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Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Healthcare business and finance

Evaluation of the Accountable Care Organization Investment Model: Final Report
Examines the ACO Investment Model (AIM) over three performance years. AIM tested the use of prepaid shared savings to encourage new ACOs to form in rural and underserved areas and to encourage current Medicare Shared Savings Program ACOs to transition to arrangements with greater financial risk. Reports on AIM results related to ACO formation, risk-taking, and sustainability, including the impact of rurality. Also discusses impacts on healthcare costs, utilization, and quality of care.
Additional links: Appendices, CMS Perspective Report, Findings at a Glance
Date: 09/2020
Sponsoring organizations: Abt Associates, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
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Evaluation of the Health Care Innovation Awards, Round 2: Final Report
Summarizes the final evaluation results of 38 Health Care Innovation Awards Round Two projects. Discusses program impacts on healthcare service use and costs, factors associated with positive impacts, and awardees' experiences sustaining programs and implementing payment models after the end of the awards. Offers overall findings and awardee-specific evaluation reports. Includes some information on results for projects serving rural areas.
Additional links: Findings at a Glance
Date: 09/2020
Sponsoring organizations: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Mathematica Policy Research
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Uninsured Rates Across Kansas Counties, September 2020
Provides data and statistics on uninsured rates in Kansas. Fact sheets feature state maps with county-level information on child and adult uninsured rates and numbers, as well as potential eligibility for Medicaid and KanCare. Includes rural and urban comparisons.
Author(s): Phillip Steiner, Wen-Chieh Lin
Date: 09/2020
Sponsoring organization: Kansas Health Institute
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Rural Action Plan
Provides an overview of the rural health care and human services landscape. Outlines a Four-Point strategy to build a sustainable health and human services model for rural communities, leverage technology and innovation, focus on preventing disease and mortality, and increase rural access to care. Identifies opportunities to transform rural health and human services through federal government partnership and describes new policies and programs to implement the Four-Point Strategy. Highlights actions already taken by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to support rural communities.
Date: 09/2020
Sponsoring organization: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
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MedPAC Comment on CMS's Proposed Rule on the ESRD PPS for CY 2021
Comments on a July 13, 2020, Federal Register proposed rule related to Medicare payment policies for end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Includes comments addressing the ESRD Quality Incentive Program and changes to geographic area delineations.
Date: 09/2020
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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Funding and Service Delivery in Rural and Urban Local US Health Departments in 2010 and 2016
Uses nationally representative data from 2010 and 2016 to explore rural/urban differences in local health department (LHD) funding and service delivery. Includes data and statistics on LHD characteristics, sources of revenue, and types of services provided by LHDs, with information broken down by rurality.
Author(s): Kate Beatty, Megan Heffernan, Nathan Hale, Michael Meit
Citation: American Journal of Public Health, 110(9), 1293-1299
Date: 09/2020
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The State of Rural Public Health: Enduring Needs in a New Decade
Examines changes in rural/urban disparities over a 40-year period, including differences in life expectancy, social determinants of health, challenges facing local health departments (LHDs), and more. Discusses factors contributing to disparities and provides recommendations to support LHDs and improve public health in rural communities. Supplement contains figures depicting county-level data on life expectancy at birth as well as rural/urban differences in spending at LHDs and transfers to local governments.
Additional links: Supplement
Author(s): Jonathon Leider, Michael Meit, J. Mac McCullough, et al.
Citation: American Journal of Public Health, 110(9), 1283-1290
Date: 09/2020
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COVID-19 Testing - What RHCs Are Doing For Their Communities
Recording of an August 27, 2020, webinar discussing the efforts of three rural health clinics (RHCs) to provide COVID-19 testing services using COVID-19 funding in rural communities of South-Central Idaho, Michigan's Upper Peninsula and Northern Wisconsin, and Eastern North Carolina. Covers the challenges related to the availability of COVID-18 testing instruments and test kits, testing capacity and turnaround time, the provision of treatment for patients with COVID-19, and the RHC data collection requirement. Part of the Rural Health Clinic Technical Assistance Series.
Additional links: Presentation Slides, Transcript
Date: 08/2020
Sponsoring organization: National Association of Rural Health Clinics
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Crisis Services: Meeting Needs, Saving Lives
Presents the National Guidelines for Behavioral Health Crisis Care Best Practices Toolkit and a number of companion papers on crisis care. Toolkit highlights best practices for crisis care and the papers discuss a number of related topics, including homelessness, substance use, opioid-related deaths, and rural and frontier areas, among other issues.
Date: 08/2020
Sponsoring organization: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
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Policy Goals to Support the Healthcare Workforce in Healthy Aging Communities
Report describing a research project funded by the New Mexico Department of Health that examines behavioral healthcare workforce needs and the growing elderly population in rural Grant, Sierra, Socorro, Catron, and Valencia counties. Presents key points from discussions with project participants, including professionals in health promotion, hospital, community health centers, local government, and educational institutions. Offers policy goals related to regional services, economic planning, and expansion of Medicaid and Medicare reimbursable services.
Author(s): Susan Wilger, Anne Hayes Egan, Alexis Brandt, Micaela Imar de la Rosa
Date: 08/2020
Sponsoring organization: Center for Health Innovation
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