Category: Resources

Telehealth Resources for Patients and Providers

November 17, 2023

Telehealth Resources for Patients and Providers

Last month the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) released two new resources for patients to increase understanding around protecting health information when receiving health care services via telehealth. The first document is more extensive and geared toward providers informing patients, while the second contains direct recommendations to patients:

Provider Resource

Patient Resource

The guidance documents are intended to help educate patients about potential privacy risks when using telehealth and ways to mitigate such risks.

Mobilizing Health Care Workforce via Telehealth

October 26, 2023

Mobilizing Health Care Workforce via Telehealth

ProviderBridge.org was created through the CARES Act by the Federation of State Medical Boards and HRSA’s Office for the Advancement of Telehealth. The site provides up-to-date information on emergency regulation and licensing by state as well as a provider portal to connect volunteer health care professionals to state agencies and health care entities.

Provider Bridge facilitates mobilizing verified health care providers to health care entities and communities where they are needed most.

  • Healthcare Professionals – get your verified digital licensure passport
  • Healthcare Entities – Find verified health care providers
  • Verify credentials
  • Up-to-the-minute verification and critical emergency resources
  • Learn the latest about ongoing national, state, and local Public Health Emergencies and gain access to crucial tools that help deliver necessary care when and where it matters most

Learn more about Provider Bridge

Additional Resources

HHS/DoD National Emergency Tele-Critical Care Network

October 26, 2023

HHS/DoD National Emergency Tele-Critical Care Network

A joint program of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) is available at no cost to hospitals caring for COVID-19 patients. Teams of critical care clinicians – critical care physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists, and other specialized clinical experts – are available to deliver virtual care through telemedicine platforms, such as an app on a mobile device. Hear from participating clinicians, and email to learn more and sign up.

Mental Health Resources for Rural Residents

October 24, 2023

Mental Health Resources for Rural Residents

A large part of caring for one’s physical health and well-being is mental health. Access to mental health care in rural areas can be a challenge, though.

The rural lifestyle is very different from the way people live in more urban areas. The pace of life in less densely populated areas is slower and more solitary, and these areas have been particularly impacted by the declining agricultural industry and often face financial hardship. Factors such as these are directly correlated with an increased risk of suicide in rural communities.

Over 6 million rural individuals struggle with mental illness or other psychiatric disorders, and it can be difficult to find and receive treatment for these conditions in rural areas. Oftentimes, people who live in these areas have minimal or no insurance coverage for mental illness. They may also have fewer options for mental health care providers or have to travel long distances to see one.

The Missouri Office of Rural Health is dedicated to informing rural communities about and emphasizing the importance of mental health, while also providing information on mental health resources across the state. Taking care of your mental health is part of caring for your overall health. Conditions such as depression or anxiety are legitimate illnesses, like diabetes or arthritis.

Rural residents can visit online resources like LiveAnotherDay for help with locating mental health resources and providers across the state of Missouri. Please visit the resources linked below for more information related to rural mental health in Missouri and nationwide.

Missouri Mental Health Resources

Nationwide Mental Health Resources

Patient and Provider Featured Telehealth Resources

October 17, 2023

Patient and Provider Featured Telehealth Resources

Want to learn more about telehealth? Need resources to guide your organization towards telehealth? Telehealth.HHS.gov shares trusted telehealth resources for patients and providers.

Resources for Providers Include:

  • Getting started with telehealth
    • How to evaluate telehealth vendors and begin offering care through telemedicine
  • Planning your telehealth workflow
    • How to set up and manage a workflow for virtual visits
  • Health equity in telehealth
    • How health care providers can improve access to telehealth for all populations
  • Preparing patients for telehealth
    • From scheduling to privacy, learn how to prepare your patients for virtual appointments to ensure their comfort and high quality care
  • Telehealth policy
    • Telehealth policy resources for health care providers and organizations
  • Billing for telehealth
    • Reimbursements for telehealth continue to evolve. Find resources on billing and reimbursement for Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurers
  • Licensure
    • Telehealth licensure requirements vary at the federal, state, and cross-state levels for health care providers
  • Legal considerations
    • Read about the legal considerations for providing care through telehealth, including information on privacy and security, informed consent, and liability and malpractice
  • Best practice guides
    • Learn how to incorporate telehealth into your practice. Get resources and tips focused on different specialties and delivery models including telebehavioral health, telehealth for direct-to-consumer care, and telehealth for emergency departments.

Resources for Patients Include:

Prescribing Controlled Medications via Telehealth

October 17, 2023

Prescribing Controlled Medications via Telehealth

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), jointly with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has extended the full set of telemedicine flexibilities regarding the prescribing of controlled medications as were in place during the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE), through December 31, 2024.

Authorized providers are able to prescribe controlled substances via telehealth if they meet certain criteria.

Telemedicine flexibilities regarding prescription of controlled medications as were in place during the COVID-19 public health emergency include:

  • A practitioner can prescribe a controlled substance to a patient using telemedicine, even if the patient isn’t at a hospital or clinic registered with the DEA.
  • Qualifying practitioners can prescribe buprenorphine to new and existing patients with opioid use disorder based on a telephone evaluation.

For more information, see:

Prescribing Controlled Substances via Telehealth

Second Temporary Extension of COVID-19 Telemedicine Flexibilities for Prescription of Controlled Medications – from the Federal Register

Interstate licensure resources for health care providers, states, and health care organizations

Telehealth Policy Updates

AHRQ Free Health Literacy Toolkits and Guides

October 17, 2023

AHRQ Free Health Literacy Toolkits and Guides

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) offers Free information to promote organizational policies and procedures which can foster the inclusion of patients and family while creating collaborative partnerships with other providers.

