- Native Americans Have Shorter Life Spans, and It's Not Just Due to Lack of Health Care
- Promotoras Play Essential Role in Connecting Farmworkers with Health Care in Rural NorCal
- Using Medicaid to Address Young People's Mental Health Needs in School Settings
- Across the Country, Amish Populations Are on the Rise
- Sunsets, Wildlife and Limited Care: Challenges of Aging in Place in Rural America
- City-Country Mortality Gap Widens amid Persistent Holes in Rural Health Care Access
- Tribal Environmental Impact Network
- Minnesota's Rural Ambulance Providers Look to State Capitol for Their Own Lifeline
- Biden-Harris Administration Takes Action to Support the Primary Care Workforce
- Over 3,000 Homes on the Navajo Nation Receive Accurate Addresses for the First Time
- Rural Population Grows for Second Consecutive Year
- Rapides Library Offers Telehealth to a Town Without Doctors
- Rural Infection Preventionists Need Community Support
- New Federal Health IT Strategy Sets Sights on a Heathier, More Innovative, and More Equitable Health Care Experience
- Upcoming Virtual Workshop: Partnering for Success: Building Partnerships for Health Workforce Training and Education
CDC Announces Dental Public Health Residency Program
The CDC Division of Oral Health is now accepting applications for the 2021-2022 Dental Public Health Residency (DPHR) Program. This formal training program produces skilled specialists in dental public health who can work collaboratively with their public health and dental colleagues in an array of health settings to achieve improved oral health for populations. Applications must be submitted by September 28, 2020 to be considered.
MCH Five-Year Needs and Capacity Assessment Report Published for Pennsylvania
The Pennsylvania Department of Health’s Bureau of Family Health (BFH) conducted its Title V Maternal and Child Health Services Block Grant (MCHSBG) Five-Year Needs and Capacity Assessment. This assessment helped the BFH and the PA Title V program to evaluate the health status of women and mothers, infants, children, adolescents and children and youth with special health care needs in Pennsylvania, engage stakeholders and service recipients, and identify priorities that will inform Title V-funded work over the next funding cycle from 2021 to 2025. A report describing the planning, implementation, and results of the 2020 Title V Five-Year Needs and Capacity Assessment is now available.
Funding Received to Support Oral Health in Pennsylvania RHCs
Pennsylvania has received grant funding from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) for the project titled “New Approaches to Oral Health Infrastructure and Capacity.” The project aims to integrate oral health services into two Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) located in DHPSAs.
CMS COVID Billing Update for IPPS Hospitals
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) updated its April guidance regarding the implementation of section 3710 of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act for inpatient prospective payment system (IPPS) hospitals.
To address potential Medicare program integrity risks, effective with admissions occurring on or after September 1, 2020, claims eligible for the 20 percent increase in the Medicare Severity-Diagnosis Related Group (MS-DRG) weighting factor will be required to have a positive COVID-19 laboratory test documented in the patient’s medical record. Positive tests must be demonstrated using only the results of viral testing (i.e., molecular or antigen), consistent with CDC guidelines. The test may be performed either during the hospital admission or prior to the hospital admission.
CMS may conduct post-payment medical review to confirm the presence of a positive COVID-19 laboratory test and, if no such test is contained in the medical record, the additional payment resulting from the 20 percent increase in the MS-DRG relative weight will be recouped. A hospital that diagnoses a patient with COVID-19 consistent with the ICD-10-CM Official Coding and Reporting Guidelines but does not have evidence of a positive test result can decline, at the time of claim submission, the additional payment resulting from the application at the time of claim payment of the 20 percent increase in the MS-DRG relative weight to avoid the repayment.
A Medicare Learning Network article with the updated guidance is available here. For information specific to what CMS is doing in response to COVID-19, please visit the Current Emergencies Website.
Trump Administration Seeks Applications for Capacity Building and Planning Grants in Rural Communities
The Trump Administration announced that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is accepting applications to help rural communities enhance capacity for broadband access; preserve cultural and historic structures; and support the development of transportation, housing, and recreational spaces.
USDA is making $1 million in grants available under the Rural Placemaking Innovation Challenge (RPIC). Eligible recipients may use the grants to develop multi-jurisdictional plans to benefit cities or towns with 50,000 residents or less. Organizations may use funds to develop actionable plans, convene partners, identify community needs and implement priorities to build rural prosperity.
Public or private groups, organizations, or institutions that demonstrate experience in providing placemaking technical assistance to rural communities are eligible to apply.
