Rural Spotlight

Register Now: Missouri Immunization Conference 2025, April 24-25

February 19, 2025

Register Now: Missouri Immunization Conference 2025, April 24-25

The purpose of this conference is to provide immunization education to increase immunization rates and protect all Missourians.

The conference brings together bright minds to give talks that are action-oriented on a wide range of subjects related to immunizations to foster learning and inspiration, as well as provoke conversations that matter and actions that lead to increased vaccination rates for Missourians.

Learning Outcomes:

  • Participants will self-report increased confidence in their ability to provide effective education by delivering a strong recommendation to patients when discussing vaccines.
  • Participants will self-report increased knowledge about evidence-based strategies designed to address vaccine hesitancy, and combat misinformation.
  • Participants will self-report increased confidence in their ability to advocate for and effectively educate patients on vaccine preventable diseases.
  • Participants will self-report increased knowledge of how state legislative actions play a role in Missouri’s immunization rates.
  • Participants will self-report increased knowledge of the increasing number of vaccine exemptions and the potential community health implications.

Target Audience Includes:

  • Public health professionals
  • Nurses
  • Physicians
  • School nurses
  • Pharmacists
  • Advanced practice providers
  • Hospital & ambulatory care staff
  • Social workers
  • Psychologists
  • CHWs
  • Health care administrators
  • Individuals working to promote immunizations, prevent disease and protect Missourians through immunization education.

Where: Lodge of Four Season, Lake of the Ozarks

Click Here to Learn More and Register

Registration Open: Rural Health Workforce Development Conference, April 1 – 2

February 19, 2025

Registration Open: Rural Health Workforce Development Conference, April 1 – 2

The Rural Health Workforce Conference provides professional development, sharing of best practices, and mentorship opportunities that are key to successful recruitment and retention of rural health professionals.

This will be an avenue to provide:

  • Hospital administrators with information on rural recruitment/retention strategies, and community engagement;
  • Faculty development for individuals who teach health-profession students;
  • Networking for rural-health professionals to share and showcase best practices;
  • Residents and students with information on rural opportunities and to prepare them for rural practice (i.e., rural practice (i.e., rural residencies, rural leadership, etc.;
  • A venue for residents/students to present relevant rural-focused research projects;
  • Professional development for rural-health professionals, administrators, and preceptors;
  • Recruitment opportunities for rural hospitals, and
  • Recognition of rural-health champions in Missouri.

Target Audience

  • Rural health administrators,
  • Educators,
  • Students,
  • Community advocates, and
  • Healthcare professionals.

Click Here to Learn More and Register

CMS Provides Billing Instructions for Opioid Treatment Programs (OTP) Telecommunications Add-On Codes

February 18, 2025

CMS Provides Billing Instructions for Opioid Treatment Programs (OTP) Telecommunications Add-On Codes

In the 2025 Final Physician Fee Schedule, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized important updates for Opioid Treatment Programs (OTPs) aligning with regulations previously adopted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). These changes aim to enhance access to care for individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD) by expanding telehealth options.

Key Updates include:

  • Periodic assessments may now be conducted via audio-only technology on a permanent basis if live video is unavailable, as long as they meet all applicable SAMHSA and DEA requirements.
  • The OTPs intake add-on code (G2076) can now be billed when using live video for the initiation of methadone treatment.

As a result of these changes, CMS has updated its Opioid Treatment Program (OTP) webpage to reflect proper billing practices. OTPs should use the following HCPCS add-on codes when treating eligible patients:

  • G2076 – Used to initiate buprenorphine or methadone treatment via two-way interactive audio-video or audio-only technology when video is unavailable.
  • G2077 – covers periodic patient assessments via audio-only technology when video is unavailable.
  • G2080 – Applies to additional counseling or therapy provided via audio-only technology when video is unavailable.

For more details on the finalized policy, review the 2025 Final Physician Fee Schedule.

To learn more about billing and G-codes for OTPs, visit the CMS Opioid Treatment Program webpage.

Click Here to go to 2025 Final Physician Fee Schedule

Click Here to go to CMS Opioid Treatment Program webpage.

HHS Proposes Major Updates to HIPAA Security Rule to Strengthen Cybersecurity, Comments due March 7

February 18, 2025

HHS Proposes Major Updates to HIPAA Security Rule to Strengthen Cybersecurity, Comments due March 7

For the first time in two decades, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has proposed significant updates to the HIPAA Security Rule to better protect electronic protected health information (ePHI) from increasing cyber threats. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (Proposed Rule) seeks to modernize security safeguards in response to a significant increase in large-scale healthcare breaches caused by hackers and ransomware between 2018 and 2023.

If enacted, the rule would require all HIPAA-regulated entities to:

  • Enhance cybersecurity practices, including maintaining an up-to-date inventory of technology assets,
  • Conducting annual risk analyses,
  • Implementing stronger patch management policies, and
  • Using multi-factor authentication.

Additionally, covered entities would be obligated to:

  • Encrypt ePHI,
  • Perform vulnerability scans and penetration testing, and
  • Ensure more rigorous oversight of business associates handling sensitive health data.

