Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Policy
Evaluation of the Accountable Care Organization Investment Model: AIM Impacts in the First Performance Year
Evaluation examining the first year performance of the 47 Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) participating in the ACO Investment Model (AIM), which tests the use of prepaid shared savings to encourage new ACOs to form in rural and underserved areas (Test 1) and to encourage current Medicare Shared Savings Program ACOs to transition to arrangements with greater financial risk (Test 2). Describes provider characteristics, beneficiary characteristics, and impacts of the 41 Test 1 AIM ACOs. Includes data on rurality for both Test 1 and Test 2 AIM ACOs.
Additional links: Appendices, Findings At-A-Glance
Date: 08/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: Abt Associates, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
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Evaluation examining the first year performance of the 47 Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) participating in the ACO Investment Model (AIM), which tests the use of prepaid shared savings to encourage new ACOs to form in rural and underserved areas (Test 1) and to encourage current Medicare Shared Savings Program ACOs to transition to arrangements with greater financial risk (Test 2). Describes provider characteristics, beneficiary characteristics, and impacts of the 41 Test 1 AIM ACOs. Includes data on rurality for both Test 1 and Test 2 AIM ACOs.
Additional links: Appendices, Findings At-A-Glance
Date: 08/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: Abt Associates, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
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MedPAC Comment on CMS's Proposed Rule on the CY 2019 Home Health PPS Update and 2020 Case Mix Refinements
Comment on a July 12, 2018, Federal Register proposed rule revising payments for home health services. Includes a section addressing a proposed rural add-on payment policy.
Date: 08/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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Comment on a July 12, 2018, Federal Register proposed rule revising payments for home health services. Includes a section addressing a proposed rural add-on payment policy.
Date: 08/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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First Annual Report: Next Generation Accountable Care Organization (NGACO) Model Evaluation
Reports initial descriptive and analytic findings for the 18 Next Generation ACOs (NGACOs) that launched in 2016. Includes information on NGACO organizational characteristics, market characteristics, model implementation, and performance. Offers some data and discussion related to the inclusion of rural areas. Also provides information on institutional providers by type of facility, including Critical Access Hospitals, Rural Health Clinics, and Federally Qualified Health Centers.
Additional links: Findings at a Glance, Volume II: Technical Appendices, January 2018
Date: 08/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, NORC at the University of Chicago
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Reports initial descriptive and analytic findings for the 18 Next Generation ACOs (NGACOs) that launched in 2016. Includes information on NGACO organizational characteristics, market characteristics, model implementation, and performance. Offers some data and discussion related to the inclusion of rural areas. Also provides information on institutional providers by type of facility, including Critical Access Hospitals, Rural Health Clinics, and Federally Qualified Health Centers.
Additional links: Findings at a Glance, Volume II: Technical Appendices, January 2018
Date: 08/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, NORC at the University of Chicago
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Perspectives on Rural Caregiving Challenges and Interventions
Policy brief describing challenges and opportunities to support unpaid caregivers in rural areas, based on 34 interviews with 41 key informants, from October 2017 through February 2018. Highlights work that informal caregivers are doing and identifies policy levers that have been used to support them.
Author(s): Carrie Henning-Smith, Megan Lahr
Date: 08/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center
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Policy brief describing challenges and opportunities to support unpaid caregivers in rural areas, based on 34 interviews with 41 key informants, from October 2017 through February 2018. Highlights work that informal caregivers are doing and identifies policy levers that have been used to support them.
Author(s): Carrie Henning-Smith, Megan Lahr
Date: 08/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center
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Association of State Medicaid Expansion With Rate of Uninsured Hospitalizations for Major Cardiovascular Events, 2009-2014
Results of a study to investigate whether rates of uninsured hospitalizations for cardiovascular events and in-hospital mortality varied by Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansion at the state level. Features statistics including demographics with breakdowns by rural or urban/suburban location.
Author(s): Ehimare Akhabue, Lindsay R. Pool, Clyde W. Yancy, Philip Greenland, Donald Lloyd-Jones
Citation: JAMA Network Open 1(4)
Date: 08/2018
Type: Document
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Results of a study to investigate whether rates of uninsured hospitalizations for cardiovascular events and in-hospital mortality varied by Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansion at the state level. Features statistics including demographics with breakdowns by rural or urban/suburban location.
Author(s): Ehimare Akhabue, Lindsay R. Pool, Clyde W. Yancy, Philip Greenland, Donald Lloyd-Jones
Citation: JAMA Network Open 1(4)
Date: 08/2018
Type: Document
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Medicare Fee-for-Service: Information on the First Year of Nationwide Reduced Payment Rates for Durable Medical Equipment
Examines the effects of reduced payment rates for certain durable medical equipment (DME) in non-bid areas. Reports on changes in the number of suppliers, utilization of rate-adjusted items, and beneficiaries' access to rate-adjusted items. Includes information on changes in rural and non-rural non-bid areas.
Additional links: Full Report
Date: 08/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Government Accountability Office
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Examines the effects of reduced payment rates for certain durable medical equipment (DME) in non-bid areas. Reports on changes in the number of suppliers, utilization of rate-adjusted items, and beneficiaries' access to rate-adjusted items. Includes information on changes in rural and non-rural non-bid areas.
Additional links: Full Report
Date: 08/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Government Accountability Office
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USDA Road Trip Through Rural America: Q&A with Anne Hazlett
An interview with USDA Assistant to the Secretary for Rural Development Anne Hazlett. Hazlett discusses the role USDA programs play in addressing rural health-related concerns such as broadband access and shares what she has learned from a series of rural roundtables focused on opioid misuse.
Author(s): Kay Miller Temple
Citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 08/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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An interview with USDA Assistant to the Secretary for Rural Development Anne Hazlett. Hazlett discusses the role USDA programs play in addressing rural health-related concerns such as broadband access and shares what she has learned from a series of rural roundtables focused on opioid misuse.
Author(s): Kay Miller Temple
Citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 08/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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Health Insurance Marketplaces: Issuer Participation and Premium Trends in Rural Places, 2018
Assesses changes in average Health Insurance Marketplace plan premiums from 2014-2018, with an emphasis on the variation across rural and urban areas. Includes statistics on premium increases by population density of rating area, distribution of insurance issuers by percentage of counties, rurality, and Medicaid expansion, and rural and urban average adjusted premiums by Medicaid expansion status.
Author(s): Abigail R. Barker, Lindsey Nienstedt, Leah M. Kemper, Timothy D. McBride, Keith J. Mueller
Date: 08/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
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Assesses changes in average Health Insurance Marketplace plan premiums from 2014-2018, with an emphasis on the variation across rural and urban areas. Includes statistics on premium increases by population density of rating area, distribution of insurance issuers by percentage of counties, rurality, and Medicaid expansion, and rural and urban average adjusted premiums by Medicaid expansion status.
Author(s): Abigail R. Barker, Lindsey Nienstedt, Leah M. Kemper, Timothy D. McBride, Keith J. Mueller
Date: 08/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
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Medicaid Income Eligibility Transitions Among Rural Adults
Research and policy brief examining the extent to which incomes of rural and urban residents shifted above or below the Medicaid expansion eligibility threshold during 2010. Features statistics with breakdowns by expansion and non-expansion states, rural or urban location, and starting income as a percent of federal poverty level.
Author(s): Erika Ziller, Deborah Thayer, Jennifer D. Lenardson
Date: 08/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Maine Rural Health Research Center
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Research and policy brief examining the extent to which incomes of rural and urban residents shifted above or below the Medicaid expansion eligibility threshold during 2010. Features statistics with breakdowns by expansion and non-expansion states, rural or urban location, and starting income as a percent of federal poverty level.
Author(s): Erika Ziller, Deborah Thayer, Jennifer D. Lenardson
Date: 08/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Maine Rural Health Research Center
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Rural Hospitals and Medicaid Payment Policy
Describes how rural hospitals serve Medicaid beneficiaries and the process through which Medicaid programs pay rural hospitals. Features statistics from 2015 with breakdowns by urban hospitals, Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs), and other rural hospitals.
Date: 08/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission
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Describes how rural hospitals serve Medicaid beneficiaries and the process through which Medicaid programs pay rural hospitals. Features statistics from 2015 with breakdowns by urban hospitals, Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs), and other rural hospitals.
Date: 08/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission
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