January 9, 2025
RHIhub This Week Now Available
RHIhub This Week keeps you informed of the latest rural news, funding opportunities, publications, and events.
Click Here to Access RHIhub This Week
January 9, 2025
RHIhub This Week Now Available
RHIhub This Week keeps you informed of the latest rural news, funding opportunities, publications, and events.
Click Here to Access RHIhub This Week
January 9, 2025
Apply Now – Rural Hospital Stabilization Program (RHSP)
The Rural Hospital Stabilization Program (RHSP) is funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Federal Office of Rural Health Policy and administered by the National Rural Health Resource Center. The ultimate goal of the program is to strengthen rural health care delivery nationwide.
RHSP aids rural hospitals, at no cost to them, to help them improve their financial stability by enhancing or expanding health care services that meet community needs. This may include everything from pulmonary rehabilitation to outpatient behavioral health services to expanded primary care and keep care close to home.
The Center’s subject matter experts and a team of nationally recognized consultants familiar with rural hospitals, provide:
Hospitals participating in the cohort-style program work to identify clinical areas where the expansion or addition of services would help to ensure that care is available locally, and develop those service lines to:
Hospitals that meet program expectations and are selected for participation may receive financial support for operating and equipment costs for service line development and a Community Engagement Champion.
Benefits of Participation:
To learn more:
Click Here to Apply
January 8, 2025
Upcoming Webinar Series – Improving Preventive Care in Early Childhood, March 3
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) launched this new webinar series. It focuses on opportunities for state Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) programs to improve delivery of developmental and lead screenings, immunizations, and early oral health interventions during well-child visits in early childhood. The webinar series will be followed by an action-oriented affinity group in the spring of 2025.
Who should attend:
Click Here to visit the Improving Well-Child Care website for more information.
Please submit any questions to the quality improvement technical assistance mailbox: MACQualityImprovement@mathmatica-mpr.com
Cost: Free
When:
Click Here to Register (you may register for one or all three in the series)
January 8, 2025
Upcoming Webinar – Supporting Perinatal Individuals Experiencing Substance Use Disorders: Strategies for Perinatal Care Professionals and Systems of Care
Join the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA’s) Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) for this roundtable webinar which will offer actionable strategies that support providers in delivering compassionate, comprehensive care.
This roundtable will address the stigma around mandatory reporting, which deters some pregnant and postpartum women from seeking care and provide insights on creating safe plans of care.
In addition, the session will highlight training opportunities, resources, and guidance on integrating substance use disorder care into workflows.
Attendees will learn about:
Practical examples, such as “warm hands” and harm reduction strategies will be shared.
Cost: Free
When: Wednesday, January 15, 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. ET
Click Here to Register
January 7, 2025
RTRC Telehealth Policy Brief Highlights Need for More Health Equity Focused Research
In December 2024, the Rural Telehealth Research Center (RTRC) released a Research and Policy Brief titled, The Role of Relaxed Telehealth Policy on Health Equity in Telehealth Utilization and Outcomes During the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency: A Living Systematic Review.
The brief underscores the significant telehealth policy changes that have occurred since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic as the foundation for enabling the ability to better understand the variety of implications of increased telehealth use, such as access to care, health outcomes, and cost. For this study in particular, the RTRC sought to conduct a systematic review of the ways in which telehealth has been shown to address health disparities.
Click Here to read Policy Brief
January 7, 2025
Upcoming Webinar – Breaking Down Barriers to Telehealth: How the Digital Health Readiness Screener Can Drive Equity and Access, January 16
In this session, discover how the new Digital Health Readiness Screener from Thomas Jefferson University is making a difference in telehealth access by identifying key barriers faced by diverse patient populations.
The webinar will explore how the screener assesses technical readiness and quality of care concerns, including digital literacy, privacy, and trust in telehealth. Consider joining this webinar to learn how this tool can support targeted interventions and help advance digital health equity across healthcare settings.
Cost: Free
When: Thursday, January 16, 1:00 p.m.
Click Here to Register
January 7, 2025
Patient Resource: Can I Use Telehealth for Emergency Care?
There are many ways that telehealth can help with emergency medical care. Share this resource with patients so they can learn the ways that telehealth can support care during medical emergencies.
Topics Covered:
Click Here to learn more
January 7, 2025
Telehealth Research Recap Summaries
These research recap summaries highlight trending telehealth research on the following topics:
Click Here to read all summaries
January 7, 2025
Creating an Emergency Plan for Regular Telehealth Visits
Planning can go a long way to prepare you for an emergency situation during a telemedicine or telehealth appointment and set expectations with your patients.
With telehealth, you’re seeing patients outside of the safety and control of your office. An emergency situation may arise from a wide range of causes, including a mental health crisis, stroke/heart attack, overdose, etc.
Click Here to learn how to plan for an emergency situation during a telehealth appointment.
Click Here to Read Patient Safety and Emergency Management from the American Psychiatric Association
Federal legislation continues to expand and extend telehealth services. Click Here to read more
January 7, 2025
Telehealth for Emergency Preparedness Best Practice Guide
Telehealth is important to providing medical care during an emergency, such as a pandemic or natural disaster. Providers can use telehealth to perform quick assessments, triage patients, and deliver patient care. Integrating telehealth into emergency preparedness plans is essential.
This best practice guide provides detailed information and resources on using telehealth for emergency preparedness.
Click Here to View the Best Practice Guide