- 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
- NRHA Continues Partnership to Advance Rural Oral Health
- Comments Requested on Mobile Crisis Team Services: An Implementation Toolkit Draft
- Q&A: What Are the Challenges and Opportunities of Small-Town Philanthropy?
HHS Begins Distribution of Payments to Hospitals with High COVID-19 Admissions, Rural Providers
On May 1, 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) began processing payments from the Provider Relief Fund to hospitals with large numbers of COVID-19 inpatient admissions through April 10, 2020, and to rural providers in support of the national response to COVID-19.
“These new payments are being distributed to healthcare providers who have been hardest hit by the virus: $12 billion to facilities admitting large numbers of COVID-19 patients and $10 billion to providers in rural areas, who are already working on narrow margins,” said HHS Secretary Alex Azar. “HHS has put these funds out as quickly as possible, after gathering data to ensure that they are going to the providers who need them the most. With another $75 billion recently appropriated by Congress, the Trump Administration will continue doing everything we can to support America’s heroic healthcare providers on the frontlines of this war on the virus.”
COVID-19 High-Impact Distribution:
Recognizing the particular impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on hospitals in certain parts of the nation, and that inpatient admissions are a primary driver of costs to hospitals related to COVID-19, HHS is distributing $12 billion to 395 hospitals who provided inpatient care for 100 or more COVID-19 patients through April 10, 2020, $2 billion of which will be distributed to these hospitals based on their Medicare and Medicaid disproportionate share and uncompensated care payments.
These 395 hospitals accounted for 71 percent of COVID-19 inpatient admissions reported to HHS from nearly 6,000 hospitals around the country. The distribution uses a simple formula to determine what each hospital receives: hospitals are paid a fixed amount per COVID-19 inpatient admission, with an additional amount taking into account their Medicare and Medicaid disproportionate share and uncompensated care payments.
These hospitals will begin receiving funds via direct deposit in the coming days.
View the state and county breakdown – PDF.
Rural Distribution:
Rural hospitals, many of whom were operating on thin margins prior to COVID-19, have also been particularly devastated by this pandemic. As healthy patients delay care and cancel elective services, rural hospitals are struggling to keep their doors open.
Recipients of the $10 billion rural distribution will include, rural acute care general hospitals and Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs), Rural Health Clinics (RHCs), and Community Health Centers located in rural areas.
Hospitals and RHCs will each receive a minimum base payment plus a percent of their annual expenses. This expense-based method accounts for operating cost and lost revenue incurred by rural hospitals for both inpatient and outpatient services. The base payment will account for RHCs with no reported Medicare claims, such as pediatric RHCs, and CHCs lacking expense data, by ensuring that all clinical, non-hospital sites receive a minimum level of support no less than $100,000, with additional payment based on operating expenses. Rural acute care general hospitals and CAHs will receive a minimum level of support of no less than $1,000,000, with additional payment based on operating expenses.
Eligible providers will begin receiving funds in the coming days via direct deposit, based on the physical address of the facilities as reported to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), regardless of their affiliation with organizations based in urban areas.
View the state-by-state breakdown – PDF.
HHS and the Administration are continuing to work rapidly on additional targeted distributions to some providers including skilled nursing facilities, dentists, and providers that solely take Medicaid.
Visit hhs.gov/providerrelief for additional information.
Update to COVID-19 Data Primer from Mathematica
In response to the evolving COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in the area of data analytics, Mathematica created a COVID-19 Data Primer. The primer is designed to help researchers, data scientists, and others who analyze health care claims or administrative data quickly join the effort to better understand, track, and contain COVID-19. Today, Mathematica launched an update adding information on linking claims to public data sources and information on how diagnosis and procedure codes are being used in claims.
Policy Brief: Metropolitan/Nonmetropolitan COVID-19 Confirmed Cases and General and ICU Beds
Fred Ullrich, BA; and Keith Mueller, PhD
The spread of COVID-19 across rural areas has fueled concern about the availability of healthcare resources for dealing with the pandemic. This brief looks at a single measure of healthcare resources – hospital beds – and reports of current COVID-19 cases in a single week to assess the impact on rural facilities.
Please click here to read the brief.
HHS Launches COVID-19 Uninsured Program Portal
On April 27, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), launched a new COVID-19 Uninsured Program Portal, allowing health care providers who have conducted COVID-19 testing or provided treatment for uninsured COVID-19 individuals on or after February 4, 2020 to submit claims for reimbursement. Providers can access the portal at COVIDUninsuredClaim.HRSA.gov.
The Trump Administration is committed to ensuring that individuals are protected against financial obstacles that might prevent them from getting the testing and treatment they need for COVID-19. As part of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, health care providers can request claims reimbursement electronically through the COVID-19 Uninsured Program Portal and receive reimbursement, generally at Medicare rates for testing uninsured individuals for COVID-19 and treating uninsured individuals with a COVID-19 diagnosis.
Reopening Could Cause 233,000 Extra Deaths by June 30 but Save Up to 18M Jobs: Report
As states consider relaxing coronavirus lockdown orders, a new report estimates that fully reopening the economy would lead to an additional 233,000 deaths nationally by the end of June, relative to not reopening, but would at the same time save approximately 18.6 million jobs from being lost.
