- VA: Staff Sergeant Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program Funding Opportunity
- Telehealth Study Recruiting Veterans Now
- USDA Delivers Immediate Relief to Farmers, Ranchers and Rural Communities Impacted by Recent Disasters
- Submit Nominations for Partnership for Quality Measurement (PQM) Committees
- Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation of the Medicare Program (Executive Order 14192) - Request for Information
- Dr. Mehmet Oz Shares Vision for CMS
- CMS Refocuses on its Core Mission and Preserving the State-Federal Medicaid Partnership
- Social Factors Help Explain Worse Cardiovascular Health among Adults in Rural Vs. Urban Communities
- Reducing Barriers to Participation in Population-Based Total Cost of Care (PB-TCOC) Models and Supporting Primary and Specialty Care Transformation: Request for Input
- Secretary Kennedy Renews Public Health Emergency Declaration to Address National Opioid Crisis
- Secretary Kennedy Renews Public Health Emergency Declaration to Address National Opioid Crisis
- 2025 Marketplace Integrity and Affordability Proposed Rule
- Rural America Faces Growing Shortage of Eye Surgeons
- Comments Requested on Mobile Crisis Team Services: An Implementation Toolkit Draft
- NRHA Continues Partnership to Advance Rural Oral Health
CMS Special Edition – Friday, June 19, 2020
Medicare Coverage of COVID-19 Testing for Nursing Home Residents and Patients
Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has instructed Medicare Administrative Contactors and notified Medicare Advantage plans to cover coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) laboratory tests for nursing home residents and patients. This instruction follows the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) recent update of COVID-19 testing guidelines for nursing homes that provides recommendations for testing of nursing home residents and patients with symptoms consistent with COVID-19 as well as for asymptomatic residents and patients who have been exposed to COVID like in an outbreak. Original Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans will cover COVID-19 lab tests consistent with CDC guidance.
Medicare Advantage plans must continue not to charge cost sharing (including deductibles, copayments, and coinsurance) or apply prior authorization or other utilization management requirements for COVID-19 tests and testing-related services.
Read the Medicare Learning Network article: https://www.cms.gov/files/document/se20011.pdf.
Read the memo to Medicare Advantage plans: https://cms.gov/files/document/hpms-memo-diagnostic-testing-nursing-home-residents-and-patients-coronavirus-disease-2019.pdf.
More information about Medicare coverage of COVID-19 tests is available at: https://www.medicare.gov/coverage/coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19-tests.
OSHA Releases Guidance to Assist Employers With Reopening Businesses
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued guidance to assist employers reopening nonessential businesses and their employees returning to work during the evolving coronavirus pandemic. During each phase of the reopening process, OSHA recommends that employers should continue to focus on strategies for basic hygiene, social distancing, identification and isolation of sick employees, workplace controls and flexibilities, and employee training.
CDC Publishes New Translations for Meat and Poultry Processing Resources
CDC has translated two quick reference guides for meat and poultry processing facilities: Key Strategies for Employers and Tips for Employees. Now available in 13 languages, these guides provide recommendations and strategies for preventing COVID-19 in meat and poultry facilities. These printable one-page flyers may be found on the Meat and Poultry Processing Facility Toolkit webpage.
CDC Releases Checklist for Agricultural Employers
CDC has published an Agricultural Employer Checklist for Creating a COVID-19 Assessment and Control Plan. To prevent and slow the spread of COVID-19, agricultural employers can use this checklist to create a COVID-19 assessment and control plan for applying specific preparation, prevention, and management measures. This checklist has been developed based on the Agriculture Workers and Employers Interim Guidance from CDC and the U.S. Department of Labor.
New Rural EMS Collection of Resources Published
Currently, the health care industry is undergoing profound change, moving away from dependency on fees assessed for the volume of services provided and toward a people-centered, value-based operation that rewards positive patient outcomes. Transformation to a next evolutionary stage is necessary if EMS is to thrive and play an integral part in the changing health care system. This collection of key resources is intended to help rural EMS adapt and become a more integrated part of the evolving health care system.
The National Rural Health Resource Center has published a new set of resources that can be accessed here.
Community Paramedicine Impact Reference Guide Published
The National Rural Health Resource Center and the Paramedic Foundation have released a new guide for those intending to research, plan, implement, evaluate, or otherwise consider community paramedicine (CP) systems.
This resource includes a compilation of cited references that describe the impact of previously implemented CP initiatives. References include both the impact that CP has the potential to have or has been demonstrated to have on patients, health care systems, payers, health care provider organizations, health care practitioners, and others. It also reflects the impact that policy and health and medical practices have the potential or have been demonstrated to have on CP and its stakeholders.
Use this guide to review results as applicable to the initiative being considered and use the information to inform implementation.
The guide can be accessed here.
SBA Releases Updated Forgiveness Application
The SBA has issued an updated forgiveness application and instructions including an easy” form for selected organizations. The applications and instructions are attached and are available using this link: www.sba.gov/funding-programs/loans/…
HHS Releases Rural and Underserved Health Workforce Awards
On June 18, 2020, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), is announcing awards totaling $107.2 million to 310 recipients to increase the health workforce in rural and underserved communities. Recipients across 45 states and U.S. territories received funding to improve the quality, distribution and diversity of health professionals serving across the country.
“Supporting a strong health workforce is essential to improving health in rural and underserved communities,” said HHS Secretary Alex Azar. “We’ve seen stark disparities in health and healthcare access contribute to the burden of the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the Trump Administration’s work to address health disparities, these grants provide support for the training of healthcare workers in rural and underserved communities.”
These programs provide financial and professional support to physicians, faculty, dentists, nurses and students as they pursue careers in health care settings. Awardees will be able to develop and retain clinicians in high-need areas to meet the vital health needs of the most disadvantaged communities.
For funding details and to read the entire press release, please visit the HHS website.
Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency Announces Applications for CARES Assistance for Renters & Homeowners – Available Soon
Applications for CARES financial assistance for renters and homeowners will be available June 29; application submissions can begin July 6.
People who lost income due to the pandemic-related economic slowdown may be eligible for rent or mortgage assistance to help them stay in their homes.
Renters and homeowners who were financially impacted by the economic slowdown related to the coronavirus pandemic will be able to access applications for rent and mortgage relief starting June 29. At that time, applications will be easily accessible from a red banner on the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency’s website at www.PHFA.org. PHFA is administering both programs.
Pennsylvania Governor Signs Law to Help Prepare for the General Election
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf signed into law House Bill 2502, now Act 35 of 2020, that requires the Department of State to publish a report on the June 2, 2020, primary election. The report will help identify any necessary changes to the Pennsylvania Election Code before the general election in November.
The report will include a series of data points for each county relating to the reforms of Act 77 of 2019 and Act 12 of 2020, including the numbers of mail-in ballots that were applied for and received, the number of new voter registrations received, and what time each county began to pre-canvass and canvass absentee and mail-in ballots.
The primary election was the first time Pennsylvanians could vote by mail-in ballot without having to provide an excuse. Nearly 1.5 million mail-in or absentee ballot were cast, 17 times the number that voted absentee in the 2016 primary, when approximately 84,000 absentee ballots were cast.
To help counties with the surge of mail-in ballots and to reduce delays in reporting election results, the department supports a proposed legislative change to allow counties to begin processing mailed ballots in the weeks before election day. Under current law, counties cannot begin to pre-canvass these ballots until 7 a.m. on election day.
The final 22 counties also debuted new voting systems in the primary, completing a two-year initiative to bring state-of-the-art voting systems to all 67 counties.