Category: HRSA

Telehealth Policies

June 4, 2025

Telehealth Policies

The Federal government took a range of steps to expedite the adoption and awareness of telehealth, including for Medicare telehealth services and Remote Patient Monitoring.

Click Here to learn about recent Federal legislation and policies related to telehealth

Click Here to Explore Telehealth policies

Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Recovery (STAR) Loan Repayment Program, Apply by July 10

June 2, 2025

Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Recovery (STAR) Loan Repayment Program, Apply by July 10

Apply to the Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Recovery Loan Repayment Program. Eligible substance use disorder (SUD) treatment clinicians and community health workers can apply to the Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Recovery (STAR) Loan Repayment Program.

Apply by July 10.

Click Here to Learn More

Faculty Loan Repayment Program, Apply by July 3

June 2, 2025

Faculty Loan Repayment Program, Apply by July 3

The Faculty Loan Repayment Program application is open now through July 3. Eligible faculty members can apply to the Faculty Loan Repayment Program. HRSA will repay a portion of a recipient’s health professional student loan debt ($40,000 max over two years). In return, a recipient will serve at an eligible health professions school.

Click Here to Learn More

National Health Service Corps New Site Application, Apply by June 17

June 2, 2025

National Health Service Corps New Site Application, Apply by June 17

Eligible health care facilities can apply to become National Health Service Corps (NHSC)-approved sites.

NHSC-approved sites provide outpatient, comprehensive primary health care services to people. They are located in Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs).

As an NHSC-approved site, eligible clinicians can apply for NHSC Loan Repayment Programs, and sites can hire NHSC Scholars or Students to Service participants. Sites can also post job opportunities and access on the Health Workforce Connector.

Apply by June 17.

Click Here to Learn More

New Guidance for Hospital Price Transparency

May 29, 2025

New Guidance for Hospital Price Transparency

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released new guidance on how hospitals should calculate the estimated allowed amount values for their online machine-readable files as part of the Hospital Price Transparency requirements.

Whenever possible, hospitals should:

  • Use electronic remittance data to determine the average dollar amount received over the last 12-month period.
    • If there is no historic data, hospitals should use the expected payment amount, encoded as a dollar figure.
  • Hospitals will no longer be able to use a code of nine number nines to signify that there was not sufficient historic data for that item or service over the last year.

Click Here to View Entire Guidance Document

Policy Update: CMS Proposes Updates for FY 2026 Hospice Payment Rates, Comment by June 10

May 22, 2025

Policy Update: CMS Proposes Updates for FY 2026 Hospice Payment Rates, Comment by June 10

This week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) updated the deadline for comments on their proposed rule for Medicare Hospice Payment Rates from June 30 to June 10.

Click Here to see the CMS Fact Sheet for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 Hospice Wage Index and Payment Rate Update Proposed Rule for a summary. When commenting, refer to file code CMS-1835-P.

Apply to Become an NHSC Site – Application Open Through June 17

May 15, 2025

Apply to Become an NHSC Site – Application Open Through June 17

Health Care facilities can now apply for approval to become National Health Service Corps (NHSC) sites. Eligible sites include those that provide outpatient, ambulatory, and primary health care services – such as medical, dental, and behavioral health – to populations in high-need rural and urban areas.

This year, Rural Emergency Hospitals are also eligible for NHSC approval. Approved sites gain the advantage of recruiting and retaining NHSC participants through the Loan Repayment, Scholarship, and Students to Service programs.

Click Here to learn more about NHSC eligibility requirements and apply before June 17, 11:59 p.m. ET.

Pediatric Mental Health Care Access (PCMHA) Program

May 15, 2025

Pediatric Mental Health Care Access (PCMHA) Program

According to the most recent National Survey of Children’s Health, nearly 26 percent of children ages 3-17 had a mental, emotional, developmental, or behavioral problem. Of those children, approximately 20 percent did not receive needed mental health treatment or counseling from a mental health professional in the past 12 months.

The Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA’s) Maternal and Child Health Bureau is working to close that gap through the Pediatric Mental Health Care Access (PMHCA) program. This program offers free teleconsultation services for health professionals to help them better care for children and youth in their practice with behavioral health concerns. Most consultations are competed in as little as 30 minutes and almost always within one business day.

Click Here to Learn More

CMS Seeks Comments on the Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program – Comments Due by June 10

May 14, 2025

CMS Seeks Comments on the Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program – Comments Due by June 10

In the recently released Medicare Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) proposed rule, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) included several requests for information for the Promoting Interoperability Program, which requires hospitals and Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) to submit data demonstrating meaningful use of certified electronic health record technology (CEHERT). Hospitals and CAHs that do not meet the requirements are subject to a downward payment adjustment. Some issues that CMS seeks public input on include:

  • Query of Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) Measure – This measure requires eligible hospitals and CAHs to attest yes/no on whether they have integrated their state’s PDMP electronic database, which monitors the use of controlled substances, into their EHRs.
    • CMS seeks comments on whether this measure should be performance-based and measure the percent of electronic prescriptions for which the hospital queried the PDMP for prescription drug history.
    • They also seek comment on whether they should expand the types of drugs to which the Query of PDMP measure could apply.

Click Here to Learn More and Comment

  • Public Health and Clinical Exchange Data Objective Measure Scoring – Currently, eligible hospitals and CAHs must attest yes/no on whether they are exchanging data with six required measures in this category.
    • CMS seeks comments on whether they should change the scoring method to allow eligible hospitals and CAHs to earn up to 5 points for each measure, for a total of 30 points for the objective, but must earn at least 1 point for each measure to meet the requirement.
    • CMS also seeks comments on whether these measures should be performance based with a numerator and denominator.

Click Here to Learn More and Comment

  • Use of Modern Technologies to Ensure Data Quality – CMS wants to encourage and support eligible hospitals’ and CAHs’ use of modern technologies and standards to ensure data are usable, complete, accurate, timely, and consistent.
    • They seek feedback on what challenges hospitals and CAHs are experiencing with collecting high quality data,
    • What the primary barriers are, and
    • How CMS can partner with eligible hospitals, CAHs, industry, and Federal agencies to drive further improvements in the quality and usability of health information being exchanged.

Click Here to Learn More and Comment

Telehealth Best Practice Guides

May 6, 2025

Telehealth Best Practice Guides

Whether you are an administrator, hospitalist, or private practitioner – learn how others in your field are using telehealth to connect with patients. Get practical recommendations on billing, strategy, and more to help understand if telehealth is right for you.

Telehealth.HHS currently has 22 Telehealth Best Practice Guides, including but not limited to:

Click Here to explore all Telehealth Best Practice Guides