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Top news stories from the past 60 days. For more, see news by topic or news by state.

Mar 27, 2024 - Request for comments on the draft 2024-2030 Federal Health IT Strategic Plan. The Plan includes goals for promoting health and wellness, enhancing the delivery and experience of healthcare, accelerate research and innovation, and connecting health systems with health data. Objectives for achieving those goals include expanding broadband and technology access and research infrastructure for the benefit of rural residents among others. Comments can be made until May 28th.
Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Mar 26, 2024 - Highlights social engagement in rural Maine communities for older adults. Describes the community services that allow them to stay in their communities. Discusses concerns about healthcare access.
Source: The Christian Science Monitor
Mar 26, 2024 - Announces an upcoming virtual workshop on using collaboration and partnerships for growing the health workforce. The workshop is scheduled for April 16, 2024.
Source: Bureau of Health Workforce, Health Resources and Services Administration
Mar 25, 2024 - Highlights challenges with maintaining rural rental housing in places where affordable new housing is scarce. Describes federal programs working to preserve existing rental housing.
Source: The Daily Yonder
Mar 22, 2024 - Discusses suicide among rural men in Michigan, noting the issues of stigma and mental healthcare access. Discusses the results of an intervention targeting men and policy measures building on those successes.
Source: The 'Gander
Mar 21, 2024 - A charitable donation to a community health center system will increase access to ultrasound technology in Montana and Wyoming as well as train healthcare workforce on new sonography technology. Discusses workforce shortages and the impact of new technology on health outcomes in rural and frontier areas.
Source: Cowboy State Daily
Mar 20, 2024 - Highlights the Risk Underlying Rural Areas Longitudinal (RURAL) Study, a 6 year study investigating risk and protective factors for lung and heart disease for rural residents in 4 Southern states. Discusses the under-representation of rural residents in research and their recruitment strategies. Notes early results from the study as well as the role large public health studies can play in developing a new generation of researchers.
Source: UVM Today
Mar 19, 2024 - Announcement of a new model from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid for primary care providers in Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). The model offers participating providers advanced payments for flexibility and access to resources for optimal primary care delivery. The model will incorporate health equity and address health disparities by targeting low revenue ACOs. The model begins January 1, 2025 for approximately 130 ACOs. Interested organizations much apply for or renew their ACO status between May 20 and June 17 in order to participate in the model.
Source: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
Mar 19, 2024 - Describes culturally relevant practices for mental healthcare for Native communities. Discusses therapy services available for students at the University of North Carolina and rural communities across North Carolina. Highlights health disparities and factors contributing to those disparities.
Source: The Daily Tar Heel
Mar 19, 2024 - Highlights a rural reentry program in Kentucky for people leaving incarceration with substance use disorder. The program includes peer support who assist with needs such as housing, obtaining licenses, and other barriers to successful reentry.
Source: The Daily Yonder
Mar 19, 2024 - Discusses suicide rates in rural Minnesota and factors contributing to the trends including workforce shortages, stigma, and farming industry suicide rate disparities. Notes initiatives aiming to reduce the rates and challenges that remain.
Source: MinnPost
Mar 18, 2024 - Highlights recent rural employment statistics released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Notes that recent trends were improving, but the latest report showed rural employment has decreased 0.4% when compared to pre-COVID numbers. Includes urban and rural comparisons as well as variations within industries.
Source: The Daily Yonder
Mar 17, 2024 - Highlights a project to offer internships for rural high school students and create a training center in Washington for careers in health and other industries. Notes that the project may help keep students in the region once they graduate.
Source: The Spokesman-Review
Mar 16, 2024 - Discusses uptake of the Rural Emergency Hospital designation that aims to prevent hospital closures. Notes that conversions have happened primarily in the South. Discusses challenges with implementation, community feedback, and policy efforts to make the designation more accessible to rural hospitals.
Source: NBC4 Washington
Mar 14, 2024 - Following an annual assessment of telecommunications capability, the Federal Communications Commission has raised the benchmark for broadband download and upload speeds. Notes that broadband deployment in rural and tribal areas is not happening in a reasonable timeframe.
