Rural Spotlight

Webinar: Rural Health Value: Let’s talk about CHART!

Date: October 28, 2020

Time: 3:00 PM Central

Register

Last month, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Innovation Center (CMMI) released the notice of funding opportunity for the Community Health Access and Rural Transformation (CHART) Community Transformation Track.

CMMI states that the “CHART Model will test whether aligned financial incentives, increased operational flexibility, and robust technical support promote rural health care providers’ capacity to implement effective health care delivery system redesign on a broad scale.”

Wondering whether CHART is right for your organization? The time to start planning and discussing with partners is now.

Join the Rural Health Value team for a virtual discussion to identify opportunities, questions, and potential next steps for interested organizations regarding the CHART Community Track application.

The target audience includes rural hospitals, state offices of rural health, state-based payers, health systems, rural health networks, public health departments, and others interested in potentially pursuing participation in the Model.

Questions: Contact Karla Weng, kweng@stratishealth.org.

Rural Health Value is a national initiative funded by a cooperative agreement from the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) with the RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis (RUPRI Center) and Stratis Health. The Rural Health Value team analyzes rural implications of changes in the organization, finance, and delivery of health care services and assists rural communities and providers transition to a high-performance rural health system.

Enforcement Discretion Relating to Certain Pharmacy Billing

October 16, 2020

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) appreciates its long-standing partnership with immunizers, including pharmacies, to facilitate the efficient administration of vaccinations, particularly for vulnerable populations in long-term care facilities and other congregate care settings across America. Leveraging immunizers’ capabilities and expertise will play an important role in the Department’s ability to broadly distribute and administer COVID-19 vaccinations, including Medicare beneficiaries.

America is facing an unprecedented challenge. Quickly, safely, and effectively vaccinating our most vulnerable citizens in settings that have accounted for about 30 percent of U.S. COVID-19 deaths is a top-priority mission for the Trump Administration. Unfortunately, many long-term care facilities may not have sufficient capacity to receive, store, and administer vaccines. And some long-term care facility residents cannot safely leave the facility to receive vaccinations.

Outside immunizers can help fill that urgent need and provide onsite vaccinations at skilled nursing facilities (“SNFs”). But to do so during this global emergency, Medicare-enrolled vaccinators must be able to bill directly and receive direct reimbursement from the Medicare program. However, the Social Security Act requires SNFs to bill for certain services, including vaccine administration, even when SNFs rely on an outside vendor to perform the service. See Social Security Act §§ 1862(a)(18), 1842(b)(6)(E).

Therefore, in order to facilitate the efficient administration of COVID-19 vaccines to SNF residents, CMS will exercise enforcement discretion with respect to these statutory provisions as well as any associated statutory references and implementing regulations, including as interpreted in pertinent guidance (collectively, “SNF Consolidated Billing Provisions”). Through the exercise of that discretion, CMS will allow Medicare-enrolled immunizers, including but not limited to pharmacies working with the United States, to bill directly and receive direct reimbursement from the Medicare program for vaccinating Medicare SNF residents.

2020 Health Workforce Field Strength Numbers Increase Access to Primary and Substance Use Disorder Care

There are now more than 16,000 National Health Service Corps (NHSC) members providing care to more than 17 million Americans. An additional 1.8 million patients are cared for by over 1,700 Nurse Corps clinicians. Nurse Corps also added 135 faculty to its rolls.

NHSC and Nurse Corps programs support the recruitment and retention of dedicated primary care, dental, and behavioral health providers who care for underserved patients daily in high-need areas of the U.S. and its territories.

As part of our commitment to recruiting clinicians interested in serving in underserved areas, we take an active role in connecting clinicians with employment opportunities at approved sites. After a pause this spring and summer, we recently resumed hosting Virtual Job Fairs – a live interactive platform that provides students and clinicians the opportunity to meet with hundreds of recruiters hiring in underserved communities across the country.

Share how we’re making strides to impact health equity and increase access to care for those who need it most. Follow and tag us on our NHSC and Nurse Corps Facebook, NHSC and Nurse Corps LinkedIn, and NHSC Twitter accounts.

Thank you all for the hard work you do. Your dedication and support throughout 2020 has helped communities all over the nation get through a very difficult year.

Click to view full Press Release.

Webinar: Provider Recruitment and Retention Training for Health Centers

Date: October 27, 2020

Time: 2:00 PM Central

Join the webinar the day of the session
Call-in: 888-323-9689
Passcode: 7945934

Staffing-related shortages are a common barrier identified by health centers—especially in light of the pandemic. Join a session featuring HRSA, HRSA-funded National Training and Technical Assistance Partners (Community Health Center, Inc., and the Association of Clinicians for the Underserved), and a health center. Speakers will discuss recruitment and retention promising practices and provide resources.

Delta Region Community Health Systems Development (DRCHSD) Program

The National Rural Health Resource Center (The Center) has been awarded a five-year Cooperative Agreement through the Health Resources Services Administration’s Federal Office of Rural Health Policy in partnership with the Delta Region Authority.  The purpose of the DRCHSD Program is to assist hospital, clinic and community leaders with developing and implementing a community care coordination plan that strengthens the local health care system.  To learn more about the DRCHSD Program and application process, please attend the upcoming webinar on October 22, 2020. 

$5000 Grants Available for Rural Pediatric Clinics to Begin Telehealth

Application Deadline October 22

The “Supporting Providers and Families to Access Telehealth and Distant Care Services for Pediatric Care” project is a grant between the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) in the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). The goal of this grant is to support telehealth access and infrastructure for the provision of comprehensive care to children and adolescents, including children and youth with special health care needs (CYSHCN) and other vulnerable pediatric populations, utilizing a medical home approach during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Read More

Data Collection Site Launched for the RHC COVID-19 Testing Program

On October 6, the online portal www.RHCcovidreporting.com was launched to collect data on COVID-19 testing at Rural Health Clinics (RHCs).

The website is the official data collection portal for the RHC COVID-19 Testing Program which means that all RHCs that received money ($49,461.42 per RHC) from the RHC COVID-19 Testing Program are required to report through this portal per the terms and conditions of the program. If RHCs do not provide data on this website, they are opening themselves to auditing risks and could end up having to return the money back to the government.

However, the National Association of Rural Health Clinics (NARHC) does not want RHCs to panic. The Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA) contracted with NARHC to create this portal and it was designed it to be as simple and as straightforward as possible. Only basic data, that should be relatively easy to obtain, is requested.  Such as:

  • The Tax Identification Number of the organization that received the funding
  • The number of tests and positive results by month
  • The address(es) of COVID-19 testing locations  Read More

2019 National Survey of Children’s Health Data

The Health Resources and Services Administration’s Maternal and Child Health Bureau released the latest data from the 2019 National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) on October 5. The NSCH provides annual, national and state-level data on the health and health care needs of children, as well as information about their families and communities. The NSCH covers a broad array of health-related topics impacting children and families such as mental and behavioral health.

The survey data reveals that 13.2 percent of children aged 3-17 years in the U.S. (about 8 million children) had a current diagnosed mental or behavioral health condition. The most common condition was anxiety, which affected 8.5 percent of children, followed by behavior disorder at 6.8 percent and depression at 3.8 percent.

The data also shows that 66.5 percent of children aged 6-17 years met all criteria for flourishing, a term describing children who have positive health and are thriving.

Learn more about the 2019 National Survey of Children’s Health data and how it can provide information for program and policy decision-making, implementation, and evaluation.