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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Medicare

Evaluation of Health Care Innovation Awards (HCIA): Primary Care Redesign Programs, First Annual Report
Evaluations of 14 Health Care Innovation Awards Round One projects focused on primary care redesign, addressing a range of intervention models, target populations, and organizational settings. Includes 2 rural-focused projects and 9 projects that included services to rural areas.
Date: 11/2014
Sponsoring organizations: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Mathematica Policy Research
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Annual Report 1: HCIA Disease-Specific Evaluation
Evaluations of 18 Health Care Innovation Awards Round One projects targeting patient populations with specific diseases. Includes projects that serve a variety of rural areas and address conditions such as diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular disease. Approaches discussed include care coordination, education, and telehealth.
Date: 11/2014
Sponsoring organizations: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, NORC at the University of Chicago
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HCIA Complex/High-Risk Patient Targeting: First Annual Report
Evaluations of 23 Health Care Innovation Awards Round One projects focused on patients with medically complex conditions at high risk for hospitalization, re-hospitalization, emergency department visits, or nursing home stays. Identifies several projects serving rural areas, including programs that use telehealth, in-home care, and various care coordination approaches.
Date: 11/2014
Sponsoring organizations: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, NORC at the University of Chicago
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Evaluation of the Shared Decision Making (SDM) & Medication Management (MM) Health Care Innovation Awardees: Annual Report 1
Evaluations of 9 Health Care Innovation Awards Round One projects focused on implementing shared decision making or medication management programs. Includes 2 projects focused on rural areas. One offers medication management services to patients with multiple chronic conditions and the other provides hospital pharmacist to community pharmacist care coordination.
Date: 10/2014
Sponsoring organizations: Acumen, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
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Evaluation of the Health Care Innovation Awards: Community Resource Planning, Prevention, and Monitoring: Annual Report
Evaluations of 24 Health Care Innovation Awards Round One projects focused on enhancing care coordination and healthcare access through the use of health information technology, care coordination/patient navigation, and health promotion and prevention services. Includes information on 5 rural-focused projects, as well as projects that serve both rural and urban areas.
Author(s): RTI International
Date: 10/2014
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
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Does Rurality Affect Observation Care Services Use in CAHs for Medicare Beneficiaries?
Describes the use of observation services across levels of rurality by Medicare beneficiaries in Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs), the demographics and health status of patients receiving these services, and the characteristics of their observation stays.
Author(s): Yvonne Jonk, Heidi O'Connor, Walter Gregg
Date: 10/2014
Sponsoring organization: University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center
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Observation Care Services for Medicare Beneficiaries in Rural Hospitals: Policy Issues and Stakeholder Perspectives
Seeks to provide a greater understanding of rural-specific issues surrounding hospital outpatient observation status and the related implications for rural hospitals, skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), and Medicare beneficiaries. Results are based on a multi-state, qualitative analysis of input from three respondent groups: state hospital associations, long-term care ombudsman offices, and Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs). Analysis focuses on the use of observation status by Medicare beneficiaries from 2010-2013.
Author(s): Walter Gregg, Samantha Mills, Yvonne Jonk
Date: 10/2014
Sponsoring organization: University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center
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Medicare Beneficiaries Paid Nearly Half of the Costs for Outpatient Services at Critical Access Hospitals
Compares the system Medicare used to calculate outpatient coinsurance amounts for patients who receive services at Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) with the system used for acute-care hospital patients. Recommends that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services seek legislative authority to modify the coinsurance calculation.
Date: 10/2014
Sponsoring organization: Office of Inspector General (HHS)
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State Innovation Models (SIM) Initiative Evaluation: Model Design and Model Pre-Test Evaluation Report
Reports on the experiences of 19 states that received federal support to work on state health care innovation plans focused on developing innovative healthcare delivery and payment models. Discusses rural concerns in these states, as well as strategies to address rural healthcare needs. Some topics addressed include patient-centered medical homes, accountable care organizations, workforce, broadband access, electronic health record adoption, and telehealth.
Date: 07/2014
Sponsoring organizations: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, RTI International
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MedPAC Report to the Congress: Medicare and the Health Care Delivery System, June 2014
Includes chapters on synchronizing Medicare policy across payment models; improving risk adjustment; measuring quality of care; financial assistance for low-income beneficiaries; per beneficiary payment for primary care; site-neutral payments for select conditions treated in inpatient rehabilitation facilities and skilled nursing facilities; and measuring the effects of medication adherence for the Medicare population. Mentions rural throughout.
Date: 06/2014
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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