Accepting Applications: NHSC Students to Service Loan Repayment Program, Deadline November 6

September 26, 2025

Accepting Applications: NHSC Students to Service Loan Repayment Program, Deadline November 6

The National Health Service Corps (NHSC) Students to Service Loan Repayment Program provides up to $120,000 in loan repayment funds to students in their final year of school who are studying to become a physician, dentist, physician assistant, nurse practitioner or certified nurse midwife.

An additional $40,000 Maternity Care Target Area Supplemental Award is available to eligible physicians and certified nurse midwives. Designated Maternity Care Target Areas are within existing professional shortage areas that are experiencing a significant shortage of maternity health care professionals.

In exchange for loan repayment, participants must commit to three years of primary care services at approved sites in high-need areas.

The application deadline is November 6 at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Click Here to Learn More and Apply

New FMT Resource: Sustaining Rural Labor & Delivery Programs

September 19, 2025

New FMT Resource: Sustaining Rural Labor & Delivery Programs

Over the past decade, hundreds of rural hospitals have stopped offering Labor & Delivery services, and many remaining programs face financial and operational challenges. Drawing on case studies from previous Stroudwater Associates engagements, this resource details three strategies that may bring a Labor & Delivery program closer to sustainability and prevent unnecessary closures in rural areas.

These strategies ensure that Critical Access Hospitals and rural hospitals understand how to properly:

  • Allocate costs and statistics in the Medicare Cost Report to maximize the value created by the Labor & Delivery program,
  • Evaluate the contribution margin of the program, and
  • Leverage other opportunities, such as partnerships and family practice obstetricians, to enhance the efficiency of the program.

This resource can be used by hospitals to support informed decision-making and optimize resource allocation to improve financial sustainability and ensure continued access to Labor & Delivery services in rural communities.

Click Here for Sustaining Rural Labor & Delivery Programs Resource

New Resource: Telehealth for Nutrition Care and Services

September 18, 2025

New Resource: Telehealth for Nutrition Care and Services

Tele-nutrition enables providers to deliver personalized nutrition care to patients using innovative telehealth technologies.

Explore the latest tools and strategies for effective use of telehealth when providing nutrition care.

This National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month, share this tip sheet with your patients so they can see how telehealth helps people of all ages get nutrition care and services from home.

Click Here to see the Latest Tools and Strategies for Telehealth Nutrition Services

Click Here to see Childhood Obesity Tip Sheet

September is National Recovery Month

September 12, 2025

September is National Recovery Month

September is National Recovery Month observed every September to promote and support new evidence-based treatment and recovery practices, the nation’s strong and proud recovery communities, and the dedication of service providers and communities who make recovery possible.

A variety of federal resources are available to support individuals and their families:

To learn more about programs created by HRSA’s Federal Office of Rural Health Policy to support recovery, visit the Rural Communities Opioid Response Program (RCORP) on HRSA’s website. Each of the RCORP Centers of Excellence provides a clearinghouse of information and resources for prevention, treatment, and recovery that are specific to rural communities.

Click Here for SAMHSA’s National Recovery Month Toolkit

Click Here for CDC’s Stigma Reduction Guide

Click Here for NIDA’s Preferred Language for Talking About Addiction

Targeted Technical Assistance for Rural Hospitals Program (TTAP), Apply by September 30

September 4, 2025

Targeted Technical Assistance for Rural Hospitals Program (TTAP), Apply by September 30

The Targeted Technical Assistance for Rural Hospitals Program (TTAP) is not a grant program for hospitals. Instead, participating hospitals receive technical assistance at no cost.

All applicants are eligible to participate in webinars and training events focused on best practices for financial and operational improvement held through the grant period.

TTAP is a federally funded initiative that offers comprehensive technical assistance to rural hospitals to address:

  • financial and operational challenges and
  • maintain essential health services for their communities.

During their tenure in the program, hospitals receive comprehensive technical assistance in:

  • financial and operational assessment,
  • financial sustainability planning,
  • strategy implementation,
  • monitoring, and
  • evaluation.

The ideal applicant organization is a rural hospital or critical access hospital that demonstrates a need and readiness for targeted technical assistance aimed at supporting financial and operational stability.

Participating hospitals must be committed to meaningfully engaging in all aspects of the program. While all eligible rural hospitals and critical access hospitals are encouraged to apply, this program is designed to best support organizations that are:

  1. Not currently or have not previously received similar technical assistance; and
  2. Do not have readily available access to resources to support financial and operational viability.

Online applications will be accepted on a rolling basis. However, an annual application deadline is announced for each new project year. The deadline for the 2025–2026 project year is Tuesday, September 30, 2025, at 11:59 pm. Once the application deadline has passed, organizations may begin applying for participation in the next project year. Applicants who are not selected may be considered for future cohorts.​

Apply by September 30

Click Here to Learn More and Apply

CMS Proposes Updates to Medicare and Medicaid Programs, Comment by September 15

September 4, 2025

CMS Proposes Updates to Medicare and Medicaid Programs, Comment by September 15

This proposed rule would revise the Medicare Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) and the Medicare Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC) payment system for calendar year 2026 based on continuing experience with these systems.

