A new feature article in The Rural Monitor explains the importance of succession planning for leadership at rural health care organizations.

Last week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released factsheets, takeaway cards, and a new website related to the Medicare Prescription Payment Plan. The factsheets and takeaway cards are available in English Spanish, Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese.  The Medicare Prescription Payment Plan is a new payment option in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 that works to assist Medicare beneficiaries with management of their out-of-pocket expenses by spreading copayments across the calendar year. Beginning in 2025, anyone with a Medicare drug plan or Medicare health plan with drug coverage can use this option. Additionally, an enrollee’s out-of-pocket spending for insulin and 10 other frequently used drugs will be capped at $2,000 per year. In March 2024, the Assistant Secretary For Planning and Evaluation released a report that estimates this cap will help enrollees who take high-priced drugs, including rural enrollees.

On September 13, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Labor, and the Department of the Treasury released the final rule Requirements Related to the Mental Health Parity and Addition Equity Act. The rule finalizes standards for determining network composition and out-of-network reimbursement rates, adds protections against more restrictive, Non-Quantitative Treatment Limitations in coverage; and prohibits plans from using biased or non-objective information and sources that may negatively impact access to mental health and substance use disorder care. The rule will be published September 23^rd with an effective date of November 23, 2024.

This study from the WWAMI Rural Health Research Center describes the availability of care to increase comfort for patients with serious illness and identifies novel solutions for providing this essential care to rural communities.

Researchers at the University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center summarize available data on the challenges of providing obstetric services in rural settings, as well as clinical and policy efforts to improve access.

The U.S. Census Bureau reports on the change in commuting patterns between rural workers and urban areas and describes the impact on rural communities and economies.

The federal Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) provides information on mortality disparities due to overdose, suicide, and alcoholic liver disease/cirrhosis among people ages 15-64.  The report is a collaboration among ARC, East Tennessee State University Center for Rural Health Research, and the NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis.

 The Government Accountability Office (GAO), the federal agency that examines how taxpayer dollars are spent, issued a new report on behavioral health benefit availability under Medicare and Medicare Advantage (MA) programs. The GAO reports findings on what beneficiaries pay out of pocket, and oversight by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services of cost-sharing in MA plans for behavioral health services. Behavioral health conditions were estimated to affect at least a quarter of the 66.7 million Medicare beneficiaries in 2023.  The 2023 National Survey on Drug Use and Health estimated approximately 7.7 million nonmetropolitan adults reported having any mental illness (AMI) in 2023, accounting for 22.7 percent of non-metropolitan adults.

PHC4 has released a new resource on its website, intended to support informing interested Pennsylvanians on current topics that impact health care in the Commonwealth. This first occurrence aims to offer insight into non-compete agreements in health care and includes an extensive summary of the events on both state and federal levels.

PHC4 believes this coincides with its mission to empower Pennsylvanians through transparency, providing access to data, research, analysis, and reporting focused on the cost, utilization, and quality of health care delivery in the Commonwealth. Barry D. Buckingham, Executive Director at PHC4, stated, “I’m proud to be a part of expanding the reach of PHC4’s value by offering additional resources in support of every person in the Commonwealth making informed decisions.” He went on to say offering key insights and support to Pennsylvania’s stakeholders is paramount in assessing the relevance of this new requirement through Act 74 of 2024, as well as in the development of additional resources.

Announced alongside this is a public comment period in response to the Fair Contracting for Health Care Practitioners Act, Act 74 of 2024. This recent legislation requires PHC4 to perform a study on the effects of the Act, and to report its findings. In support of this study PHC4 will be collecting public comment for analysis and inclusion within the final report. To ensure comments are included for analysis, the comment must be received by October 21, 2024. Those interested in commenting on Act 74 of 2024, may do so by sending an email or letter by mail to PHC4.

