Rural Health Information Hub Latest News

Telehealth Bill Introduced

Posted on by lad3

Representatives Adrian Smith (NE-03) and Tom O’Halleran (AZ-01) introduced a bill (HR 6792) this week, which would allow payment equal to an otherwise in-person visit for telehealth services furnished by Federally Qualified Health Centers and Rural Health Clinics for the duration of the COVID-19 emergency. Text for the bill, entitled the Improving Telehealth for Underserved Communities Act, will be found here.

U.S. House Introduces HEROES Act

Posted on by lad3

The U.S. House of Representatives introduced a 4th Stimulus Package (HEROES Act). The full House is expected to vote on the bill on Friday, May 15. The U.S. Senate is not expected to consider the legislation until June. Highlights of the bill for FHQCs include:

  • $7.6 billion in funding to provide resources to address health center revenue losses
  • $100 billion for the health care emergency fund, which adds to the $175 billion that was already in the fund from the CARES Act and the CARES Act Add-On
  • $75 billion for testing
  • A 14% increase in FMAP in addition to the previous 6% FMAP increase

Click here for the full bill. Click here for a section-by-section summary of the bill. Of note, the bill does not include extensions of Health Center Program, Teaching Health Center or National Health Service Corps funding, currently set to expire in November.

Pennsylvania Health Department Issues Various COVID-19 Health Alerts and Advisories

Posted on by lad3

The Pennsylvania Department of Health issued the following Health Alerts this week related to the COVID-19 pandemic:

  • 2020 – PAHAN – 506 – 05-11-ALT: A pediatric multi-system inflammatory syndrome, recently reported by authorities in the United Kingdom, is also being observed among children and young adults in New York City and elsewhere in the United States.
  • 2020 – PAHAN – 507 – 05-11-ALT: As buildings have been shut down or used less frequently, building water quality degradation becomes a silent but serious issue. Legionella and other pathogens, lead, disinfection byproducts, and other health issues can result when water sits for an extended period. This alert provides various steps and recommendations to take in preparation for reopening.
  • 2020 – PAHAN – 508 – 5-12-ADV: Test-based strategies for preventing transmission of COVID-19 in skilled nursing facilities.

Visit the DOH 2020 Health Alerts, Advisories and Updates website for the most recent information.

CMS News Alert – May 15, 2020

Posted on by lad3

As part of the ongoing White House Task Force efforts taken in response to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), following is a summary of recent Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) actions. To keep up with the important Task Force work being done in response to COVID-19, click here www.coronavirus.gov. For information specific to CMS, please visit the CMS News Room and Current Emergencies Website.  CMS updates these resources on an ongoing basis throughout the day; the information below is current as of May 15, 2020 at 12:00 p.m. ET.

Deadline Approaching: Notification Requirements of Confirmed and Suspected COVID-19 Cases Among Nursing Home Residents and Staff

On April 19, CMS announced the agency will be requiring facilities to report COVID-19 information to the CDC and to families. Within three weeks of that announcement, on April 30, CMS issued an Interim Final Rule with Comment Period with new regulatory requirements. With the new regulatory requirements, nursing homes are required to report the first week of data to the CDC beginning May 8 but no later than May 17. For the first time, all 15,000 nursing homes will be reporting this data directly to the CDC through its reporting tool.

In order to report, facilities must enroll in the CDC’s National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN). Information on how to enroll is available here. As nursing homes report this data to the CDC, CMS will be taking swift action and publicly posting this information so all Americans have access to accurate and timely information on COVID-19 in nursing homes. More information on the CDC’s NHSN COVID-19 module can be found here.

CMS Releases Nursing Home Toolkit with Best Practices and Additional Resources

CMS released a new toolkit developed to aid nursing homes, Governors, states, departments of health, and other agencies who provide oversight and assistance to these facilities.  These additional resources will help in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic within nursing homes. The toolkit builds on previous actions taken by CMS, which provide a wide range of tools and guidance to states, healthcare providers and others during the public health emergency. The toolkit is comprised of best practices from a variety of front line health care providers, Governors’ COVID-19 task forces, associations and other organizations, and experts, and is intended to serve as a catalogue of resources dedicated to addressing the specific challenges facing nursing homes as they combat COVID-19.

Press Release

Toolkit

Trump Administration Announces Call for Nominations for Nursing Home Commission

CMS announced a call for nominations for the new contractor-led Coronavirus Commission on Safety and Quality in Nursing Homes. The commission’s work will build on the Trump Administration’s long history of decisive actions to protect nursing home residents. The commission will conduct a comprehensive assessment of the overall response to the COVID-19 pandemic in nursing homes and will inform immediate and future actions to safeguard the health and quality of life for an especially vulnerable population of Americans.

Press Release

Nursing Home Commission Nominations

CMS Outlines Medicaid Managed Care Options in Responding to COVID-19

CMS released a new Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services Informational Bulletin (CIB) that provides states guidance on how to temporarily modify their Medicaid managed care contracts to address the impact of the COVID-19 public health emergency. The guidance provides several options that states can consider to adjust provider payment methodologies and capitation rates within Medicaid managed care contracts while preserving systems of care and access to services for Medicaid beneficiaries.

Informational Bulletin

CMS Gives States Additional Flexibility to Address Coronavirus Pandemic

CMS has approved over 190 requests for state relief in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including recent approvals for California, Georgia, Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, Ohio, and Rhode Island. These approvals help to ensure that states have the tools they need to combat COVID-19. This is done through a wide variety of waivers, amendments, and Medicaid state plan flexibilities, including support for programs that care for the elderly and people with disabilities. CMS also developed a toolkit to expedite the application and review of each request and has approved these requests in record time. These approved flexibilities support President Trump’s commitment to a COVID-19 response that is locally executed, state managed, and federally supported.