Source: Federal Communications Commission
Mar 14, 2024 - Funding for rural Federally Qualified Health Centers in Tennessee and across the South has been awarded for installing solar panels and battery systems. The mini grid systems will allow the facilities to continue offering critical services during power outages.
Source: WPLN, NPR
Mar 13, 2024 - Highlights the history of telehealth use by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Describes how access to specialists, behavioral healthcare, and prescription medication in particular has been improved by telehealth. Discusses how rural healthcare access is managed for veterans without reliable internet access.
Source: Cronkite News
Mar 12, 2024 - Highlights pilot projects in Vermont and Minnesota offering public transit planning and payment apps in rural communities. Discusses challenges with offering these services including customer buy-in, sustainable funding, technology limitations, and unreliable internet and cell phone service.
Source: The Daily Yonder
Mar 12, 2024 - Offers overview of a meeting between the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, other Administration officials, and healthcare stakeholders related to the Change Healthcare cyberattack. Highlights key actions taken by the Administration to address impacts.
Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Mar 11, 2024 - Offers overview of priorities in the proposed Fiscal Year 2025 Budget for the Health Resources & Services Administration including youth mental health, maternity care deserts, access to primary care, opioid treatment and recovery, the healthcare workforce, and organ donation. Discusses rural specific needs throughout.
Source: Health Resources & Services Administration
Mar 11, 2024 - Discusses rural Illinois food deserts and the rise of community-owned cooperative stores. Notes the challenges for rural cooperative development including community buy-in, competition with large chains, funding, and more.
Source: Barn Raising Media
Mar 11, 2024 - Highlights a project in North Carolina offering school-mandated physicals to rural children using mobile clinics. Children that do not receive physicals may be suspended. Discusses the impact of suspension on educational outcomes and entering the justice system.
Source: North Carolina Health News
Mar 7, 2024 - The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services statement that they are coordinating efforts in response to the recent Change Healthcare cyberattack. Notes they are aware of the disparate impact on small practices and community-based providers and considering their needs in the response.
Source: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
Mar 7, 2024 - Highlights the use of telemedicine in ambulances in an effort to improve health outcomes for patients being transported long distances to receive emergency care. Discusses loss of ambulance and hospital services in addition to limited specialty care in rural communities. Describes implementation in South Dakota and Minnesota.
Source: MPR News
Mar 7, 2024 - Reports on financial struggles for rural hospitals across the country leading to department and facility closures and many more at risk of closure. Highlights common rural health disparities and notes the impact of closures on rural communities. Discusses the impact of various policies on rural hospitals including Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement as well as the Rural Emergency Hospital designation.
Source: KFF Health News
Mar 6, 2024 - Discusses the rise in colorectal cancer rates and mortality disparities for Black and rural Americans. Highlights efforts by multiple states to increase screening rates including in rural West Virginia. Notes challenges for rural residents such as distance to care and shortages of specialists.
Source: Stateline
Mar 6, 2024 - Discusses the shortage of rural surgeons, noting challenges in building the rural surgeon workforce. Discusses rural training tracks, homegrown workforce, funding needs, and telemedicine as possible solutions for building the workforce.
Source: ACS Bulletin
Mar 6, 2024 - Announces a tribal community focused Health Resources & Services Administration webinar on the National Health Service Corps scholarship and loan repayment program.
Source: Health Resources & Services Administration
Mar 5, 2024 - Announces steps being taken by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services related to the cyberattack on Change Healthcare, a unit of UnitedHealth Group. Notes flexibilities in place for claims processing, prior authorization, and electronic billing.
Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Mar 5, 2024 - Discusses challenges with accessing mental healthcare, particularly in rural areas. Notes workforce shortages and low pay as contributors to limited access. Also discusses challenges for military service members including long wait times for appointments.
Source: U.S. Government Accountability Office
Mar 2, 2024 - Highlights a rural California town introducing a shade equity master plan to address the dangers of extreme heat. Discusses rural specific issues such as limited infrastructure and unsafe homes that make heat burden unequally experienced. Notes the disparate impact felt by farmworkers in this agriculture-heavy region.
