January 19, 2024

Call for Grant Reviewers

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) relies on grant reviewers to select the best programs from a competitive group of applicants. Over the coming months, the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) will be competing a number of programs, i8ncluding among other things:

• Substance use disorders and opioid use disorder
• Rural workforce
• Rural hospital

Having reviewers with expertise in rural health greatly benefits the review process and is also an opportunity to learn about the review process itself.

Reviews are typically held remotely over a period of a few days and reviewers who participate and complete their assigned duties receive an honorarium.

Registration is easy and does not commit you to serving as a reviewer.

Please consider lending your expertise to these important initiatives.

Compensation: non-federal participants are compensated

Read More here

How you can become a reviewer:

• If you work or have experience in health care, register via Reviewer Recruitment Module (RRM)
  • Need people with expertise in the following areas:
    • Behavioral health
    • Health workforce training
    • HIV/AIDS
    • Maternal and child health
    • Primary care delivery
    • Rural health
    • Working with or a member of underserved communities

Additional experience considered:

• Diversity, equity, inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA)
• Lived experience
• Health equity
• Social determinants of health

Questions: Please send an email to RRMTechAssistance@hrsa.gov

January 12, 2024

HRSA Updates HPSA Designations

The Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA’s) Bureau of Health Workforce has released the current list of Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) – which can be geographic areas, populations or facilities – that have a shortage of primary, dental, or mental health care providers.

The designations are used to determine eligibility for federal programs that support the health workforce, such as the National Health Service Corps, as well as safety net programs such as HRSA’s Health Centers and CMS’s Rural Health Clinics.

For more details on the information used to determine HPSAs, visit the HRSA Data Warehouse.

Click Here to see complete list of HPSA Designations

Health Workforce Shortage Areas

January 12, 2024

Medicare Interoperability Deadlines and New Requirements for Hospitals

Eligible hospitals and Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) participating in the Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program have until February 29 to complete a self-assessment in the safe use of electronic health records (HER) for the reporting period ending December 31, 2023.

The Safety Assurance Factors for EHR Resilience (SAFER) Guides are recommended practices for hospitals to reduce patient safety risk related to EHRs. For this reporting requirement, participants can attest yes or no to whether they have completed their self-assessment.

New for 2024, eligible hospitals and CAHs will be required to attest ‘yes’ to the self-assessment.

Contact Information

• Medicare eligible CAHs and hospitals participating in the Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program may contact the CCSQ help desk for assistance at QnetSupport@cms.hhs.gov or call 1 866-288-8912
• Medicare Eps are now considered eligible clinicians and are part of the Quality Payment Program. Contact the Quality Payment Program help desk for assistance at QPP@cms.hhs.gov or call 1 866-288-8292
• To submit a ticket for the QPP Service Center, please visit: https://cmsqualitysupport.servicenowservices.com/ccsq_support_central.

January 11, 2024

Request for Additions to CY2025 Medicare Telehealth Services List

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is accepting Calendar Year (CY) 2025 requests for the Medicare Telehealth Services List.

Submissions for the current cycle are due by February 10 and should include supporting documentation.

Each request for adding a service to the list of Medicare telehealth services must address the items outlined below:

• Contact information of the requestor
  • Name
  • Title
  • Organization
  • Email address
  • Phone number
    • Co-signers should include the same
    • Collaborative submissions are encouraged
• The HCPCS code(s) that describes the service(s) proposed for addition or deletion to the list of Medicare telehealth services
• A description of the type(s) of medical professional(s) providing the telehealth service at the distant site.
• A detailed discussion of the reasons the proposed service should be added to the definition of Medicare telehealth
• An explanation as to why the requested service cannot be billed under the current scope of telehealth services
  • For example, the reason why the HCPCS codes currently on the list of Medicare telehealth services would not be appropriate for billing the service requested
• Evidence that supports adding the service(s) to the list on either a permanent or provisional basis as explained in the section labeled “CMS Review Criteria”.

Requests are due to the CMS Telehealth Review Process mailbox no later than February 10, to be considered for the current cycle of annual notice and comment rulemaking.

Find out More and submit a Request