Category: HRSA

HRSA Reaffirms Commitment to Lowering Drug Prices for Low-Income Patients

July 2, 2025

HRSA Reaffirms Commitment to Lowering Drug Prices for Low-Income Patients

On June 24, HRSA announced new steps to lower out-of-pocket costs for life-saving medications. In alignment with President Trump’s Executive Order “Lowering Drug Prices by Putting Americans First,” HRSA has issued updated award terms requiring HRSA-funded health centers to provide insulin and injectable epinephrine to low-income patients at or below the price paid by the center through the 340B Drug Pricing Program.

Click Here to Read Release

CDC’s Suicide Prevention Communication Campaign Playbook

June 17, 2025

 

CDC’s Suicide Prevention Communication Campaign Playbook

Closing out Mental Health Awareness Month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a new resource for planning suicide prevention campaigns. The playbook includes:

  • Key Audience:
    • Tools for identifying specific populations at higher risk and their networks of influence.
  • Campaign Development:
    • Steps to design effective strategies, craft meaningful messages, and promote behavior change.
  • Behavior Models:
    • Insights into frameworks like the Health Belief Model and Social Cognitive Theory.
  • Messaging Best Practices:
    • Strategies to emphasize hope and resilience and use culturally relevant language.
  • Evaluation:
    • Tools to measure campaign impact and improve future efforts.

The latest data from the CDC show that rural residents are at a higher risk of suicide than urban residents and that rates of suicide almost doubled between 2000-2020 in rural areas.

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RHC & FQHC Care Coordination Services: HCPS Code G0511 Deadline Extended to September 30

June 17, 2025

RHC & FQHC Care Coordination Services: HCPS Code G0511 Deadline Extended to September 30

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) extended the deadline for Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) and Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) to report individual CPT (Current Procedural Terminology) and HCPCS (Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System) base and add-on codes for care coordination services instead of reporting HCPCS G0511 to September 30, 2025.

The additional time, extended from July 1, 2025, allows for RHCs and FQHCs to update billing systems following the policy change issued in the CY 2025 Physician Fee Schedule final rule.

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More information on the CY 2025 payment rates for care coordination is available here and here.

HRSA Loan Repayment Programs Open

June 17, 2025

HRSA Loan Repayment Programs Open

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has three loan repayment programs open to support working health professionals. They include:

  • Faculty Loan Repayment Program – Apply by July 3, 7:30 p.m. ET
    • Provides up to $40,000in health professional student loan repayment to faculty who serve two years at an eligible health professions school.
  • Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Recovery Loan Repayment Program (STAR LRP)– Apply by July 10, 7:30 p.m. ET
    • Provides up to $250,000 for a six-year, full-time service commitment.
    • The following are eligible to apply:
      • Behavioral health clinicians,
      • Support workers,
      • Clinical support staff, and
      • Individuals trained in substance use disorders
  • Pediatric Specialty Loan Repayment Program– Apply by July 17, 7:30 p.m. ET
    • Provides up to $100,000 in exchange for a three-year, full-time service commitment.
    • Clinicians providing pediatric medical or surgical care or child and adolescent mental and behavioral health care are eligible to apply.

Click Here to Learn More and Apply

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.