On December 10, CMS issued a proposed rule that would improve the electronic exchange of health care data among payers, providers, and patients and streamline processes related to prior authorization to reduce burden on providers and patients. By both increasing data flow and reducing burden, this proposed rule would give providers more time to focus on their patients and provide better quality care.

For More Information:

• Proposed Rule: Comment period closes January 4
• Full press release
• Fact sheet
• Blog
• CMS Interoperability and Patient Access Final Rule webpage
• Register for December 16 listening session

Pennsylvania safeguarded 2,710 acres on 32 farms in 17 counties through the state’s nation-leading Farmland Preservation Program. In 2020, the state board, in collaboration with county boards, preserved 177 farms and 14,727 acres of farmland across the commonwealth.

The director and staff of the Bureau of Farmland Preservation were recently recognized by the Wolf Administration for continuing their work while overcoming telework obstacles throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The disruptive impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on Pennsylvania’s agricultural system have been broad and varied,” Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding said. “This year, we’ve watched farmers and consumers bridge the gap from farm to table. Producers and households have depended on each other for certainty and our state’s Farmland Preservation Program has made food security possible for our families and farmers across the commonwealth.”

Preserved farms are protected from future residential, commercial or industrial development. They represent targeted investments in the future of farming and food security in Pennsylvania.

The 32 farms preserved today are in Adams, Berks, Bucks, Butler, Clinton, Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster, Lawrence, Lehigh, Lycoming, Monroe, Northampton, Washington, Wayne, Westmoreland, and York counties.

These farms include fruit, vegetable, equine, crop, livestock, sheep, goat, and dairy operations.

Since the program began in 1988, federal, state, county, and local governments have purchased permanent easements on 5,813 Pennsylvania farms totaling 591,819 acres.

Notable farms preserved today include the Taggart Family Farm, a 73.45-acre bicentennial crop farm located in Butler County. The farm has been in the family for 220 years. John Taggart, who immigrated from Ireland in 1800, purchased the farm, which will remain in agriculture with certainty for future generations. Statewide, there are now 190 bicentennial farms, many of which are also preserved.

Barrick Farms LLC, a 482.25-acre dairy operation in Cumberland County, is the largest farm secured by the county board to date. The Barrick’s donated half of the easement value to the program, further leveraging funds for additional farms to be preserved.

The David James Nolt Farm, a 95.68-acre crop farm in Lancaster County, is nearly all Class 1 soils. According to USDA, Class 1 soils are the most productive prime farmland in the nation.  Lancaster County is a leader, with over 1,000 farms preserved through the state program and in partnership with Lancaster Farmland Trust, a non-profit organization.

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf announced that more than 327,000 Pennsylvanians will gain access to high-speed Internet service through the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction.

Thirteen providers in Pennsylvania successfully bid in the auction and will provide high-speed Internet access in locations across the state that are underserved or do not have access to broadband that meets current federal standard. The FCC will allocate $368.7 million to these providers over the next 10 years. Virtually every Pennsylvania county will benefit from the broadband build out supported by this funding.

“In the 21st century, reliable high-speed internet service is a critical utility for homes and businesses alike. The lack of this technology in our communities inhibits our students and educators, businesses, the healthcare system and more from truly connecting locally and globally. If we want to support our economy, give our students the tools to learn, and improve quality of life, we must expand broadband access,” Gov. Wolf said. “The current pandemic has vividly demonstrated the pressing need to expand high speed internet access to enable telehealth and allow students to connect with their classmates and teachers. As a result of this auction, hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians will gain this access, which is a significant step toward bridging the digital divide.”

The Rural Digital Opportunity Fund is an effort by the FCC to ensure high-speed Internet access in underserved communities. In total, the FCC will allocate $9.2 billion to 180 bidders, who will deploy high-speed broadband to more than 5.2 million unserved homes and businesses across the country.

Nearly a million Pennsylvanians lack access to reliable high-speed internet access, according to the FCC. Ensuring that all Pennsylvanians have access to high-speed Internet access is a top priority of the Wolf Administration. The governor’s Restore Pennsylvania plan, a $4.5 billion bipartisan proposal funded through a commonsense severance tax, would provide funding to completely bridge the digital divide in every community in Pennsylvania. Funding would be available to support installation of infrastructure to bring high speed internet to every corner of the commonwealth.

Similarly, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) has also strongly advocated for universal access to broadband and a presence in the federal auction process.

“I commend the Public Utility Commissioners for their strong leadership in expanding broadband to underserved areas, and pursuing every available dollar for the state, as well as the many stakeholders–including particularly Penn State University’s Rural Extension Program–that have helped to lay groundwork to ensure the success of bidders in the most recent auction.” Gov. Wolf said. “I look forward to continuing to work with the Commissioners, Penn State, and other committed stakeholders to make progress towards our goal of universal broadband access across the commonwealth.”

Congress needs to hear voices of rural America as they tackle COVD-19 relief and kick off the 117^th Congress. The National Rural Health Association (NRHA) has taken action to make rural health advocacy easier than ever before for our members and is introducing NRHA’s VoterVoice advocacy tool.

NRHA’s VoterVoice advocacy tool connects you and hundreds of our fellow rural health stakeholders with local, state, and federal lawmakers, ensuring our message to support or oppose legislation is heard by those with the power to enact change at every level. The tool supplies pre-filled information, which means that you can take reach your members of Congress with one click, while customizing content as needed. VoterVoice’s support team also checks for and corrects undelivered messages resulting in 100 percent deliverability to legislative officials.

NRHA’s VoterVoice advocacy tool enables the NRHA government affairs team to create campaigns that will exist on NRHA’s new Rural Health Advocacy Campaigns webpage. Additionally, the NRHA government affairs team will alert NRHA membership of new public campaigns as they become available via NRHA Connect.

If you are eager to test it out – no need to wait! Our first advocacy campaign is waiting for you here.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in collaboration with RWJF and the CDC Foundation, has launched PLACES, an extension of the 500 Cities project.

The PLACES project provides estimates, obtained using model-based small area estimation methods, for 27 health measures for four U.S. geographic levels: counties, places, census tracts, and ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs). It includes nationwide data at a granular level to cover smaller cities and rural areas, data that were previously unavailable. Measures include unhealthy behaviors (e.g., current smoking), health outcomes (e.g., coronary heart disease, diabetes), and prevention practices (e.g., health insurance coverage, cholesterol screening).

The data can be used to:

• Identify the health issues facing a local area or neighborhoods.
• Establish key health objectives.
• Develop and implement effective and targeted prevention activities.

Information on the methods used can be found here.