Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Policy
Alternative Models to Preserving Access to Emergency Care
Explores proposals for maintaining timely access to emergency and other basic healthcare services in rural communities that may not be able to support a full-service hospital, including frontier extended stay clinics and free-standing emergency departments. Identifies models of care and various ideologies for the Secretary and the Department of Health and Human Services to consider when evaluating policy options.
Date: 07/2016
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services
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Explores proposals for maintaining timely access to emergency and other basic healthcare services in rural communities that may not be able to support a full-service hospital, including frontier extended stay clinics and free-standing emergency departments. Identifies models of care and various ideologies for the Secretary and the Department of Health and Human Services to consider when evaluating policy options.
Date: 07/2016
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services
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On Pills and Needles: Counties Fight the Opioid Drug Crisis
Special issue focused on how counties are responding to the opioid crisis. Includes an interview with Michael Botticelli, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, focused on the federal response to rural opioid abuse.
Citation: County News
Date: 07/2016
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Association of Counties
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Special issue focused on how counties are responding to the opioid crisis. Includes an interview with Michael Botticelli, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, focused on the federal response to rural opioid abuse.
Citation: County News
Date: 07/2016
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Association of Counties
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Hospital Closures and the Current Healthcare Climate: The Future of Rural Hospitals in the USA
Discusses impact of Affordable Care Act on rural hospitals, including financial considerations, and explores steps that may be taken in order to ensure that these facilities remain open.
Author(s): Soma Balasubramanian, Erick Jones
Citation: Rural and Remote Health, 16(3), 3935
Date: 07/2016
Type: Document
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Discusses impact of Affordable Care Act on rural hospitals, including financial considerations, and explores steps that may be taken in order to ensure that these facilities remain open.
Author(s): Soma Balasubramanian, Erick Jones
Citation: Rural and Remote Health, 16(3), 3935
Date: 07/2016
Type: Document
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Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015: Ensuring Successful Implementation of Physician Payment Reforms
Recording of a July 13, 2016, U.S. Senate Finance Committee hearing regarding the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA). Andy Slavitt, Acting Administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, discusses the input received from stakeholders and the resulting focus on patient-first, physician-driven, collaborative care. He also emphasizes the need to support small, rural practices and those in underserved areas to achieve success.
Additional links: Andrew M. Slavitt, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services - Testimony
Date: 07/2016
Type: Video/Multimedia
Sponsoring organization: Senate Committee on Finance
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Recording of a July 13, 2016, U.S. Senate Finance Committee hearing regarding the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA). Andy Slavitt, Acting Administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, discusses the input received from stakeholders and the resulting focus on patient-first, physician-driven, collaborative care. He also emphasizes the need to support small, rural practices and those in underserved areas to achieve success.
Additional links: Andrew M. Slavitt, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services - Testimony
Date: 07/2016
Type: Video/Multimedia
Sponsoring organization: Senate Committee on Finance
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Medicare Copayments for Critical Access Hospital Outpatient Services - Update
Estimates the impact of Medicare Part B coinsurance on beneficiaries receiving outpatient services at Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs), and identifies the Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) proportion of key services provided in CAHs.
Author(s): Allison Briggs, Matthew Toth, Sara Freeman
Date: 06/2016
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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Estimates the impact of Medicare Part B coinsurance on beneficiaries receiving outpatient services at Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs), and identifies the Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) proportion of key services provided in CAHs.
Author(s): Allison Briggs, Matthew Toth, Sara Freeman
Date: 06/2016
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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Global Budgets for Rural Hospitals
Discusses the financial and budgetary challenges faced by rural hospitals, explains how some rural hospitals have responded, and presents the case for using global budgets as an alternative payment model. Includes information on some of the proposed policy solutions such as Maryland's all-payer system and the Save Rural Hospitals Act.
Author(s): Joshua M. Sharfstein
Citation: The Milbank Quarterly, 94(2), 255-259
Date: 06/2016
Type: Document
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Discusses the financial and budgetary challenges faced by rural hospitals, explains how some rural hospitals have responded, and presents the case for using global budgets as an alternative payment model. Includes information on some of the proposed policy solutions such as Maryland's all-payer system and the Save Rural Hospitals Act.
Author(s): Joshua M. Sharfstein
Citation: The Milbank Quarterly, 94(2), 255-259
Date: 06/2016
Type: Document
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Stroudwater Population Health
An 8-part video series designed to help rural healthcare organizations transition from payment for volume to payment for value and advance population health strategies. Each part discusses an important strategy for achieving population health, including: quality and efficiency, network relationships and service rationalization, employer-sponsored health plans and fee-for-service payments, shared savings plans, and full risk payments and capitation.
Date: 06/2016
Type: Video/Multimedia
Sponsoring organization: Stroudwater Associates
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An 8-part video series designed to help rural healthcare organizations transition from payment for volume to payment for value and advance population health strategies. Each part discusses an important strategy for achieving population health, including: quality and efficiency, network relationships and service rationalization, employer-sponsored health plans and fee-for-service payments, shared savings plans, and full risk payments and capitation.
Date: 06/2016
Type: Video/Multimedia
Sponsoring organization: Stroudwater Associates
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Commission on Care: Final Report
Provides a comprehensive examination of how to best organize the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), allocate funding support, and deliver healthcare to veterans in a variety of settings and geographic locations, including rural areas. The Commission on Care was established by the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014 to examine access to healthcare for veterans.
Date: 06/2016
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Commission on Care
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Provides a comprehensive examination of how to best organize the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), allocate funding support, and deliver healthcare to veterans in a variety of settings and geographic locations, including rural areas. The Commission on Care was established by the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014 to examine access to healthcare for veterans.
Date: 06/2016
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Commission on Care
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Impact of the Affordable Care Act Coverage Expansion on Rural and Urban Populations
Discusses the advances supported by provisions in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) related to health insurance coverage, premium tax credits, and healthcare access for rural and urban populations with a special focus on rural individuals.
Author(s): Kelsey Avery, Kenneth Finegold, Xiao Xiao
Date: 06/2016
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation
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Discusses the advances supported by provisions in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) related to health insurance coverage, premium tax credits, and healthcare access for rural and urban populations with a special focus on rural individuals.
Author(s): Kelsey Avery, Kenneth Finegold, Xiao Xiao
Date: 06/2016
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation
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Medicare Accountable Care Organizations: Beneficiary Assignment Update
Clarifies the changes issued in June 2015 regarding Accountable Care Organization's (ACO) beneficiary assignment under the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) ACO regulations. Addresses how the changes make it easier for Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) and Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) to participate in ACOs.
Author(s): Thomas Vaughn, A. Clinton MacKinney, Keith J. Mueller, Fred Ullrich, Xi Zhu
Date: 06/2016
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
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Clarifies the changes issued in June 2015 regarding Accountable Care Organization's (ACO) beneficiary assignment under the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) ACO regulations. Addresses how the changes make it easier for Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) and Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) to participate in ACOs.
Author(s): Thomas Vaughn, A. Clinton MacKinney, Keith J. Mueller, Fred Ullrich, Xi Zhu
Date: 06/2016
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
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