- Senator Baldwin Introduces HSHS Act to Protect Communities from Hospital Closures
- What to Know about Smoke, Heat and Health
- Tribal Partnership With UW-Madison Combines Ag Research With Indigenous Food Knowledge
- The Rewards of Working as Rural Docs
- Request for Information (RFI): Evolving the Network of the National Library of Medicine
- Dental Therapists, Who Can Fill Cavities and Check Teeth, Get the OK in More States
- Colorectal Cancer Is Rising among Younger Adults. Some States Want to Boost Awareness.
- Rural Hospitals Built During Baby Boom Now Face Baby Bust
- Food Stamps Go Further in Rural Areas — Until You Add Transportation Costs
- CMS Announces Resources and Flexibilities to Assist with the Public Health Emergency in the State of Texas
- CMS Proposes New Payments for Digital Health Under CY2025 PFS Draft Rule
- Improving Public Health by Strengthening Community Infrastructure
- Biden Harris Administration Proposes Policies to Reduce Maternal Mortality, Advance Health Equity, and Support Underserved Communities
- Nearly Half of U.S. Counties Don't Have a Single Cardiologist
- Randolph County, Ill. Turns Unused Part of Nursing Home Into State-Of-The-Art Behavioral Health Center
Updated Oral Health Core Clinical Competencies Guide Released
The National Network for Oral Health Access (NNOHA) updated their “User’s Guide for the Implementation of the Oral Health Core Clinical Competencies.” This guide was first created in 2014. The updated guide features new strategies, promising practices, and health center examples focused on integrating oral health and primary care practices.
Article Published on the Integration of Primary and Oral Health
A new article in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) focuses on best practices and challenges for integrating oral health into primary care practice. “Integration of Primary and Oral Health Care – An Unrealized Opportunity” explores the solution of using a team-based approach where a variety of professionals collaborate to provide whole-person care.
New Pennsylvania Oral Health Coalition Website Launched
The PA Coalition for Oral Health (PCOH) just launched their upgraded website. The site has a new look, improved navigation features, as well as a brand new “Finding Dental Care” page that connects users with resources for dental care and dental referrals across Pennsylvania. Check it out!
HRSA Builds Multi-state Social Worker Licensure Compact to Increase Access to Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Address Workforce Shortages
New investments will make it easier for social workers to practice across state lines, increase behavioral health access, and better facilitate telehealth services
Funding builds on HRSA’s work to support licensure compacts to improve access to primary care and psychology
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), announced the first-ever Licensure Portability Grant Program investment in a multi-state social worker licensure compact. State licensure compacts allow states to come together on a common approach to licensing health care providers, allowing providers to practice across state lines without having to apply for a license in each state. Streamlining licensure while maintaining quality standards improves access to services both by better facilitating hiring and by easing pathways to utilizing telehealth. The announcement was made at HRSA’s National Telehealth Conference, the largest federal conference on telehealth issues.
“Social workers are essential to expanding access to behavioral health care services, a top priority of the Biden-Harris Administration,” said HHS Deputy Secretary Andrea Palm. “HRSA is leading the way in growing the behavioral health workforce both by training more providers and by breaking down barriers to allow the workforce to make mental health and substance use disorder services more accessible across the country.”
HRSA’s new $2.5 million investment in licensure compacts will support the work to launch a social worker compact as well as HRSA’s ongoing support for building and sustaining primary care, psychology, and podiatry compacts. HRSA identified behavioral health as a priority in its state licensure compact work. Since HRSA began investing in licensure compacts, the Interstate Medical Licensing Compact and the Psychology Interjurisdictional Compact (PSYPACT) have each grown to include 40 states, Washington, D.C., and one territory.
“Social workers are on the frontlines in responding to the Administration’s priorities, including meeting children’s mental health needs, responding to the opioid epidemic, and addressing maternal depression,” said HRSA Administrator Carole Johnson. “Today’s announcement is a critical step in helping social workers serve people in need, particularly in rural and underserved communities across the country.”
Today’s awards will support the Association of Social Work Boards, the Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards, the Federation of State Medical Boards of the United States, and the Federation of Podiatric Medical Boards in working with state licensing boards to develop and implement state policies that reduce barriers to telehealth and allow for practice across state lines.
