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

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 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:

• The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) created the National Recovery Month Toolkit
  • a one-stop shop for resources and messaging for community member.
  • SAMHSA’s website also provides links to treatment, recovery, and overdose prevention support.
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
  • Stigma Reduction, a helpful guide describing stigma and how it can affect prevention and treatment services.
• National Institute on Drug Abuse: Preferred Language for Talking about Addiction
  • This resource helps readers identify stigmatizing words and provides person-first language alternatives.

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

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.

September 4, 2025

September is National Recovery Month

First recognized in 1989, National Recovery Month promotes new evidence-based treatment and recovery practices, supports the nation’s strong and proud recovery community, and highlights the dedication of communities and service providers who make recovery possible.

In honor of National Recovery Month, the White House proclaimed the week of August 31 as the 2025 Overdose Prevention Week to remember the lives lost, support grieving families, and review the nation’s solemn commitment to ending the overdose epidemic.

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

• The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) created
  • the National Recovery Month Toolkit, a one-stop shop for resources and messaging for community members.
  • SAMHSA’s website also provides links to treatment, recovery, and overdose prevention support.
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
  • Stigma Reduction, a helpful guide describing stigma and how it can affect prevention and treatment services.
• National Institute on Drug Abuse:
  • Preferred Language for Talking About Addiction – This resource helps readers identify stigmatizing words and provides person-first language alternatives.

To learn more about programs created by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) 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.

Recovery Resources

Click Here for SAMHSA’s National Recovery Month Resources and Tools

Click Here to Read Presidents’ Overdose Prevention Week Proclamation

Click Here for SAMHSA’s 2025 Recovery Month Toolkit

Click Here for CDC Stigma Reduction Guide

Click Here for the National Institute on Drug Abuse Preferred Language for Talking About Addiction

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.

Click Here to Read More

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.

Click Here to Learn More

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