Email: publiccomment@phc4.org

Letter by Mail: PA Health Care Cost Containment Council, 225 Market St, Suite 400, Harrisburg, PA 17101

PHC4 is an independent council formed under Pennsylvania statute (Act 89 of 1986, as amended by Act 15 of 2020) to address rapidly growing health care costs. PHC4 continues to produce comparative information about the most efficient and effective health care to individual consumers and group purchasers of health services. In addition, PHC4 produces information used to identify opportunities to contain costs and improve the quality of care delivered.

For more information, visit phc4.org.

READY Grants to Grow is making $9 million available for projects that will build individual, organizational and/or community capacity to help the region’s most underserved areas and populations create positive change.

The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) announced the launch of READY Grants to Grow, a new, $9 million funding opportunity that will award grants of up to $500,000 to organizations seeking to build individual, organizational and/or community capacity across Appalachia. Any organization that is eligible to apply for an ARC grant can apply for READY Grants to Grow, though certain requirements apply.

READY Grants to Grow is the latest offering from READY Appalachia, ARC’s capacity-building initiative offering no-cost training and funding access to nonprofits, local development districts (LDDs), local governments and community foundations serving the region. This new funding opportunity aims to make even more resources available to a wider range of community and economic development organizations.

“Many of our Appalachian communities do not have the staff to fully take advantage of valuable opportunities for growth,” said ARC Federal Co-Chair Gayle Manchin. “Through the READY Grants to Grow initiative, ARC is working to help these communities to address these economic inequalities, so they can increase their grant success potential and create long-lasting, transformative change for their residents and the region.”

To be selected, organizations must propose projects that strengthen underserved communities and economies in the Appalachian Region, and/or demonstrate low capacity themselves. Proposed projects must address one or more of the following:

• Individual capacity building, including skill training for organization staff or professional development for leaders.
• Organizational capacity building, including hiring new staff for expanded services, developing internal strategic plans, or purchasing goods and services that will improve operation.
• Community capacity building, including creating and expanding partnership networks, hiring a contractor for a community economic development plan, or launching a community-led planning process.

Successful projects will draw a clear connection between their capacity building proposal and the broader community’s economic development and improved services to underserved populations and areas.

A pre-application webinar will be held on October 10, 2024 at 11:00 a.m. ET. Interested applicants must submit a letter of intent to apply by November 1, 2024 to access application portal. Grant applications are due February 14, 2025.

READY Appalachia was launched in July 2022 using Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds. To date, ARC has provided no-cost training to 75 nonprofits, 90 local government entities, 41 LDDs and 30 community foundations to help them build internal capacity and better serve their communities. Nearly $4 million in funding (no match required) was awarded through READY LDDs and more than $1.6 million was awarded through READY Nonprofits, with more awards on the horizon through READY Local Governments and READY Community Foundations.

Across all READY Appalachia opportunities, special emphasis is placed on serving Appalachia’s most underrepresented communities, including economically distressed areas, organizations located within the Rural Partners Network’s Community Networks, counties prioritized by the Interagency Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities, and marginalized populations.

About READY Appalachia
READY Appalachia is an ARC initiative building individual, organizational and community capacity in the Appalachian Region. Offerings include no-cost, cohort-based training and funding access (no match required) for nonprofit organizations, Local Development Districts (LDDs), local governments and community foundations serving the Appalachian Region. Additionally, READY Grants to Grow offers capacity building grant awards of up to $500,000, available to entities that are currently eligible to apply for ARC grants. Across all READY Appalachia offerings, special emphasis is placed on helping the region’s most under resourced and economically distressed communities increase their ability to solve pressing issues and create lasting, positive change.

About the Appalachian Regional Commission
The Appalachian Regional Commission is an economic development entity of the federal government and 13 state governments focusing on 423 counties across the Appalachian Region. ARC’s mission is to innovate, partner, and invest to build community capacity and strengthen economic growth in Appalachia to help the region achieve socioeconomic parity with the nation.