- Ways and Means Members Put Forth Solutions to Strengthen Telehealth Access and Improve Health Care for Rural Communities
- In Rural Texas, ERs Are Facing a Growing Mental Health Crisis
- Sage Memorial Hospital in Navajo Nation Constructs New Facility to Improve Health Care
- How the State, Tribes and Federal Government Are Working to Curb SD's Syphilis Epidemic
- Rural Children Struggle to Access Hospital Services, Say Researchers
- RPHARM Program Fulfills Need for Rural Pharmacists
- A Pilot Program in Rural Vermont Hopes to Build a Blueprint for Substance Abuse Recovery
- Farmers Don't Do Mental Health
- Biden-Harris Administration Announces Critical More Than $1.5 Billion State and Tribal Opioid Response Funding Opportunities
- Outlining the Intersection between Health Care and Missing and Murdered Indigenous People
- USDA Rural Development Seeks Input to Improve Access to Grants and Help More Communities Thrive
- Rural Telehealth Extension Reintroduced in Congress
- The South Was the Center of Rural Population Growth Last Year
- Students From Across the State Emphasized the Need for Mental Health Resources in Rural Alaska During a Conference
- How HHS SUD Confidentiality Regulations Will Impact Rural Providers
The Impact of Pandemics on Oral Health
An article in the latest issue of the Journal of the American Dental Association (JADA) explores the role of pandemics on societal behavior and their impact on oral health care. The analysis explores the past, present, and future of pandemic and what measures the dental community should adopt moving forward. The latest issue also features articles about ultrasonic scaler aerosol and spatter mitigation, the use of teledentistry with older patients, and the promotion of community water fluoridation.
Highchair Dental Care: A Model for Infants and Toddlers
The American Dental Association (ADA) is offering a new interactive continuing education course, “Highchair Dental Care: A Revolutionary Practice Model for Infants and Toddlers.” The course teaches dental professionals an alternate way to provide oral health care for young children by introducing the highchair as a tool to use with children starting at 8 months old. The course is discounted for ADA members and offers 4 CEs.
Veteran Oral Health: Expanding Access and Equity
Gaps in veteran oral health have been long overlooked. Now is the time for change. A forward-thinking white paper from the CareQuest Institute and the American Institute of Dental Public Health (AIDPH), “Veteran Oral Health: Expanding Access and Equity,” focuses on the need to better understand the significant deficits surrounding veteran oral health. The goal of the paper is to catalyze oral health professionals and policymakers toward advancing health equity for veterans. The social, structural, and individual drivers of disparate oral health outcomes experienced by veterans deserve more attention from the oral health community. This paper delineates the struggles veterans face with oral health care every day.
USDA Seeks Applications to Advance Equity and Expand Regional Economies in Distressed Rural Communities
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Under Secretary for Rural Development Xochitl Torres Small announced the Department is accepting grant applications that will advance equity in rural America by creating new opportunities in distressed communities.
USDA is offering priority points to projects that advance key priorities under the Biden-Harris Administration to help communities recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, advance equity and combat climate change. These extra points will increase the likelihood of funding for projects seeking to address these critical challenges in rural America.
The Rural Innovation Stronger Economy (RISE) grant program encourages a regional, innovation-driven approach to economic development by funding job accelerator partnerships in low-income rural communities. This includes communities that have been historically underserved, marginalized and adversely affected by persistent poverty and inequality.
RISE provides grants of up to $2 million to consortiums of local governments, investors, industry, institutions of higher education, and other public and private entities in rural areas. The funding may be used to support innovation centers and job accelerator programs that improve the ability of distressed rural communities to create high-wage jobs, form new businesses, and identify and maximize local assets.
USDA encourages applications that serve the smallest communities with the lowest incomes.
The deadline to submit applications is 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, April 19, 2022. Applications must be submitted through Grants.gov.
Potential applicants may submit a concept proposal for review by the agency to SM.USDA-RD.RISE@usda.gov no later than February 18, 2022.
For additional information, see page 71868 of the Dec. 20, 2021, Federal Register.
