Category: Resources

RHIhub Updated Topic Guides

January 31, 2024

RHIhub Updated Topic Guides

The Rural Health Information (RHI) hub announces newly updated topic guides.

  • Applying for Grants to Support Rural Health Projects
    • Provides information and resources to help rural communities learn about finding grant funding and how to develop a proposal to support projects and programs to improve rural healthcare
    • Covers tips on the types of information to include in an application and other strategies when planning and preparing a grant proposal
  • Violence and Abuse in Rural America
    • Shares information and resources describing the prevalence of violence and abuse in rural America, and other factors impacting violence and abuse victims such as healthcare access and poverty
    • Covers prevention strategies and other support for communities and healthcare providers to help address violence and abuse in rural areas

 

MBQIP 2025 Updated Resources

January 26, 2024

MBQIP 2025 Updated Resources

The Medicare Beneficiary Quality Improvement Program (MBQIP) has updated resources for the next phase of MBQIP.

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) is framing them as the MBQIP 2025 Core Measure set. These documents will show what measures are currently included in MBQIP, and new measures for reporting, beginning in calendar year 2025.

RQITA Monthly Edition, January 2024

January 26, 2024

RQITA Monthly Edition, January 2024

Included in this issue:

  • Questions from the Field
  • Resources and Tools
  • Upcoming Deadlines and Reporting Reminders
  • Upcoming Events

Click Here to view January Edition

National Maternal Health Awareness Day

January 23, 2024

National Maternal Health Awareness Day

Today is National Maternal Health Awareness Day and January is National Birth Defects Prevention Month. Learn best practices for providing maternal health services through telehealth, including developing a strategy, billing practices and more.

Learn More

CDC Details Downward Mortality Trend for Older Adults (Before COVID-19)

January 19, 2024

CDC Details Downward Mortality Trend for Older Adults (Before COVID-19)

The report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that, pre-pandemic, death rates were decreasing for both urban and rural U.S. adults aged 65 and older. Data from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics show that, though death rates from 2009 to 2019 were higher in rural areas than urban areas for both men and women and for all race and Hispanic-origin groups, they declined 15 percent in rural areas over that period.

CDC research from 2019 showed rural Americans are more likely to die from five leading causes than people living in urban areas. The research showed that rural residents are also more likely to die of preventable deaths – with higher rates of cigarette smoking, high blood pressure and obesity, higher rates of poverty, and less access to health care and health insurance.

Click here to read full article

Warming Center Sites in Missouri

January 17, 2024

Warming Center Sites in Missouri

Winter weather is upon us and can be potentially hazardous as Missouri typically experiences periods of extreme cold during the winter. It is important to be prepared!

It is important to remember that the extreme cold can affect everyone, but can be especially dangerous to small children, the elderly and the chronically ill.

Warming centers provide a warm, safe place for people to go during cold weather. If you know of a senior or an adult with a disability who needs assistance due to cold weather, Make a Difference.

Make the call: 1 800 392-0210

Click here for interactive map of warming center sites in Missouri

More cold weather resources can be found on the DHSS Hypothermia webpage

New Pricing Transparency Tool for Hospitals

January 2, 2024

New Pricing Transparency Tool for Hospitals

To empower decision-making for patients, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) made new requirements and provided tools for making standard charges for all items and services available to the public. Beginning January 1, 2024, institutions that are licensed as hospitals will be required to update their websites with a link labeled “Price Transparency” that goes directly to a machine-readable digital file.

CMS provides resources and tools to support these new requirements and provides details on enforcement measures for hospitals that do not comply.

Hospital Pricing Transparency Tool

CMS Resources and Tools

Enforcement Measures

HHS/DoD National Emergency Tele-Critical Care Network

January 2, 2024

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

Email matthew.t.quinn3.civ@mail.mil to learn more and sign up

New Information for Rural Emergency Hospitals

January 2, 2024

New Information for Rural Emergency Hospitals

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) updated their fact sheet on the new provider-type designation that allows hospitals at risk of closure to remain in operation with Emergency Department services, observation care and a limited number of outpatient services. CMS recently added details for:

  • Indian Health Service and other tribal-operated hospitals making the change to Rural Emergency Hospital (REH);
  • Changes to monthly payment amounts to REHs and how they’re reported
  • The HRSA supported REH Technical Assistance Center that is helping hospitals meet the requirements for converting to this new provider type.

Click Here to View Fact Sheet

REH More Information