Free Tools

Health Literacy Toolkits, GIFS and Educational Resources

October 17, 2023

Health Literacy Toolkits, GIFS and Educational Resources

October is Health Literacy Month – Join the American Institute of Healthcare Compliance (AIHC), a non-profit training organization, for this international observance when hospitals, health centers, literacy programs, libraries, social service agencies, businesses, professional associations, government agencies, consumer alliances, and many other groups work together to integrate and expand the mission of health literacy.

Often patients don’t comply because they either don’t understand what is communicated or they are subject to Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) issues.

Check out these AIHC courses to support your organization:

NOTICE: IQR-Eligible Hospitals to Submit 2Q 2023 Survey Data by October 4, 2023

September 19, 2023

NOTICE: IQR-Eligible Hospitals to Submit 2Q 2023 Survey Data by October 4, 2023

The submission deadline for the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) patient perspectives on care survey data for second quarter (2Q) 2023 discharges (April 1-June 30, 2023) is October 4, 2023. 

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) strongly encourages all hospitals, whether they self-administer the HCAHPS Survey* or use a survey vendor, to submit data well before the deadline to allow time to address any submission issues.

  • Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) hospitals participating in the Inpatient Quality Reporting (IQR) Program must collect and submit HCAHPS data to qualify to receive their full Annual Payment Update. Please see the Q2 2023 Hospital IQR Checklist for further information.
  • Non-IPPS hospitals must meet the same submission deadline for their data to be published on public reporting website.

Review and Correction Period 

  • The Review and Correction Period is October 5-11, 2023.
    • Immediately following the October 4, 2023 data-submission deadline, participating hospitals and survey vendors have a seven-day opportunity, October 5-11, 2023, to access and review the HCAHPS Data Review and Correction Report.
    • The report contains a summary of the data accepted into the HCAHPS Data Warehouse for the quarter. Errors in data accepted into the warehouse by the October 4, 2023 deadline can be corrected. During this seven-day period, corrected data can be submitted to the warehouse to replace incorrect data. New data are not accepted into the warehouse during the Review and Correction Period.

Extraordinary circumstances exceptions (ece)

In the event that your hospital is unable to submit data or meet requirements due to an extraordinary circumstance, you may request an individual exception.

  • For the submission of the HCAHPS data, for the Hospital IQR Program, the ECE must be submitted within 90 calendar days from when you determined that the extraordinary event occurred. The event may occur during the measurement period through the submission or reporting deadline.
  • For events adversely impacting your HCAHPS performance, for the Hospital Value-Based Purchasing (HVBP) Program, the ECE must be submitted within 90 days of the date of the extraordinary circumstance. At the latest, ECEs should be submitted no later than 90 days from the last date of the quarter requested.
    • For example, the last day of Q2 2023 is June 30, 2023. The ECE should be submitted no later than 90 days after the end of Q2, which will be September 28, 2023.

Please refer to the HVBP and IQR resources on QualityNet for further information.

Hospital Contact Information: To ensure your hospital receives critical communications about meeting the requirements of the IQR Program (and other CMS quality reporting programs), including submission-deadline reminders and program updates, it is important that we have the complete contact information for the key roles at your hospital. Updates to your contact information can be submitted, if needed, using the Hospital Contact Form. This document is available on the Quality Reporting Center website (www.qualityreportingcenter.com > Inpatient > Hospital IQR Program > Resources and Tools > Forms).

HCAHPS Contact Information

  • For general questions regarding the HCAHPS Survey, contact CMS at Hospitalcahps@cms.hhs.gov.
  • For questions regarding HCAHPS Survey administration, contact the HCAHPS Project Team at (888) 884-4007 or at hcahps@hsag.com.
  • For questions regarding HCAHPS data submission information, contact the CCSQ Service Center at (866) 288-8912 or at qnetsupport@cms.hhs.gov.
  • For questions regarding information on the HCAHPS initiative, file specifications, and data-submission protocols, use the contact information on the HCAHPS website at hcahpsonline.org.
  • For questions regarding the IQR Program, use the Inpatient Questions & Answers tool at https://cmsqualitysupport.servicenowservices.com/qnet_qa?id=ask_a_question or call the Inpatient Value, Incentives, and Quality Reporting Outreach and Education Support Team at (844) 472-4477.

*The HCAHPS Survey is also known as the CAHPS® Hospital Survey. CAHPS® is a registered trademark of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, a U.S. Government agency.

Reminder! MBQIP Data Reporting Reminders – September 2023

September 1, 2023

Reminder! MBQIP Data Reporting Reminders – September 2023

Important Notice: Dates for measure submission and Specification Manual/CART versions are based on currently available information and may be subject to change.

October 31, 2023

Emergency Department Transfer Communication (EDTC)

  • Patients seen Q3 2023 (July, August, September)
  • Submission process directed by state Flex Program

November 1, 2023

CMS Population and Sampling (optional)*

  • Patients seen Q2 2023 (April, May, June)
  • Inpatient** and outpatient
  • Entered via the Hospital Quality Reporting (HQR) HARP account

November 1, 2023

CMS Outpatient Measures:

  • Patients seen Q2 2023 (April, May, June)
  • CMS Hospital Outpatient Reporting Specifications Manual version 0a
  • Submitted to HQR via CART or by vendor.
  • CART version – 22.0

November 15, 2023

CMS Inpatient Measures**:

  • Patients seen Q2 2023 (April, May, June)
  • CMS Hospital Inpatient Reporting Specifications Manual version 13 
  • Submitted to HQR via CART or by vendor
  • CART version – 30.1

*Population and sampling refers to the recording of the number of cases that meet the initial measure set population requirement and the number of cases the hospital is submitting to Hospital Quality Reporting thru a HARP account for the quarter.

** Currently there are no inpatient chart abstracted core MBQIP measures required.