Section 1135 Waivers

Section 1115(a) Waivers

1915(c) Waiver Appendix K Amendments

Medicaid State Plan Amendments

CHIP State Plan Amendments

USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) Extends Three National Feeding Waivers

Posted on by lad3

The USDA Food Nutrition Service (FNS) has extended the following waivers nationwide through August 31, 2020:

  • Non-Congregate Feeding: FNS is allowing meals to be served to children outside of the normally-required group setting to support social distancing.
  • Parent Pickup: FNS is allowing parents and/or guardians to pick up meals and bring them home to their children.
  • Meal Times: FNS is waiving requirements that meals be served at certain standard times to allow for grab-n-go options. This also allows for multiple days-worth of meals to be provided at once.

New CDC Interim Guidance on COVID-19 Case Investigation and Contact Tracing Now Available

Posted on by lad3

TheCDC has published new interim guidance on COVID-19 Case Investigation and Contact Tracing, available online at: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/downloads/case-investigation-contact-tracing.pdf.

 This interim guidance document is intended to assist state, local, territorial, and tribal health departments develop jurisdictional plans for the implementation and enhancement of COVID-19 case investigation and contact tracing efforts. For more information on guidelines, tools, and resources for states, tribes, localities, and territories, please visit https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/php/open-america/index.html.

Questions concerning the guidance may be directed to the CDC COVID-19 Response proponent, the Workforce Development and Innovation Task Force, at eocevent404@cdc.gov.

Updated: Pennsylvania has the 3rd Smallest Increase in Unemployment Due to Coronavirus – WalletHub Study

Posted on by lad3

With more than half of the U.S. starting to reopen at least partially but almost 36.5 million Americans having lost their jobs during the pandemic, WalletHub today released updated rankings for the States with the Biggest Increases in Unemployment Due to the Coronavirus, along with accompanying videos.

To identify which states’ workforces have been hurt most by COVID-19, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia based on increases in unemployment claims. We used this data to rank the most impacted states in both the latest week for which we have data (May 4) and overall since the beginning of the coronavirus crisis (March 16). Below, you can see highlights from the report, along with a WalletHub Q&A. To see the states most impacted since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, click here.

Increase in Pennsylvania Unemployment Due to Coronavirus (1=Worst, 25=Avg.):

  •  590.84% Increase in Unemployment Claims (May 2020 vs May 2019)
    • 75,557 the week of May 4, 2020 vs 10,937 the week of May 6, 2019
    • 5th lowest increase in the U.S.
  •  176.79% Increase in the Number of Unemployment Claims (May 2020 vs January 2020)
    • 75,557 the week of May 4, 2020 vs 27,298 the week of January 1, 2020
    • 4th lowest increase in the U.S.
  • 1,937.73% Increase in Unemployment Claims Since Pandemic Started
    • 1,787,128 between the week of March 16, 2020 and the week of May 4, 2020 vs 92,228 between the week of March 18, 2019 and the week of May 6, 2019
    • 18th lowest increase in the U.S.

To view the full report and your state’s rank, please visit:
https://wallethub.com/edu/states-with-the-biggest-increase-in-unemployment-due-to-coronavirus/72730/.

Re-Imagining A Healthier Rural America

Posted on by lad3

The Five F’s Addressed by the Five P’s

By Phil Polakoff at A Healthier WE and Dennis Berens and June Sargent

This spring, thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, we may feel as if we are living in a parallel universe, a universe focused sharply on finding a workable response.

The impact in our rural states is to add significant stress to their already compromised health care capacity. Workable responses must understand and include that reality. Rural America has an older, sicker, and poorer population than the rest of the nation and fewer resources to care for them.

We can understand how vital our rural states are to our nation and beyond if we look at the five F’s: food, fuels, fiber, finances, and family.

Simply put, the food we eat, the fuels we consume, and the fiber we use come mainly from rural areas. Financially, rural businesses often consume and generate disproportionately large amounts of capital. The family remains the core point of stability in our rural and remote communities. All these factors are often overlooked when health care policy is being made.

Next, health and health care policy designs are integrally tied to the Five F’s in rural America. We believe that those Five P’s – personal health, population health, public health, political will, and place – must be part of efforts to improve rural America’s health and health status.

Let’s dive deeper into each P.

Personal health: We need to be sure that more and better health information is reaching people in rural areas through both traditional and new means.

Population health: Public and private health systems talk about the importance of the health of all people, and yet rural communities and their citizens are often left out of the research and the opportunities to share their needs. Think how dangerous that could be during this global pandemic.

Public health: The nation’s public health systems at the federal, state, and local levels are badly underfunded and underappreciated. We’re seeing the results in the current health emergency. As the nation sets new priorities for public health, rural voices must be part of the conversation, and research must include the needs of rural people.

Political will: Our political system itself is unhealthy, and even the current pandemic is failing to unite our leaders to address a common enemy. We believe political leaders should incorporate personal, population, and public health models as they work to improve the political system’s health.

Place: Think of this as environment. The health of the farm, the ranch, the forest, the water makes a difference to an individual’s health. Take a moment to think about the vibrant communities in your state and area. Why are they vibrant?  Mostly because they are healthy.

In 1948 the World Health Organization (WHO) put forth the classic definition of health: a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.

We boil that down to one phrase: “when everything works.”

Because the five F’s of rural life are such a vital part of the American fabric, we must incorporate the five P’s as we attempt to repair and rebuild that fabric and make it ever stronger. For everyone.