- Eight Hospitals Selected for First Cohort of Rural Hospital Stabilization Program
- Announcing the 2030 Census Disclosure Avoidance Research Program
- CMS: Medicare Program; Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems for Acute Care Hospitals and the Long-Term Care Hospital Prospective Payment System and Policy Changes and Fiscal Year 2026 Rates; Requirements for Quality Programs; and Other Policy Changes; Correction
- CMS: Medicare Program; Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems for Acute Care Hospitals and the Long-Term Care Hospital Prospective Payment System and Policy Changes and Fiscal Year 2026 Rates; Requirements for Quality Programs; and Other Policy Changes; Correction
- CMS: Medicare and Medicaid Programs; Contract Year 2026 Policy and Technical Changes to the Medicare Advantage Program, Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit Program, Medicare Cost Plan Program, and Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly; Correction
- CMS: Medicare and Medicaid Programs; Contract Year 2026 Policy and Technical Changes to the Medicare Advantage Program, Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit Program, Medicare Cost Plan Program, and Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly; Correction
- 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
- CMS: Medicare and Medicaid Programs; CY 2025 Payment Policies Under the Physician Fee Schedule and Other Changes to Part B Payment and Coverage Policies; Medicare Shared Savings Program Requirements; Medicare Prescription Drug Inflation Rebate Program; and Medicare Overpayments; and Appeal Rights for Certain Changes in Patient Status; Corrections and Correcting Amendment
- CMS: Medicare and Medicaid Programs; CY 2025 Payment Policies Under the Physician Fee Schedule and Other Changes to Part B Payment and Coverage Policies; Medicare Shared Savings Program Requirements; Medicare Prescription Drug Inflation Rebate Program; and Medicare Overpayments; and Appeal Rights for Certain Changes in Patient Status; Corrections and Correcting Amendment
- VA: Staff Sergeant Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program Funding Opportunity
- State: 60-Day Notice of Proposed Information Collection: J-1 Visa Waiver Recommendation Application
Pennsylvania Law Requiring Insurers to Cover Breast MRIs, Ultrasounds Now in Full Effect
PA Breast Cancer Coalition’s Act 52 of 2020 / Senate Bill 595
Beginning January 1, 2022, all insurers are required to cover breast MRIs and ultrasounds for women insured under Pennsylvania law with high-risk conditions. The requirements are a result of the PA Breast Cancer Coalition’s Act 52 of 2020 (Senate Bill 595), sponsored by PA Sen. Bob Mensch. As your existing insurance policy expires, under law the new version will be required to cover breast MRIs and ultrasounds for women with:
- A personal history of breast cancer
- A family history of breast cancer
- A genetic predisposition to breast cancer
- Extremely dense breast tissue
- Heterogeneously dense breast tissue with 1 additional high-risk factor
Co-pays, deductibles and co-insurance may still apply.
Applications Being Accepted for Community Health Workers in Pennsylvania
To address vaccine confidence and deploy community outreach, Public Health Management Corporation (PHMC) is implementing an initiative designed to target, engage, and connect individuals to COVID-19 vaccines and education.
PHMC is soliciting applications from organizations in Pennsylvania and Delaware who would like to subcontract for funding to hire or assign existing staff to become community health workers (CHWs). Using training and toolkits provided by PHMC, these CHWs will go out into their community, provide outreach and education, and report all outcomes for a one-year project period. Apply today!
A document with more information can be found here. If you have any questions, please reach out to Stephanie Shell at sshell@phmc.org.
$3.$9 Million Helmsley Charitable Trust Grant Helps KFF Establish Kaiser Health News Rural Health Reporting Desk
Reporters Will Produce Explanatory, Enterprise, and Investigative Reporting on Rural Health Care
The Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) is expanding its KHN (Kaiser Health News) operation by establishing a rural health reporting desk supported by a $3.9 million grant from The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust.
KFF will expand KHN’s editorial staff and build a team of journalists and social media experts in the states of Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. Full-time reporters and freelancers from those states and KHN’s national newsroom will produce and distribute explanatory, enterprise, and investigative stories on health care issues relevant to rural communities.
The team of journalists will provide unbiased, accurate, and trusted reporting on a wide range of complex issues, including the ongoing pandemic, access to health coverage and care, the burden of health care costs on consumers, housing and education, the opioid epidemic, mental health, hospital closures, the lack of critical lifesaving equipment, and burgeoning changes in telehealth and medicine. KHN will partner with local media throughout the region to produce deeply sourced stories that shed light on underreported issues.
As with all its journalism, KHN stories produced by the Rural Health Desk will be made freely available for publication by media outlets across the country, published on khn.org and distributed through KHN’s social media platforms.
“Rural America’s low population density provides significant challenges in the delivery of health care services, yet at the same time dedicated providers are delivering top-notch care through innovative practices, like state-of-the-art telemedicine,” said Walter Panzirer, a Trustee for the Helmsley Charitable Trust. “KHN’s new rural health reporting desk will dive deep into these challenges and highlight efforts that ensure a person’s ZIP code doesn’t determine their healthcare outcomes.”
