This resource comes from a peer-to-peer session titled “Roots, Relationships, and Research: Advancing Rural Health Through Community Engagement.”
Development of the resource was led by Community Health Workers and Community-Based Organizations partnering with the NIH Community Engagement Alliance, a research collaboration working to ensure that health research addresses the most critical issues at the community level and benefits the largest number of people.
New federal regulations enacted under H.R. 1 have altered eligibility rules for certain Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) beneficiaries, including expanded work requirements and stricter time limits. These rules now require individuals to work, volunteer, or participate in an education or training program for at least 20 hours per week (or 80 hours per month).
As of March 2026, enrollment in SNAP has declined by 11% over the past year, a trend that is not unique to Pennsylvania.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has developed a national tracker highlighting SNAP enrollment losses across the country.
Twelve Pennsylvania hospitals and medical centers are at risk of closing due to recent Medicaid cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, according to a new study from consumer advocacy group Public Citizen. The study found that 446 hospitals in the U.S. are at risk of closing or offering reduced services when the new cuts take effect. President Donald Trump signed the act into law in July, and it will cut $911 billion in federal spending from Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program over the next 10 years.
These hospitals are:
As states prepare to implement Medicaid work requirements by January 2027, most of the states subject to work requirements (42 states and the District of Columbia) are planning to adopt an optional hardship exception for Medicaid expansion enrollees and applicants living in counties with high unemployment rates. A new KFF analysis estimates the reach of the high unemployment exception:
The analysis uses 12-month average county unemployment rates; however, soon-to-be released guidance from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) may require a different methodology.
Universities and hospitals are often discussed together as “anchor institutions,” but new research explores how they impact regional economies in distinct ways.
A recent update to the Anchor Economy Dashboard now offers a clearer view of how the eds and meds sectors shape local economies. The latest version includes more recent employment, income, and GDP data and, for the first time, separates hospitals and higher education institutions — allowing users to see and compare the economic impacts of each sector in their region.
Key insights:
Examining regional anchor composition can help communities assess local economic opportunities and vulnerabilities. Read the research brief.
This policy brief is part of the RUPRI Center’s ongoing annual series analyzing Medicare Advantage (MA) enrollment trends. It examines both total and rural/urban (nonmetropolitan/metropolitan) enrollment patterns, as well as shifts in the types of MA plans selected by beneficiaries. The brief also explores how past policy changes may have influenced these enrollment dynamics.
Authors: Edmer Lazaro, DPT, MSHCA; Fred Ullrich, BA; Dan M. Shane, PhD; Keith Mueller, PhD
In 2023, the Pennsylvania Department of Health awarded a one-time grant to the Pennsylvania Association of Communitiy Health Centers (PACHC) to develop and implement a one-year primary care Nurse Practitioner (NP) Residency pilot program in collaboration with Carlow University School of Nursing.
The residency program was structured to prepare a small cohort of Family Nurse Practitioners (FNPs) to provide high-quality primary care in Pittsburgh in a Community Health Center setting. The pilot program and grant funding concluded at the end of 2024, and PACHC has surveyed the Nurse Practitioner resident and health center participants to evaluate the effectiveness of an FNP residency program.
Check out the final evaluation report here. Contact Caitlin Wilkinson, Director of the PA Primary Care Career Center, with questions.
This interactive toolkit from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) highlights models for funding streams that can sustain integrated behavioral health models.
A new report from Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families found that the national uninsured rate for children under age 6 rose to 5.3% in 2024, the highest level in nearly a decade.
The rising number of young children without health insurance is troubling, as children need frequent access to care in their early years. Coverage supports well-child visits, immunizations, developmental screenings, and timely treatment, all of which help children stay healthy and ready to learn.
The CCF report estimates that 48,000 young children in Pennsylvania lack health insurance — about 3,400 more than in 2022. Even though changes in Pennsylvania are not statistically significant, the data still raise serious concerns.
In Pennsylvania, children under age 6 are uninsured at a higher rate than school-age children — 6.0% compared with 5.2%. Higher uninsured rates are typically seen among school-age children, not younger children. Pennsylvania is one of only three states with this pattern. As we shared in our State of Children’s Health Insurance report last fall, more than half of Pennsylvania counties have higher uninsured rates for younger children than for older children.
Pennsylvania’s uninsured rate for young children is now the highest it has been in the past 15 years. To be clear, the CCF report focuses on 2024 data, which was collected well before the passage of H.R. 1 and its new federal program barriers and cuts, which haven’t yet gone into full effect. This should serve as a warning, since we expect more children (and many adults) to lose coverage when that happens starting in 2027. The risks are outlined in PPC’s H.R. 1 maps, which show how deeply communities could be affected.
If there is any bright spot, it’s that nearly all uninsured children in Pennsylvania are eligible for health insurance through Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Parents can enroll their children at any time throughout the year. However, work remains to address barriers to enrollment, such as confusing paperwork or fluctuations in household income that can affect eligibility and force families in and out of Medicaid plans. This is also why PPC has long supported the policy of continuous eligibility in Medicaid from birth to age 6 to keep kids connected to health insurance for longer periods.
We have a clear goal of making it easier for each eligible child to get and keep coverage, but there is a lot of work ahead to make that a reality.
Transforming Rural Hospitals Through Telehealth Partnerships is a playbook created by the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), a HRSA-funded Telehealth Center of Excellence.
The playbook draws on real-world examples that offer actionable tactics for implementing and transforming telehealth partnerships within health systems.
