Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Policy
Medicare Payment Basics: Part D Payment System
Overview of the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit, including subsidy amounts, payments to plans, how enrollee premiums are calculated, and benefit and payment updates.
Date: 11/2025
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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Overview of the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit, including subsidy amounts, payments to plans, how enrollee premiums are calculated, and benefit and payment updates.
Date: 11/2025
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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Medicare Payment Basics: Physician and Other Health Professional Payment System
Overview of Medicare payments for physician services conducted in a variety of settings including physicians' offices, hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, skilled nursing facilities and other post-acute care settings, hospices, outpatient dialysis facilities, clinical laboratories, and beneficiaries' homes.
Date: 11/2025
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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Overview of Medicare payments for physician services conducted in a variety of settings including physicians' offices, hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, skilled nursing facilities and other post-acute care settings, hospices, outpatient dialysis facilities, clinical laboratories, and beneficiaries' homes.
Date: 11/2025
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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Medicare Payment Basics: Skilled Nursing Facility Services Payment System
Overview of Medicare payments for skilled nursing and rehabilitation services. Describes what constitutes a skilled nursing facility and how small, rural hospitals and Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) may be used to provide these services with CMS approval. Compares Medicare daily base rates for urban and rural skilled nursing facilities.
Date: 11/2025
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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Overview of Medicare payments for skilled nursing and rehabilitation services. Describes what constitutes a skilled nursing facility and how small, rural hospitals and Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) may be used to provide these services with CMS approval. Compares Medicare daily base rates for urban and rural skilled nursing facilities.
Date: 11/2025
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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Rural Health Transformation Program: Rural Facility and Population Score Estimates by State
Spreadsheet indicating estimated rural facility and population scores for each state according to the methodology in Appendix 4 of the Rural Health Transformation Program Notice of Funding Opportunity.
Date: 10/2025
Sponsoring organization: The Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research
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Spreadsheet indicating estimated rural facility and population scores for each state according to the methodology in Appendix 4 of the Rural Health Transformation Program Notice of Funding Opportunity.
Date: 10/2025
Sponsoring organization: The Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research
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Report to the Secretary of Health and Human Services: Reducing Barriers to Participation in Population-Based Total Cost of Care (PB-TCOC) Models and Supporting Primary and Specialty Care Transformation
Summarizes findings from the Physician-Focused Payment Model Technical Advisory Committee's (PTAC) review of information on reducing barriers to participation in alternative payment models (APMs). Discusses key issues relating to reducing barriers to participation in APMs and value-based care transformation, areas where additional research is needed, and potential next steps.
Date: 10/2025
Sponsoring organization: HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation
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Summarizes findings from the Physician-Focused Payment Model Technical Advisory Committee's (PTAC) review of information on reducing barriers to participation in alternative payment models (APMs). Discusses key issues relating to reducing barriers to participation in APMs and value-based care transformation, areas where additional research is needed, and potential next steps.
Date: 10/2025
Sponsoring organization: HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation
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New Mexico Health Care Workforce Committee: 2025 Annual Report
Reports on New Mexico's healthcare workforce, including county-level data and comparisons to national benchmarks. Discusses rural and frontier area shortages, health workforce migration trends, potential solutions for workforce issues, and updates on previous recommendations. See Appendix C for healthcare professions gap analyses by county.
Date: 10/2025
Sponsoring organization: University of New Mexico - Health Sciences Center
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Reports on New Mexico's healthcare workforce, including county-level data and comparisons to national benchmarks. Discusses rural and frontier area shortages, health workforce migration trends, potential solutions for workforce issues, and updates on previous recommendations. See Appendix C for healthcare professions gap analyses by county.
Date: 10/2025
Sponsoring organization: University of New Mexico - Health Sciences Center
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Maternity Deserts: The Equality State's Growing Crisis
Highlights maternity healthcare deserts in Wyoming and nationally. Discusses the impact of labor and delivery department closures, maternal mortality and morbidity, and more on access to care. Notes opportunities to improve outcomes including increasing access to care, additional workforce training and facility protocols to improve healthcare quality, and promote networking opportunities to share knowledge. Offers policy recommendations based on report findings. Discusses rural throughout.
Date: 10/2025
Sponsoring organization: Wyoming Women's Action Network
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Highlights maternity healthcare deserts in Wyoming and nationally. Discusses the impact of labor and delivery department closures, maternal mortality and morbidity, and more on access to care. Notes opportunities to improve outcomes including increasing access to care, additional workforce training and facility protocols to improve healthcare quality, and promote networking opportunities to share knowledge. Offers policy recommendations based on report findings. Discusses rural throughout.
Date: 10/2025
Sponsoring organization: Wyoming Women's Action Network
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Time to Build: How Do We Develop More (Affordable) Housing in Rural America?
Provides discussion on housing policy, statistics on rural housing supply, and potential solutions to provide more rural housing options, such as utilizing public lands, manufactured homes, and more. Includes county-level data on housing unit changes and metro versus nonmetro trends in new single family homes.
Additional links: Housing Unit Change, 2013-2023 Infographic
Date: 10/2025
Sponsoring organization: Housing Assistance Council
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Provides discussion on housing policy, statistics on rural housing supply, and potential solutions to provide more rural housing options, such as utilizing public lands, manufactured homes, and more. Includes county-level data on housing unit changes and metro versus nonmetro trends in new single family homes.
Additional links: Housing Unit Change, 2013-2023 Infographic
Date: 10/2025
Sponsoring organization: Housing Assistance Council
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On Demand: Mark Holmes on Public Policy, Health Care Financing and Rural Places
A recorded webinar featuring Mark Holmes, Director of the University of North Carolina (UNC) Sheps Center for Health Services Research. Focuses on public policy, research and data, and rural healthcare financing.
Author(s): Mark Holmes, Wyatt Beckman
Date: 10/2025
Sponsoring organization: Kansas Health Institute
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A recorded webinar featuring Mark Holmes, Director of the University of North Carolina (UNC) Sheps Center for Health Services Research. Focuses on public policy, research and data, and rural healthcare financing.
Author(s): Mark Holmes, Wyatt Beckman
Date: 10/2025
Sponsoring organization: Kansas Health Institute
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Positive Outliers: How Some Rural Communities Maintain Access to Labor and Delivery Services
Explores healthcare providers' approaches to ensuring maternal care access in rural Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, and Mississippi. Provides case studies on the role of rural hospitals and clinics in providing labor and delivery services, discusses financial and logistical challenges faced by providers, and details funding, policy, and service delivery strategies supporting continued access.
Author(s): Sarah Klein, Molly Castle Work
Date: 10/2025
Sponsoring organizations: Bassett Research Institute, Commonwealth Fund
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Explores healthcare providers' approaches to ensuring maternal care access in rural Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, and Mississippi. Provides case studies on the role of rural hospitals and clinics in providing labor and delivery services, discusses financial and logistical challenges faced by providers, and details funding, policy, and service delivery strategies supporting continued access.
Author(s): Sarah Klein, Molly Castle Work
Date: 10/2025
Sponsoring organizations: Bassett Research Institute, Commonwealth Fund
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