Applicants are encouraged to contact their nearest USDA Rural Development State Office ahead of the application deadline for more information about the program or the application process.
USDA Rural Development provides loans and grants to help expand economic opportunities and create jobs in rural areas. This assistance supports infrastructure improvements; business development; housing; community facilities such as schools, public safety and health care; and high-speed internet access in rural areas. For more information, visit www.rd.usda.gov.
If you’d like to subscribe to USDA Rural Development updates, visit our GovDelivery subscriber page
CMS Funding 1,000 New Residency Slots for Hospitals Serving Rural & Underserved Communities
Administration takes action to address access to care, workforce shortages in high-need areas
On December 17, CMS took a critical step to advance health equity and access, issuing a final rule that will enhance the health care workforce and fund additional medical residency positions in hospitals serving rural and underserved communities.
The Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) final rule with comment period establishes policies to distribute 1,000 new Medicare-funded physician residency slots to qualifying hospitals, phasing in 200 slots per year over five years. CMS estimates that funding for the additional residency slots, once fully phased in, will total approximately $1.8 billion over the next 10 years. In implementing a section of the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA), 2021, this is the largest increase in Medicare-funded residency slots in over 25 years. Other sections of the CAA being implemented further promote increasing training in rural areas and increasing graduate medical education payments to hospitals meeting certain criteria.
Read the full Press Release.
New Best Practice Approach Report on Teledentistry
A new CareQuest Institute and Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors (ASTDD) Best Practice Approach Report encourages state/territorial oral health programs and stakeholders to identify community barriers to care and consider teledentistry as part of the solution. The practical Report includes guidelines and recommendations, best practice criteria, myriad resources, and several examples of teledentistry in use across the country.
Top Five CareQuest Institute Publications from 2021
Based on the collective engagement from the audience of providers, policymakers, advocates, and oral health stakeholders across the industry, below are the top five most popular CareQuest Institute publications.
A Step Toward Improving Oral Health for Our Veterans
A new white paper from CareQuest Institute and the American Institute of Dental Public Health (AIDPH) – Veteran Oral Health: Expanding Access and Equity – focuses on the need to better understand the significant deficits surrounding veteran oral health. The goal of the paper, which includes several strategic recommendations to improve access and quality of care, is to catalyze oral health professionals and policymakers toward advancing health equity for veterans.
Pennsylvania Announces Regulatory Updates
The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) announced that pursuant to Act 73 of 2021, the suspensions of various regulatory provisions under the state disaster emergency declaration were extended until March 31, 2022, unless reinstated sooner by DHS. Effective December 6, 2021, DHS has reinstated several suspended regulations, in whole or in part. A list of suspended regulations and their status is available here: https://www.dhs.pa.gov/coronavirus/Pages/Suspended-Regulations-Reinstatement.aspx
Good Faith Estimates and the Surprise Billing Act
On October 7, 2021, the Departments of Treasury, Labor and Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) published in the Federal Register proposed Requirements Related to Surprise Billing, Part II https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/10/07/2021-21441/requirements-related-to-surprise-billing-part-ii
National Association of Community Health Centers is hosting a webinar on Friday, December 17, 2021 at 3:00 p.m. to go over the main areas of the “No Surprise Billing Act” and the Good Faith Estimate provision challenges. Register here https://nachc.webex.com/mw3300/mywebex/default.do?nomenu=true&siteurl=nachc&service=6&rnd=0.6403768472681355&main_url=https%3A%2F%2Fnachc.webex.com%2Fec3300%2Feventcenter%2Fevent%2FeventAction.do%3FtheAction%3Ddetail%26%26%26EMK%3D4832534b00000005b5e9c1b132c95d26e441b77ffaf1560d19607e9499c4d806b764ce7d35723dfb%26siteurl%3Dnachc%26confViewID%3D212595861152118779%26encryptTicket%3DSDJTSwAAAAWXK2m5w4k_Tp9dXNMIGc0uS46qzEMm-q3nLhjkp-wfNw2%26