As remote care platforms manage vast amounts of ePHI, these new cybersecurity rules could significantly impact telehealth services.

The Proposed Rule also emphasizes stricter compliance documentation and monitoring, including mandating a 72-hour disaster recovery plan, annual compliance audits, and stronger incident response protocols. Notably, business associates would be required to notify covered entities of any contingency plan activation within 24 hours.

The proposed rule also seeks comments on emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, virtual and augmented reality, and HIPAA’s role in regulating these emerging technologies.

Comments are due by March 7, 2025 and can be submitted through the federal register.

Click Here to Read More

Critical Access Hospital Financial Sustainability Guide

February 18, 2025

Critical Access Hospital Financial Sustainability Guide

This resource from the National Rural Health Resource center provides guidance and assistance to state Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility (Flex) Program personnel, leaders of Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs), and others helping CAHs manage long-term stability.

Click Here to Access the CAH Financial Sustainability Guide

USDA Rural Hospital Technical Assistance

February 18, 2025

USDA Rural Hospital Technical Assistance

Through a cooperative agreement with the United State Department of Agriculture (USDA), the National Rural Health Association (NRHA) provides several types of assistance to rural hospitals selected in collaboration with USDA. Technical Assistance services will be provided under contract with NRHA by selected contractors who specialize in the types of services outlined below.

Process and Criteria

Through NRHA, USDA will provide selected rural hospitals with TA services to identify and address health care needs and strengthen the local health care system.

The goal is to:

  • Enhance hospital systems for improved efficiency and financial performance,
  • Bolster quality of care, and
  • Support the community.

Prior to selection, hospitals will be interviewed by NRHA and complete an initial assessment to identify TA services needed. The total number of projects will be limited by cooperative agreement funding.

Project Goals

Possible project goals may include:

  1. Improving financial position and increasing operational efficiencies
  2. Implementing quality improvements that support an evidenced-based culture for improved health outcomes.
  3. Increasing use of telehealth to fill service gaps and improve access to care.
  4. Strengthening the local health care delivery system to position for population health.
  5. Providing hospital board training through NRHA’s certification program.

For more information and to see if your hospital qualifies, or to refer a hospital that would benefit from technical assistance, fill out the referral form and NRHA staff will follow up.

Contact Mory Bell, mbell@ruralhealth.us for more information and assistance.

Click Here to Access Referral Form

Funding Opportunity: HRSA Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training (BHWET) Program for Paraprofessionals, Apply by March 18

February 18, 2025

Funding Opportunity: HRSA Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training (BHWET) Program for Paraprofessionals, Apply by March 18

The purpose of the HRSA-25-066 Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training (BHWET) Program for Paraprofessionals is to develop and expand community-based experiential training such as field placements and internships to increase the skills, knowledge and capacity of students preparing to become mental health workers, peer support specialists, and other behavioral health paraprofessionals.

The program has a special focus on developing knowledge and understanding of the needs of children, adolescents, and transitional-age youth who have experienced trauma and are at risk for behavioral health disorders including anxiety, depression, and substance use disorder.

The program also emphasizes developmental opportunities and educational support in interprofessional collaboration by using team-based care in integrated behavioral health and primary care settings to improve the distribution of a well-trained behavioral health workforce.

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) will award approximately $10.9 million to up to 29 awardees over a period of four years.

The funding will go to community-based organizations, including Rural health Clinics, for training that prepares students to become mental health workers, peer support specialists, and other behavioral health-related paraprofessionals.

Apply by March 18, 2025.

Click Here to See Complete List of Eligible Applicants and Learn More

New Fact Sheets from USDA

February 18, 2025

New Fact Sheets from USDA

The Economic Research Service (ERS) at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) regularly updates data on population, income, poverty, food security, education, employment/unemployment, farm characteristics, farm financial indicators, and agricultural exports for all states and includes breakouts for rural and metropolitan areas.

County-level Data Sets include poverty estimates, unemployment, and median household income. A separate ERS report examines the Trends and Patterns of Job Quality in the United States, including wages, employer sponsored health insurance coverage, and retirement benefits between 2000 and 2022.

Click Here to see County-level data sets

Click Here to see Trends and Patterns of Job Quality in the United States

DEA, HHS Finalize Expansion of Buprenorphine Treatment via Telemedicine

February 18, 2025

DEA, HHS Finalize Expansion of Buprenorphine Treatment via Telemedicine

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) are amending their regulations to expand the circumstances under which practitioners registered by the DEA are authorized to prescribe schedule III-V controlled substances approved by the FDA for the treatment of opioid use disorder via telemedicine, including an audio-only telemedicine encounter.

Under these new regulations, after a practitioner reviews the patient’s prescription drug monitoring program data for the state in which the patient is located, the practitioner may prescribe an initial six-month supply of such medications (split amongst several prescriptions totaling six calendar months) through audio-only means.

Click Here to Learn More

Telehealth Resources for Providers and Patients

February 18, 2025

Telehealth Resources for Providers and Patients

Please click on the links below to access these telehealth resources for both patients and providers: