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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Policy

The Indian Health Service Did Not Always Resolve Audit Recommendations in Accordance With Federal Requirements
Reports on the Indian Health Service's (IHS) failure to resolve audit recommendations in the allotted time for the 2015 and 2016 fiscal years. Details the number of recommendations resolved and the number past-due after the required 6-month period.
Additional links: Report in Brief
Date: 09/2018
Sponsoring organization: Office of Inspector General (HHS)
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Health Care in Rural America: Examining Experiences and Costs
Provides a recording of a Senate Subcommittee on Primary Health and Retirement Security meeting addressing rural healthcare challenges. Discusses healthcare access, workforce shortages, costs, reimbursement, care delivery issues, and potential solutions, such as telehealth.
Additional links: Alan Levine Testimony, Deborah Richter Testimony, Morgan Reed Testimony, Tom Glause Testimony
Date: 09/2018
Sponsoring organization: Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions
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Nurse Practitioners: A Solution to America's Primary Care Crisis
Examines trends in supply and demand of nurse practitioners (NPs), including projected supply of physicians and NPs in rural areas. Includes a table listing state-level scope-of-practice regulatory restrictions on NPs as of 2018.
Author(s): Peter Buerhaus
Date: 09/2018
Sponsoring organization: American Enterprise Institute
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Indian Health Service: Considerations Related to Providing Advance Appropriation Authority
Examines the effects of budget uncertainty on Indian Health Service (IHS) funding and considerations that should be taken into account if IHS was given advance appropriation authority like the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Focuses on administrative impacts, provider recruitment and retention, and the financial effects for tribes.
Additional links: Full Report
Date: 09/2018
Sponsoring organization: Government Accountability Office
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Examining Barriers to Expanding Innovative, Value-Based Care in Medicare
Presents the September 2018 U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on Medicare efforts to transition from a fee-for-service model to a value-based payment model. Features testimony from physicians and healthcare associations, healthcare systems, first responders, and an information technology association. Testimony briefly addresses rural areas, particularly how broadband access and telehealth can benefit rural Americans.
Additional links: Morgan Reed Testimony
Date: 09/2018
Sponsoring organization: House Energy and Commerce Committee, Subcommittee on Health
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Report to Congress: Demonstration Project on Community Health Integration Models in Certain Rural Counties, Interim Report 2018
Provides an overview of and first year findings from the Frontier Community Health Integration Project Demonstration (FCHIP), which includes 10 Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) in three states: North Dakota, Montana, and Nevada. The demonstration intends to increase the quality and coordination of care, with focuses on access to and payments for telehealth, ambulance services, and skilled nursing facility/nursing facility beds, as well as related regulatory challenges.
Date: 09/2018
Sponsoring organization: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
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Broadband Internet: FCC's Data Overstate Access on Tribal Lands
Examines the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) data collection methods to evaluate tribal broadband access in order to improve the accuracy of their efforts to fund underserved areas. Addresses scenarios that affect broadband access and offers three recommendations for the FCC.
Additional links: Full Report
Date: 09/2018
Sponsoring organization: Government Accountability Office
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MedPAC Comment on CMS's Proposed Rule on the Physician Fee Schedule and Other Revisions to Part B for CY 2019
Comment on a July 2018 Federal Register proposed rule revising the physician fee schedule to improve payment systems for physicians and other Medicare Part B revisions.
Author(s): Francis J. Crosson
Date: 09/2018
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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Policy Landscape for Community Health Center Integration of Behavioral Health & SUD/OUD Services
Presents the findings from an analysis of community health centers (CHCs) in fourteen states to evaluate the services they offer, and recognize the barriers preventing CHCs from implementing, developing, and sustaining the integration of behavioral health and substance abuse disorder services.
Author(s): Kima Taylor
Date: 08/2018
Sponsoring organization: National Association of Community Health Centers
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Implementing Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder in Rural Settings: A Focus on HIV and Hepatitis C Prevention and Treatment
Provides an overview of the epidemiology of opioid use disorder (OUD) with a focus on HIV and Hepatitis C transmission in the rural U.S. and particularly in rural Indiana. Identifies evidence-based treatments for OUD and their effectiveness in reducing other health issues associated with OUD. Discusses barriers to care and policy and research issues for increasing access to treatment of OUD in rural areas.
Author(s): Jennifer R. Havens, Sharon L. Walsh, P. Todd Korthuis, David A. Fiellin
Citation: Current HIV/AIDS Reports,15(4), 315–323
Date: 08/2018
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