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Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Health
Resources by Type: Document

Medicare Payment Basics: Home Health Care Services Payment System
Overview of Medicare payments for home health care services. Includes information on rate-setting and payments for quality reporting and performance. Describes the Patient-Driven Groupings Model (PDGM) and the home health resource groups (HHRGs) based on clinical and functional status.
Date: 11/2025
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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Medicare Payment Basics: Durable Medical Equipment Payment System
Overview of Medicare payments for medical equipment used to treat beneficiaries at home. Defines durable medical equipment (DME), details the DME fee schedule, and discusses the competitive bidding program (CBP) for DME. Includes information on adjustments to fee schedule payment rates outside of competitive bidding areas (CBAs).
Date: 11/2025
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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Medicare Payment Basics: Ambulance Services Payment System
Provides an overview of Medicare payments for ambulance services. Discusses rural add-on payment policies, geographic categories determining payment rates, super-rural ZIP codes, and ambulance fee schedules.
Date: 11/2025
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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Medicare Payment Basics: Accountable Care Organizations Payment Systems
Provides an overview of Medicare's Accountable Care Organization (ACO) programs. Discusses the payment mechanics of ACOs, including the maximum shared savings and losses of Medicare Shared Savings Program ACOs by track and level.
Date: 11/2025
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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Medicare Payment Basics: Critical Access Hospitals Payment System
Presents an overview of Medicare payments for Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs). Compares differences in Medicare payments for CAHs, Sole Community Hospitals, and Medicare-Dependent Hospitals.
Date: 11/2025
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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Benzodiazepine Use Among Older Adults: Any Use and Concurrent Use With Opioids
Statistical brief examining rates of prescription benzodiazepine use by demographic group, insurance type, and health status, using 2021-2022 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Household Component (MEPS-HC) data. See Figure 6 for metro-nonmetro comparison data on benzodiazepine use and concurrent benzodiazepine-opioid use.
Author(s): Salam Abdus, G. Edward Miller
Date: 10/2025
Sponsoring organization: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
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Cardiovascular Disease Burden in Arizona - 2022
Reports on cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity, mortality, and characteristics in Arizona, utilizing 2022 Arizona Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) data. Includes demographic data breakdowns, including rural versus urban comparisons.
Author(s): Amanda Swanson
Date: 10/2025
Sponsoring organization: Arizona Department of Health Services
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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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Advocating for Incorporating Public Veterinary Health Care Into Human Health Systems
Explores the human health impacts of a public veterinary health program in rural tribal communities in Alaska. Highlights the health concerns from stray dog populations in tribal communities and remote areas that lack veterinarian services. Details impact on rates of dog bites, rabies, and other zoonotic pathogens.
Author(s): Laurie Meythaler-Mullins, Cheryl Eia, Allyce H. Lobdell, Danielle M. Frey
Citation: Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 12
Date: 10/2025
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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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