, 2020.
Public Comments Accepted on the Draft 2021 CMS QRDA I Implementation Guide (IG) and Schematron for Hospital Quality Reporting (HQR)
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is requesting public comments on their draft of the CMS Quality Reporting Document Architecture (QRDA) Category I Implementation Guide and Schematron for Hospital Quality Reporting. The guidelines outline requirements for eligible hospitals and Critical Access Hospitals to report quality measures for the 2021 calendar reporting year. Comments are due by April 1, 2020.
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Launches $4.5M Geriatric Emergency Department Initiative for Rural Patients
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center has launched a three-year initiative to build a “hub-and-spoke” model geriatric emergency department which will utilize telemedicine to extend services to rural areas. The goal of the initiative is to keep geriatric patients near their rural homes and keep complicated cases at Dartmouth-Hitchcock.