“Rural health needs more attention, and with this grant we can deliver that,” said KFF President and CEO Drew Altman, who is also KHN’s founding publisher. “We are excited to expand our work in this essential area, and we are grateful for the support of the Helmsley Charitable Trust.”
The establishment of the Rural Health Desk follows news last summer that KHN is opening an Atlanta-based Southern Bureau to produce more journalism focused on health, race, equity, and poverty in the region. KHN also operates regional bureaus in California, the Midwest, and the Mountain States.
Media organizations interested in working with KHN should contact us at KHNPartnerships@kff.org and those interested in joining our efforts to expand and improve health journalism in rural America and beyond should contact KFF at healthjournalism@kff.org. Employment opportunities for the Rural Health Desk will be posted soon here.
About KFF and KHN
KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.
About the Helmsley Charitable Trust
The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust aspires to improve lives by supporting exceptional efforts in the U.S. and around the world in health and select place-based initiatives. Since beginning active grantmaking in 2008, Helmsley has committed more than $3 billion for a wide range of charitable purposes. Helmsley’s Rural Healthcare Program funds innovative projects that use information technologies to connect rural patients to emergency medical care, bring the latest medical therapies to patients in remote areas, and provide state-of-the-art training for rural hospitals and EMS personnel. To date, this program has awarded more than $500 million to organizations and initiatives in the states of North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Minnesota, Iowa, Montana, and Nevada. For more information, visit here.
All About Fluoride Resource – 2022 Updates
The American Dental Association (ADA) has updated their “All About Fluoride” one-pager to reflect a 2022 edition which includes an update to the hyperlinked files in the resource. Stakeholders are encouraged to share this resource with all audiences, especially dental providers looking for guidance on how to take action on fluoride.
New Rural Advocacy Guide Released
The National Rural Health Association (NRHA) has created a comprehensive guide for rural community leaders to amplify their voices when advocating for rural. How to advocate for rural health change gives constituents the opportunity to effectively champion rural health issues by providing necessary information and tools. This resource provides details on branches of government, congressional committees, NRHA tools, and practical tips for how to get involved in advocacy efforts. Additionally, our advocacy guide includes sample letters and media advisories to accommodate your communication efforts with Congressional leaders. We hope that this document serves as an asset to your knowledge when advocating for the improvement of issues facing rural communities.
If you have any questions or would like more information or assistance, please contact NRHA’s government affairs team.
Provider Relief Fund – Phase 4 Payments
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), is making more than $2 billion in Provider Relief Fund (PRF) Phase 4 General Distribution payments to more than 7,600 providers across the country this week. With this funding, more than $18 billion will have been distributed from the Provider Relief Fund and the American Rescue Plan Rural provider funding in the last three months.
These payments come on the heels of the nearly $9 billion in funding that was already released by HHS in December 2021. With today’s announcement, a total of nearly $11 billion in PRF Phase 4 payments has now been distributed to more than 74,000 providers in all 50 states, Washington D.C., and five territories and approximately 82 percent of all Phase 4 applications have now been processed.
Learn More:
- HHS published a press release this morning and an updated state-by-state table detailing all Phase 4 payments made to date.
- As individual providers agree to the terms and conditions of Phase 4 payments, it will be reflected on the public dataset.
Primary Care Migraine
The National Headache Foundation (NHF) launched Primary Care Migraine, a new educational training program available at no cost to health practitioners. The course also offers a diagnosis tool to assist in quickly diagnosing migraines while interviewing and examining patients.
Good Faith Estimate Requirements for Health Center Dental Programs
The Good Faith Estimates (GFE) requirements of the No Surprise Bills Act went into effect January 1, 2022. Visit the CMS website for more information about the new requirements related to surprise medical bills.
Medicaid Enrollments Increased 17% During the Public Health Emergency
The December Medicaid enrollment count has reached 3,430,872, up 17% since the beginning of the Public Health Emergency (PHE) declaration in March 2020. Medicaid eligible individuals did not lose coverage due to Maintenance of Effort provisions, but approximately 400,000 individuals stand to lose Medicaid eligibility when the PHE declaration is lifted or expires. Health centers nationwide expect to provide enrollment assistance to patients needing help enrolling in marketplaces at the end of the Public Health Emergency.
Final Pennie Enrollment Numbers for Open Enrollment in Pennsylvania
Pennie ended Open Enrollment with 374,776 enrollments, an 11% increase over the 2021 Open Enrollment period, which was seven days longer, ending on January 22, 2021. More than 50,000 applications were deemed potentially eligible for Medicaid and thus transferred to the Department of Human Services for processing. Consumer metal level selections increased in the Gold level by about 11%. This is due in part to additional savings from the American Rescue Plan. More than 3,000 health insurance enrollments were attributed to assisters. New this year were stats reflecting Dental enrollments, which showed that 9% of all dental enrollments were stand-alone plans out of the 87,701 total enrollments. The seven 2022 dental insurers were Best, Capital Blue Cross, Delta Dental, DentaQuest, Dominion, EMI Health and Guardian. To view more metrics and information, click here for the Pennie Board slides and meeting recordings.