USDA encourages applicants to develop projects and plans that provide measurable results to help create livable communities; encourage partnerships; contribute to long-term community investment; and support community resiliency, social stability and collective identity.
USDA seeks to partner with one organization each located in the northeast, southern, midwestern and western regions of the United States. The maximum grant award is $250,000. Applicants must provide a 15 percent match in funding. Eligible placemaking plans will provide assistance to rural communities for two years.
Electronic applications must be submitted via grants.gov and a copy of the submission must be emailed to RD.Innovation@usda.gov by midnight Eastern Standard Time on Sept. 10, 2020. For more information, contact Angela.Callie@usda.gov or call (202) 568-9738.
USDA encourages applications that will support recommendations made in the Report to the President of the United States from the Task Force on Agriculture and Rural Prosperity (PDF, 5.4 MB).
If you’d like to subscribe to USDA Rural Development updates, visit our GovDelivery subscriber page.
Pennsylvania Primary Care Loan Repayment Program Open for Applications
The Pennsylvania Department of Health is pleased to announce the opening of the Pennsylvania Primary Care Loan Repayment Program (LRP) Practitioner Application.
The LRP provides grant funding for educational loan repayment to primary care practitioners serving medically underserved populations. Educational loan repayment is an incentive to recruitment and retention of practitioners for service in federally designated Health Professional Shortage Areas and other underserved communities:
- The Request for Applications (RFA) #67-114 can be downloaded from https://www.health.pa.gov/topics/Health-Planning/Pages/Loan-Repayment.aspx
- Applications are being accepted from August 17, 2020 until 11:59 pm September 30, 2020.
- Program information, application procedures and application instructions are found in RFA#67-114.
- All applications must be submitted via the Loan Repayment Program’s web-based application through the link on the above website.
- Questions regarding this RFA must be submitted via email to loanrepayment@pa.gov on or before D. No questions will be answered via phone or e-mail. Answers to all question submitted by September 4 will be posted on the above website by September 11, 2020 and will be considered an addendum to the RFA.
Mapping Project Identifies Broadband Accessibility for Pennsylvania School Districts
Maps have been developed on broadband availability for public school districts in Pennsylvania. These maps were developed by Penn State Rural Extension (PSU Rural Extension) in response to a suggestion from the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission’s Consumer Advisory Council (CAC). The CAC suggested that a map showing broadband for public school districts, similar to that developed by PSU Rural Extension in consultation with the PUC for the upcoming auction of $16B in federal support in the Auction 904, would be very useful to the public. They made that suggestion in the wake of the COVID epidemic. Regional maps are available at these links: SE https://bit.ly/PSUEXT_SESDs , NE https://bit.ly/PSUEXNESDs , NW https://bit.ly/PSUextNWPAservice , SW https://bit.ly/PSUEXT_SWPASDs
The maps show what areas (census blocks) within a public school district boundaries (district) do/do not have access to broadband at the federally-defined definition of broadband. This was an expansion of the PSU Rural Extension already done in Pennsylvania for the upcoming Auction 904 in the Rural Development Opportunity Grant Program (RuDOF). Auction 904 will occur in October 2020.
Currently, the federal definition of broadband is 25 megabits per second down/3 megabits per second up (25/3, or the so-called “Netflix speed” because is it the speed deemed necessary for optimal streaming of data and video content, a factor in education). The map shows which areas do/do not have broadband at 25/3.
The PSU Rural Extension map is a regional map made up of groups of counties. This was done so that a user can access the information faster than would otherwise be the case if it were one statewide map. The user can click on the county map which, in turn, will show each school district boundaries broken down to the census block area. There is a set of instructions for using the map. There are also some notes explaining the federal broadband definition and mapping polices at the current time to better explain the details revealed by the map.
The Census Block is the minimum area the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) uses when mapping where broadband is/is not in the United States as part of its policies aimed at deploying broadband to unserved areas (primarily rural and tribal) within America. This information relies on reports filed by service providers with the FCC in their Form 477 filings. This reflects the most recent public information and will be updated as the FCC releases broadband updates. Other maps may be available but they are typically proprietary and/or require a considerable expenditure to map.
This PSU Rural Extension map is a cost-effective result that addresses the CAC’s suggestion and the pressing needs for information about broadband in our public school districts. This map is simpler than the detailed financial and support information laid out in the earlier Auction 904 map. This is limited only to public school districts and households within those districts.
