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Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Healthcare quality

State Support to Rural Hospitals Fact Sheet
Overview of the Small Rural Hospital Improvement Program (SHIP) and the Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility (Flex) program supporting rural hospitals and Critical Access Hospitals. Highlights with data the impact of these programs on a national level.
Date: 10/2020
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Health Resources and Services Administration
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September 2020 MedPAC Meeting Transcript
Transcript from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission's (MedPAC) September 2020 meeting. Covers the coronavirus pandemic and Medicare, the context for Medicare payment policy, a mandated report on the skilled nursing facility value-based purchasing program, a mandated report on the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014's changes to the Medicare clinical laboratory fee schedule, and a Congressional request on private equity and Medicare. Includes rural references throughout.
Date: 09/2020
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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Cibola General Hospital Pushes Forward
Describes Cibola General Hospital's (CGH) progress as part of the Small Rural Hospital Transition (SRHT) Project. CGH is a 25-bed Critical Access Hospital located in Grants, New Mexico. Discusses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on CGH, including the development of telehealth services.
Date: 09/2020
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Rural Health Resource Center
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2019 National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report
Provides a comprehensive summary and data analysis of healthcare quality and access in the U.S. Includes a discussion of disparities encountered by race/ethnicity and geographic locations along the rural-urban continuum. Addresses access to healthcare, patient safety, person-centered care, care coordination, affordability, healthy living, and effective treatment.
Date: 09/2020
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
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Developing a Patient-Centered Approach to Optimizing Veterans' Access to Health Care Services: Proceedings of a Workshop - in Brief
Summarizes the presentations and discussions from a July, 2020 virtual workshop on strategies to increase veterans' access to healthcare services. Defines a number of measures of healthcare access and outlines potential methods of ensuring meaningful healthcare delivery to special populations, such as minority and rural veterans, among others.
Date: 09/2020
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
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Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics Demonstration Program: Report to Congress, 2019
Provides an overview of the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) demonstration. Describes participating states' CCBHC activities including improved access to treatment and recovery support services, the range of services provided during the first year of the demonstration, how states have been reporting and utilizing required quality measures, and assess the costs to CCBHCs. This is the third of five annual reports to Congress on the CCBHC demonstration.
Date: 09/2020
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Mathematica Policy Research, RAND Corporation
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Preliminary Cost and Quality Findings from the National Evaluation of the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic Demonstration
Provides an overview of the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) demonstration through April 2019. Describes the CCBHC payment rates and costs of care through the first demonstration year as well as the experiences of states and CCBHCs reporting the required quality measures. Includes a comparison of payment rates by urban and rural clinic location.
Author(s): Joshua Breslau, Brian Briscombe, Michael Dunbar, et al.
Date: 09/2020
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Mathematica
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Rural-Relevant Quality Measures for Testing of Statistical Approaches to Address Low Case-Volume
Describes 15 rural-relevant quality measures susceptible to low case-volume challenges that could be used to test statistical approaches designed to address this problem. Discusses reporting challenges and gaps in rural health care quality measurement.
Additional links: Final List: Rural-Relevant Quality Measures for Future Testing of Technical Expert Panel (TEP) Recommended Statistical Approaches
Date: 09/2020
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Quality Forum
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Taskforce on Telehealth Policy (TTP) Findings and Recommendations
Report from the Taskforce on Telehealth Policy (TTP) examining the rapid expansion of telehealth use during the COVID-19 pandemic and possible permanent shifts in telehealth policy. Offers findings and policy recommendations related to patient safety, program integrity, data flow and care coordination, quality measurement, cost of care, and overarching issues.
Date: 09/2020
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: Alliance for Connected Care, ATA, National Committee for Quality Assurance
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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
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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