A short brief from the Rural Health Value Team examines the conflict between the long-term transition to value-based care and the immediate needs brought by the pandemic. Find more information here.

The Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC) recently released its June 2020 Report to Congress on Medicaid and CHIP, which contains six chapters addressing some fundamental challenges facing Medicaid: improving integration of care for low-income people age 65 and older, and people with disabilities who are dually eligible for Medicaid and Medicare; ensuring that Medicaid is the payer of last resort when its beneficiaries also have coverage from another insurance program; and addressing concerns about high rates of maternal morbidity and mortality. Rural considerations feature prominently in Chapter 5 on maternal health. Read more here.

On June 15, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) released its June 2020 Report to the Congress: Medicare and the Health Care Delivery System. Each June, as part of its mandate from the Congress, MedPAC reports on issues affecting the Medicare program as well as broader changes in health care delivery and the market for health care services. Chapter 7 on Medicare’s end-stage renal disease prospective payment system discusses rural payment adjustments. Read more here.

Major depression remains a relatively common health problem, but little is known about the prevalence of major depression and its treatment in non-metropolitan areas as compared to metropolitan areas. Using 2017 data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health researchers at the Rural and Underserved Research Center estimated and compared between non-metropolitan and metropolitan adults the prevalence of depression, receipt of treatment for depression, and sources of treatment for depression. Read more here.

In its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) examined deaths due to pneumoconiosis – preventable occupational lung disease caused by inhaling dust particles such as coal or mineral dust.  From 1968 to 2000, death rates for all pneumoconioses decreased, though preventable deaths continue to occur.  Read more here.

A new study published in the Journal of Children and Poverty finds an association between family economic hardship and child mental health conditions.  Researchers at the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) based the study on data from the 2016 and 2017 National Surveys of Children’s Health, which is a nationally representative survey of U.S. Children ages 0 to 17. Read more here.

The report from the National Association of State EMS Officials describes emergency medical services at the state and national levels and includes sources and amounts of federal funding, including the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) provides data on social and economic factors that contribute to poor health outcomes in communities of color.  A separate issue brief from SAMHSA presents recent data on the prevalence of opioid misuse and death in the Black/African American population.

To demonstrate how telehealth can expand access to and improve the quality of healthcare services offered in schools, the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy at the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) awarded 21 grants across the country for the School-Based Telehealth Network Grant Program in 2016.  As part of this initiative, the Rural Telehealth Research Center identified a set of measures that could be collected from each of the grantees for a cross-grantee assessment of school-based telehealth services, utilization, process, and outcomes.  Read more here.

The report from the National Association of State EMS Officials describes emergency medical services at the state and national levels and includes sources and amounts of federal funding, including the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy.  Read the report here.