Included are descriptions of the changes to the amounts and factors used to determine the payment rates for Medicare services paid under the OPPS and those paid under the ASC payment systems.

This proposed rule would also update and refine the requirements for the:

  • Hospital Outpatient Quality Reporting Program,
  • Rural Emergency Hospital Quality Reporting Program,
  • Ambulatory Surgical Center Quality Reporting Program,
  • Overall Hospital Quality Star Rating, and
  • Hospitals to make public their standard charge information and enforcement of hospital price transparency.

This rule also contains requests for information on measure concepts regarding:

  • Well-Being and Nutrition for consideration in future years for all three programs (OQR, REHQR, and ASCQR);
  • expanding the method to control for unnecessary increases in the volume of covered OPD services to on-campus clinic visits;
  • software as a service; and
  • adjusting payment under the OPPS for services predominately performed in the ambulatory surgical center or physician office settings.

Click Here to Read Proposed Changes and Updates and Comment by September 15

CMS Proposes Updates to Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Payments, and Other Changes to Part B Payment and Coverage Policies, Comment by September 12

September 4, 2025

CMS Proposes Updates to Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Payments, Comment by September 12

On January 31, 2025, President Trump issued Executive Order (EO) 14192 “Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation,” which states the Administration policy to significantly reduce the private expenditures required to comply with Federal regulations to secure America’s economic prosperity and national security and the highest possible quality of life for each citizen.

CMS is seeking public input on approaches and opportunities to streamline regulations and reduce administrative burdens on providers, suppliers, beneficiaries, and other stakeholders participating in the Medicare program.

This major proposed rule addresses:

  • changes to the physician fee schedule (PFS);
  • other changes to Medicare Part B payment policies to ensure that payment systems are updated to reflect changes in medical practice,
  • relative value of services, and
  • changes in the statute; codification of establishment of new policies for the Medicare Prescription Drug Inflation Rebate Program under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022;
  • the Ambulatory Specialty Model;
  • updates to the Medicare Diabetes Prevention Program expanded model;
  • updates to drugs and biological products paid under Part B; Medicare Shared Savings Program requirements;
  • updates to the Quality Payment Program;
  • updates to policies for Rural Health Clinics and Federally Qualified Health Centers
  • update to the Ambulance Fee Schedule regulations;
  • codification of the Inflation Reduction Act and Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 provisions;
  • updates to the Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program.

Click Here to Read More and Comment

CMS Proposes New Mandatory Alternative Payment Model, the Ambulatory Specialty Model (ASM) – Comment by September 12

September 4, 2025

CMS Proposes New Mandatory Alternative Payment Model, the Ambulatory Specialty Model (ASM) – Comment by September 12

The proposed Ambulatory Specialty Model (ASM) aims to improve prevention and upstream management of chronic disease, which would lead to reductions in avoidable hospitalizations and unnecessary procedures.

Participation in ASM would be mandatory for specialists who commonly treat people with Original Medicare for heart failure or low back pain in an outpatient setting across selected regions. ASM would begin on January 1, 2027 and run for five performance years through December 31, 2031.

Key Points

  • Problem: Delayed detection of chronic conditions, financial incentives that encourage unnecessary procedures, and the lack of care coordination among specialists and primary care providers all contribute to poor health outcomes for people who are at risk for or living with chronic disease. These include delayed diagnosis and poor disease management.
  • Solution: ASM would promote preventive care and more effective upstream chronic disease management by rewarding specialists for improving patient health outcomes and coordination with primary care providers.
  • Outcomes: ASM would reduce avoidable hospitalizations and unnecessary procedures, improve patient experience and outcomes, and lower costs to Original Medicare.
  • Strategy: ASM would help to Make America Health Again by promoting preventive care through interventions like screening, increasing transparency by making provider performance assessments more widely available, and protecting American taxpayers by holding specialists accountable for the cost of care.

Click Here to Read More

Click Here to Read Proposed Rule and Comment

Policy Update: Important Information for CAHs Billing under Method II

September 4, 2025

Policy Update: Important Information for CAHs Billing under Method II

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a reminder that Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) can bill for facility and professional outpatient services only when physicians and or practitioners reassign their billing rights to the CAH, also know as Method II billing.

CAHs can prevent claim denials with reason codes 31006 and 31007 (indicating that providers don’t have the reassignment on file in the Provider Enrollment, Chain, and Ownership System (PECOS) if they submit the reassignment application through PECOS or the paper Form CMS-8551).

Starting in January 2026, CMS will deny CAH claims for professional services if a reassignment is not in PECOS.

Click Here to Read More

Click Here to Access Information for Critical Access Hospitals (PDF) booklet (revised to add reassignment information.

Research Alert: Supply, Distribution, and Access to Cardiologists, Neurologists, Oncologists, and Pulmonologists in the Rural and Urban U.S.

September 4, 2025

Research Alert: Supply, Distribution, and Access to Cardiologists, Neurologists, Oncologists, and Pulmonologists in the Rural and Urban U.S.

This study from the WWAMI Rural Health Research Center analyzes changes in the supply and distribution specialists – cardiologists, neurologists, oncologists, and pulmonologists – that treat the conditions associated with four of the top causes of rural mortality.

Click Here to Read Research Alert