Skip to main content
Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Policy

Talking Rural Opioid Use at the United Nations: Q&A with Holly Andrilla
An interview with rural health researcher Holly Andrilla of the WWAMI Rural Health Research Center, recounting her experience presenting to the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime in Vienna, Austria. Provides an international perspective on substance abuse prevention and treatment.
Author(s): Zachary Toliver
Citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 08/2016
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
view details
Medicaid Outpatient Payment Policy
Provides an overview of Medicaid payment policies for outpatient hospital services. Attached Excel sheet includes details for each state, including adjustments for rural geography and for Critical Access Hospitals.
Additional links: State Medicaid Payment Policies for Outpatient Hospital Services
Date: 07/2016
Sponsoring organization: Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission
view details
Families in Crisis: The Human Service Implications of Rural Opioid Misuse
Presents findings and policy recommendations from the National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services' 2016 meeting with rural residents, healthcare providers, and stakeholders regarding the impact and effects of opioid use disorders on rural families. Topics addressed include drug overdose and death, conflict with partners and children, emotional disturbance, adverse health risks, and related impacts on employment and economic sustainability.
Date: 07/2016
Sponsoring organization: National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services
view details
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
Sponsoring organization: National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services
view details
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 misuse.
Citation: County News
Date: 07/2016
Sponsoring organization: National Association of Counties
view details
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): Somasekar Balasubramanian, Erick Jones
Citation: Rural and Remote Health, 16(3), 3935
Date: 07/2016
view details
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
Sponsoring organization: Senate Committee on Finance
view details
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
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
view details
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
view details
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
Sponsoring organization: Stroudwater Associates
view details