PSU and the PUC are willing to provide a tele-conference explaining this map as well as the earlier Auction 904 map, particularly the differences between those maps, if desired.
Pennsylvania Department of Health Requesting Applications for Providers to Supply Services for Pennsylvania WIC Program
The Pennsylvania Department of Health announced the RFA (Request for Applications) process for Pennsylvania’s Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) is now open. This competitive bidding process will be used to identify the local agencies that will provide nutrition assessment, education, referral, food prescription and outreach activities for the WIC program.
“The WIC program makes a measurable difference in the health of more than 226,000 women, infants and children in our state each month,” Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said. “The department has held sole source agreements with local agency providers across the state to ensure Pennsylvanians have access to the nutritional services and resources they need. The competitive bidding process will make sure the program can continue to provide these services, allow opportunities for vendors interested in providing services, and extend services to additional residents across the state.”
Sole source agreements were established because of the extensive infrastructure required to stand up and operationalize providers. However, technological advances over the past 10 years, such as the installation of 4G cellular connectivity to replace hard-wired inter- and intranet service, have brought these costs in line with other behavior and/or social services that have used the competitive bid process in the past. Additionally, our federal funder, the USDA, advised the department to bid this service out. Sole source agreements are not preferred for WIC grants and existing agreements will end in September 2021.
The Request for Information (RFI), the first phase in the process, was initiated in May of 2019 and was completed in December of that same year. During that time, stakeholder input was collected statewide and incorporated into the RFA document during the RFA process that started in January 2020. The RFA posted today is set to conclude by August 2021 and all services should be transferred to the new providers by October 2021. Even though transition activities may be completed more quickly, providers will be given 12 months to accomplish the task and the effective date for new grant agreements with the bid awardees will be October 1, 2022.
This year, Pennsylvania WIC celebrated 46 years of providing services to families across the commonwealth and made numerous technological and service advancements, including:
- Successfully migrating from paper checks to Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) before the September 30, 2020 mandate;
- Simultaneously replacing the program’s Management Information System (MIS);
- Introducing a tele-health service model to support social distancing in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic;
- Achieving candidacy status for Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics (ACEND) accreditation and approval to schedule the initial intern class to prepare for the professional dietetic exam; and
- Successfully establishing and transitioning to statewide management through field offices and telework methodology.
For more information about the WIC program, visit www.health.pa.gov or follow the Department of Health on Facebook and Twitter.
MEDIA CONTACT: Nate Wardle, ra-dhpressoffice@pa.gov
Pennsylvania Launches COVID-19 Job Hiring Portal
The Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry has launched a new online job portal. People seeking employment can visit www.PAcareerlink.pa.gov and select the green “PA COVID-19 Jobs – Hiring Immediately” job portal banner to see active job openings. Selecting the “Apply Now” button for a listed position will redirect individuals to the employer’s website or email where they can apply directly with the employer and speed up the hiring process.
Life-sustaining businesses can feature their job openings on the portal through an easy to use the online form. Businesses must meet the criteria of a life-sustaining business and must have more than 10 job openings.
The PA COVID-19 job portal is updated daily so businesses in need are spotlighted and people searching for employment have the latest job information.
Pennsylvania Department of Health Launches COVID-19 Early Warning Monitoring Dashboard
The Pennsylvania Department of Health launched an online early warning monitoring dashboard that provides information statewide and county COVID-19 prevalence to track increases in disease in the community on a weekly basis.
“This dashboard provides the entire community with early warning to changes in COVID-19 infection so that we can take action to prevent spread,” Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine said. “Recent increases in COVID-19 cases in parts of the state have shown the need for Pennsylvanians to continue to take simple steps to prevent the spread of this virus. Wear a mask, wash your hands frequently, maintain social distancing and stay home if you are sick.”
The dashboard shows data points being used to assess the spread of the virus in the state and in each county, including:
- Difference in confirmed cases (last 7 days vs. previous 7 days);
- Incidence rate (last 7 days and previous 7 days) per 100,000 residents;
- PCR positivity rate (last 7 days and previous 7 days);
- Difference in the average daily number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in the last 7 days and the previous 7 days;
- Difference in the average daily number of COVID-19 patients on ventilators in the last 7 days and previous 7 days; and
- Percent of hospital emergency department visits in the last 7 days and previous 7 days due to COVID-like-illness (CLI).
The dashboard will be updated on a weekly basis to assist in providing information regarding the prevalence and severity of COVID-19 in Pennsylvania.