HRSA’s National Telehealth Conference brings public and private sector leaders together to discuss telehealth best practices to expand services in underserved and rural communities. This year, over 2,000 individuals registered to explore the future of telehealth including innovation, policy, and licensure issues.
To learn more about the Licensure Portability Grant Program, visit the Licensure Portability Grant Program Awardees webpage.
For more information on HRSA’s telehealth health work, visit the Office for the Advancement of Telehealth webpage.
Rural Hospitals Built During Baby Boom Now Face Baby Bust
OSKALOOSA, Iowa — Rural regions like the one surrounding this southern Iowa town used to have a lot more babies, and many more places to give birth to them.
At least 41 Iowa hospitals have shuttered their labor and delivery units since 2000. Those facilities, representing about a third of all Iowa hospitals, are located mostly in rural areas where birth numbers have plummeted. In some Iowa counties, annual numbers of births have fallen by three-quarters since the height of the baby boom in the 1950s and ’60s, when many rural hospitals were built or expanded, state and federal records show.
Similar trends are playing out nationwide, as hospitals struggle to maintain staff and facilities to safely handle dwindling numbers of births. More than half of rural U.S. hospitals now lack the service.
“People just aren’t having as many kids,” said Addie Comegys, who lives in southern Iowa and has regularly traveled 45 minutes each way for prenatal checkups at Oskaloosa’s hospital this summer. Her mother had six children, starting in the 1980s, when big families didn’t seem so rare.
“Now, if you have three kids, people are like, ‘Oh my gosh, are you ever going to stop?’” said Comegys, 29, who is expecting her second child in late August.
These days, many Americans choose to have small families or no children at all. Modern birth control methods help make such decisions stick. The trend is amplified in small towns when young adults move away, taking any childbearing potential with them.
Hospital leaders who close obstetrics units often cite declining birth numbers, along with staffing challenges and financial losses. The closures can be a particular challenge for pregnant women who lack the reliable transportation and flexible schedules needed to travel long distances for prenatal care and birthing services.
Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder Population Estimates Released
Most adults who needed opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment in 2022 either did not perceive that they needed it (43%) or received treatment that did not include medications for OUD (30%). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) researchers analyzed Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) data to come to these conclusions. Higher percentages of White than Black or African American or Hispanic or Latino adults received any treatment. Higher percentages of men than women and of adults aged 35-49 years than other adults received medications. Read the full CDC report.
Community-Based Maternal Behavioral Health Services Program Announced
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) announced The Community-Based Maternal BHS program which will improve access to evidence-based, timely, and culturally relevant maternal mental health and substance use (behavioral health) intervention and treatment by strengthening community referral pathways. Grant recipients will be expected to collaborate with pregnancy and postpartum healthcare organizations, refer individuals in need of behavioral health care to the appropriate entities, and provide short-term mental health and substance use services to individuals who cannot access care. The deadline to apply is Aug. 26, with an anticipated project start date in Nov. 2024.
Bill Introduced to Help More Pennsylvanians Obtain Health Coverage
Rep. Mike Kelly R-PA from the House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee is sponsoring the Health Care Sharing Ministry Tax Parity Act (HCSM). The bill would allow members of faith-based organizations and ministries to deduct healthcare related expenses from their taxes to achieve tax fairness for ministries that share health care costs. The rules make it clear that these organizations would not be able to offer health insurance to ensure there would be no loopholes with the current tax rules. Millions of Americans participate in HCSM programs sharing the cost of more than $1 billion in medical expenses.
New ACA Rules to Protect More Consumers
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently issued a final rule under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to strengthen nondiscrimination protections and advance civil rights in health care. This rule reinstates non-discrimination standards for all Health and Human Services health programs and activities, protects LGBTQI+ patients from discrimination, requires that all entities including insurers and providers let people know language assistance and services are available, requires staff training on sections of the 1557 policies and respects federal guarantees regarding religious freedoms and conscience as set for by 45 CFR 92.3 and 92.302. See the Fact Sheet.
Congress Passes Maternal and Child Health Stillbirth Prevention Act
The Maternal and Child Health Stillbirth Prevention Act of 2024, HR 4581, passed through both the House and the Senate, and now awaits President Biden’s signature before it becomes law. The bipartisan bill amends the Maternal and Child Health Services Block Grant program to allow states to use those dollars for stillbirth prevention and research activities but does not include additional funding.