The National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA) is a federal agency, part of the U.S. Department of Transportation, with a mission to save lives on American roads. NHTSA provides national leadership to emergency medical services (EMS) and 911 systems through its Office of EMS. Check out EMS.gov for resources, events, and training that celebrate EMS. A 2023 report from the Maine Rural Health Research Center analyzed 41 states and found that 4.5 million people lived in an ambulance desert; more than half of them in rural counties.
Updates Announced to Medicare Claims Processing Manual for RHCs and FQHCs Chapter 9.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently released updates to the Medicare Claims Processing Manual Chapter 9 for Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) and Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs). The updates reflect changes to billing and claims processing, including updates from the CY 2025 Physician Fee Schedule.
New Study Examines Rural Access to Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics
This study from the Rural and Underserved Health Research Center compares access to, and services offered by, Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHCs) in rural and urban communities. The increasing numbers of CCBHCs in rural communities combined with their range of offered services holds promise towards increasing the availability of care for rural communities within an integrated model.
Access the full report here: Rural Access to Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics.
Submit Pre-Orders for the CMS 2026 Medicare & You Handbook Now Through May 30
The Medicare & You 2026 Pre-Order is open from Monday, May 12 and will run through Friday, May 30.
You can access the pre-order by going to httsp://productordering.cms.hhs.gov, logging into your POW account, and then clicking on the blue Pre-Order button at the top left of the page.
Please note that, due to budgetary constraints, pre-order quantities will be limited to 40 copies of the handbook for home health care organizations, hospice organizations, and local human services offices, and 100 copies for all other organizations. There are no exceptions to these quantity limits. Unlike past years, WE WILL NOT BE ACCEPTING ANY LATE PRE-ORDERS . If you will be out of the office during the pre-order, please make arrangements for someone else to place a pre-order for you.
Please note that all pre-ordered handbooks will not ship to you until the fall of 2025.
The Medicare and You Handbook is the official guide to Medicare and is updated and published each year in time for Medicare Open Enrollment. In order to ensure you have a sufficient supply for your needs you can pre-order now. Please see below for details.
The Handbook provides information on:
- Medicare benefits, costs, rights, and protections.
- Health and drug plans.
- Answers to common questions.
If you have not ordered publications from CMS before, here’s how to set up access: https://www.cms.gov/files/document/ordering-materials-cms-product-ordering-website-job-aidpdf
If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to our POW Support team at POWSupport@cms.hhs.gov. Thank you for your attention.
Research Brief Highlights Population Estimates
The U.S. Census Bureau released estimates of the July 1, 2024 population at the municipal level. This release includes total population estimates for all 2,572 municipalities in Pennsylvania.
Key Findings from the Report:
- 1,057 municipalities increased from 2020 to 2024. Among those with populations over 2,500, Westfall township in Pike County (+34.0%) had the largest percentage increase.
- 1,446 municipalities decreased from 2020 to 2024. Among those with populations over 2,500, California borough in Washington County (-13.8%) had the largest percentage decrease.
For more information on county population change in Pennsylvania, read this month’s brief.
New Health Module Developed for School Districts
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) developed a new health module to support school districts in better understanding health policies, programs, and services. The Health Services Assessment Tool for Schools (HATS) was designed to help school districts and states better assess the quality and comprehensiveness of school health services, the level of infrastructure to support the services, and the implementation of school health policies and protocols.
FDA to Pull Fluoride Supplements from Market
Earlier this week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced fluoride supplementals will be pulled from the market effective October 2025. This announcement specifically applies to “ingestible fluoride prescription drug products,” not toothpaste, mouth rinses, silver diamine fluoride, varnish, or other topical products.
ADA & Penn Dental Launch Living Guideline Program
The American Dental Association (ADA) and University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine announced a new program that will provide evidence-informed guidelines in real time to support patient care and advance public health.
The ADA Living Guideline Program is the first and only known living guideline program dedicated to oral health. The traditional guideline process usually updates every 3-5 years, but the living guideline program will allow patients, providers, policymakers, and others to adopt the information as new evidence emerges.
Just Released: 2024 National Critical Access Hospital Quality Inventory and Assessment
The Flex Monitoring Team (FMT) is excited to release the National Report for the 2024 National Critical Access Hospital (CAH) Quality Inventory and Assessment (“Assessment”)! The Assessment provides a wealth of information on quality improvement processes from CAHs in a standardized manner, in order to enhance support to CAHs in quality improvement activities. This report provides a high-level summary of national data from the Assessment, fielded in Fall 2024. Over 1,290 CAHs (94%) completed the Assessment and provided data on a variety of characteristics, including service lines, patient volume, and CAH quality infrastructure.
Hot Off the Press! The Latest Home Mortgage Data
To understand the housing market, you need data, and the Home Mortgage Explorer has it. This go-to resource has been updated with 2022 and 2023 data.
With this tool from the Federal Reserve Banks of Cleveland and Philadelphia, you can:
- Easily search Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data from 2010 to 2023.
- View trends in applications, originations, denials, and denial reasons for home purchase, refinance, and home improvement loans.
- Zoom in on data for states, counties, metro areas, and neighborhoods.