Communication between patients and care teams about medical, behavioral health (including substance use), and social service needs is essential to ensuring equitable, quality care and cultivating trusting relationships. For patients who speak English less than “very well,” also known as Limited English Proficiency or LEP, the inability to communicate effectively and confidently with care teams is a significant barrier and undermines the ability to build trust in providers and the health system as a whole. In the area of pain management and substance use disorder treatment, these disparities are exacerbated by the lack of language-appropriate care, leading to untreated or undertreated conditions. Read the full blog post.

In January 2024, the commonwealth launched PA Navigate, a new website that connects residents to community organizations, government agencies and health care providers for access to resources for basic needs, such as food, housing, and childcare. Read more. In efforts to educate the community, a PA Navigate flyer was developed if you would like to share within your community.

– Comments due December 6. The Advisory Commission on Additional Licensing Models has released draft preliminary recommendations for public comment. These recommendations are intended to aid interested state medical boards and policymakers in developing new licensing pathways for internationally trained physicians. The recommendations, which focus on eligibility requirements, are available for feedback until December 6, 2024, with final guidance expected in early 2025.

For the calendar year 2023 reporting period, eligible hospitals and Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) were required to use 2015 Edition Cures Update certified electronic health record technology (CEHRT) to meet the Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program requirements.  CAHs may apply for a Hardship Exception if complying with this requirement results in significant hardship.  CAHs may submit their application electronically  or contact the Center for Clinical Standards and Quality Service Center (CCSQ) Service Center at (866) 288-8912 to complete a verbal application.

Last week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the Medicare Outpatient Hospital Prospective Payment System (OPPS) Final Rule for Calendar Year 2025.  In addition to annual updates in outpatient hospital Medicare payment rates, this rule finalizes new standards for hospitals and Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) with obstetric (OB) units regarding maternal quality assessment and performance improvement, the organization, staffing, and delivery of OB care, and staff training on evidence-based maternal health practices.  For hospitals and CAHs with emergency services, it adds standards on facility readiness in caring for emergency services’ patients, including pregnant, birthing, and postpartum women. The rule also finalizes new transfer policies for hospitals that mirror the current CAH and Rural Emergency Hospital standards. These Conditions of Participation (CoPs) will be phased in over two years.

Effective January 1, 2025.  On November 1, 2024, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued the Calendar Year (CY) 2025 Home Health Prospective Payment System (HH PPS) Rate Update final rule, which updates the Medicare payment policies and rates for home health agencies (HHAs). CMS projects an increase in aggregate payments by 0.5 percent, and also finalizes a permanent prospective adjustment of -1.975% to the CY 2025 home health payment rate. CMS finalized a new standard for acceptance to service policy in the Home Health Conditions of Participation (HH CoPs) and their proposal with modification to require ongoing respiratory illness reporting for Long-Term Care (LTC) facilities. The rule is effective January 1, 2025.

Among key findings from the University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center:

• Rural counties have a higher proportion of people with medical debt in collections than urban counties, and this difference is associated with lower average household incomes.
• The county-level median amount of medical debt in collections held by rural residents is higher compared to their urban counterparts, even after accounting for income differences.
• The proportion of people with and amount of medical debt in collections are both higher in rural and urban communities of color than in rural and urban communities overall.