The University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Wharton Budget Model analyzed the health and economic effects of states partially reopening (lifting emergency declarations, stay-at-home orders, and school closures) as well as fully reopening, which would include businesses and restaurants as well.
The model, released on Friday, projects on a national level that if states do not open before June 30 and maintain status quo, the cumulative national deaths due to the virus would rise to about 117,000 by June 30 (including deaths before May 1), and approximately 18.6 million jobs would be lost between May 1 and June 30.
Personal Protective Equipment Burn Rate Mobile App
The Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Burn Rate Calculator is now available as a mobile app. Facilities can use the App to calculate their average PPE consumption rate or “burn rate.” The app estimates how many days a PPE supply will last given current inventory levels and PPE burn rate. The app is available for both iOS and Android devices.
CDC Provides Cleaning, Disinfection Guidance for Reopening
The Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) has published new guidance on Cleaning & Disinfecting for Reopening. The guidance reviews spaces used for various purposes and details on how they should be cleaned and disinfected and how often. The resource also details when it is not necessary to increase cleaning procedures, such as certain outdoor areas and facilities that have not been occupied in seven days or more. Click here to view the guidance.
Child Care Stimulus Relief Package Released to General Assembly
Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children (PPC), together with their partners in the Start Strong PA and Pre-K for PA campaigns, unveiled their proposal to provide stimulus relief for early care and education infrastructure during the coronavirus pandemic. Circulated to members of the state House and Senate to gain their support, the plan proposes the utilization of federal funds for emergency actions in order to preserve and stabilize capacity in the sector. The proposal suggests the following three-pronged strategy to support high-quality child care:
- Federal funds should be used to pay child care subsidies and contract payments to Pre-K Counts and Head Start Supplemental Assistance Programs for the duration of the crisis.
- Federal funds should also be used to compensate for the shares of revenues that would have otherwise been collected by providers in the Child Care Works program as co-pays until child care services return to normal.
- Federal funding should be used to cover a portion of lost revenues for uncollected private pay tuition through the crisis period.
As stated by PPC, in order to protect gains made through state pre-k investments and boost the chances of school success when the pandemic ends, the General Assembly should appropriate funds to allow Pre-K Counts and Head Start programs to offer summer instruction for children who will enter kindergarten in the fall. Additionally, to protect providers, instill consumer confidence in reopening and decrease risk of subsequent infection, every child care, Pre-K Counts and Head Start program must be required to attend free training on the practices needed to sanitize all spaces in which children and staff are working, and funding must be provided so publicly-funded programs are able to clean before re-opening. Finally, legislation must be passed to impose an immunity from tort liability associated with claims related to COVID-19 for all certified child care providers. Sen. Pat Stefano has filed a co-sponsorship memo seeking support for a proposal that will provide liability protection for Pennsylvania businesses and potentially help protect the viability of child care centers during and after the pandemic.
PPC is working with their partners in the campaigns to educate the legislature and administration on the need for swift action on the stimulus recommendations in order to ensure that parents returning to work once the current crisis is abated have reliable, quality child care. Stay tuned for updates.
Farmers Market Season is Here, Markets Prepared to Safely Serve Pennsylvanians Amid COVID-19
Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding today reminded Pennsylvanians that with spring and warm weather comes farmers market season in the commonwealth. Farmers markets, like grocery stores, offer life-sustaining food and essentials and have been provided guidance from the department for how to continue operations safely and with minimal risk amid the COVID-19 public health crisis.
When Governor Tom Wolf first designated agriculture and the supply chain as life sustaining, tthe Department of Agriculture issued guidance for Farmers Markets and On-Farm Markets with recommendations on how to continue operations safely and minimize contact for shoppers and employees. The guidance includes:
- Offer delivery or pick up options and online or phone ordering if possible.
- Pre-package bags of fruit, vegetables, and other items to limit shoppers’ handling food and keep customers moving quickly.
- Offer designated times for high-risk and elderly persons to shop at least once a week.
- Communicate with consumers via website or social media to explain changes, delivery options, or other extra precautions to mitigate against COVID-19.
- Separate stands to limit crowds and consider limiting the number of customers in the market at one time.
- If possible, have a different person handle products and handle money, or wash hands and sanitize between tasks.
- Remove tablecloths and eliminate samples and eating areas.
Pennsylvanians interested in supporting local can find a market by visiting pafarm.com or by looking for the PA Preferred® logo when shopping in a grocery store for a guarantee that you’re supporting a Pennsylvania farmer.
New and Expanded Flexibilities for Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) and Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) During the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) MLN Matters Article
A revised MLN Matters Special Edition Article SE20016 on New and Expanded Flexibilities for Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) and Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) During the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) is available. Learn new information on billing for distant site telehealth services during the COVID-19 PHE, including:
- New telehealth services that can be provided by RHCs and FQHCs, including audio only telephone evaluation and management services
- Revised bed count methodology for determining the exemption to the RHC payment limit for provider-based RHCs