Source: AP News
Feb 29, 2024 - A new partnership between 24 rural and urban tribal organizations will address physician shortages in tribal communities by advocating for more graduate medical education opportunities in tribal medical facilities. The group aims to improve existing health disparities for American Indians and Alaska Natives.
Source: Native News Online
Feb 29, 2024 - Discusses the shortage of volunteer firefighters in rural areas, noting response times for emergencies can be very long. Discusses challenges with providing emergency services on farms due to the specialized equipment and unreliable cell service. Highlights safety measures on farms that can reduce the number of emergencies.
Source: Ambrook Research
Feb 28, 2024 - Describes the technical assistance available to rural hospitals through a partnership between the U.S. Department of Agriculture and National Rural Health Association (NRHA). NRHA offers guidance with hospital finances and leadership training opportunities for administrators.
Source: National Rural Health Association
Feb 27, 2024 - Commentary on the growing prenatal substance exposure crisis in West Virginia. Discusses rural specific challenges, as well as access to healthcare issues and social determinants of health measures. Cites research on infant outcomes following exposure to various substances. Highlights Project WATCH, a referral system connecting families to services in West Virginia.
Source: The Conversation
Feb 27, 2024 - Announces a 4-part webinar series, starting March 12, 2024, presented by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) in collaboration with the Rural Health Information Hub, to support access to safe, high-quality maternity care in rural communities. Webinars will cover information on achieving the Birthing-Friendly Hospital Designation from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), working with Perinatal Quality Collaboratives (PQCs) to improve care, implementing AIM bundles to improve patient safety, and how rural hospitals without birthing units can prepared for patient needs.
Source: Rural Health Information Hub
Feb 26, 2024 - Discusses value-based payment (VBP) models in Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) as a way to offer flexibility and innovation opportunity with a more predictable funding model. Includes interviews with FQHC leaders and experts about challenges with VBP and policy measures that can make implementation easier.
Source: The Commonwealth Fund
Feb 23, 2024 - Describes the launch of a collaborative program in Nevada aiming to increase access to healthcare and health insurance for tribal communities. Discusses current rates of participation for Native residents and health disparities they experience. Highlights the impact of tribal representation in policymaking.
Source: The Nevada Independent
Feb 20, 2024 - The Bureau of Indian Education has launched a behavioral health support line for funded schools and programs. The line offers both crisis support and non-crisis information that is culturally relevant in addition to trauma-informed onsite and virtual support.
Source: Navajo-Hopi Observer
Feb 19, 2024 - Highlights a Critical Access Hospital in Iowa expanding the obstetrics department in spite of the statewide and national trend of department closures across the country. Discusses partnerships with nearby clinics, the importance of labor and delivery services to small communities, and philosophies of care.
Source: WSIU, PBS, NPR
Feb 15, 2024 - Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) is accepting nominations and applications for 5 advisory panels: Advisory Panel on Clinical Effectiveness and Decision Science, Advisory Panel on Healthcare Delivery and Disparities Research, Advisory Panel on Patient Engagement, Advisory Panel on Clinical Trials, and Advisory Panel on Rare Disease. Offers overview of requirements for panelists, the application process, and a link to the nomination and application webpage. Nominations are due March 29, 2024.
Source: Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute
Feb 14, 2024 - Highlights priority areas from across the federal government for increasing equity for rural, tribal, and other underserved communities. Includes actions to address maternal health outcomes, food insecurity, environmental health, mental health support services for students, community development, and more.
Source: The White House
Feb 14, 2024 - Announcement of a new collaborative among 6 states aiming to understand the challenges leading to postpartum mortality and find new solutions to address it. This collaborative will work alongside the National Governors Association initiative Improving Maternal and Child Health in Rural America State and Territory Policy Learning Collaborative which focuses on policy to improve health outcomes.
Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Feb 13, 2024 - Discusses a Minnesota initiative to increase diversity in farming, address access to healthy food and health equity, and improve economic opportunities in rural areas.
Source: The Daily Yonder
Feb 13, 2024 - An Indiana rural emergency medical service crew is now carrying whole blood to administer in the field as a pilot project. Notes long transport times to a trauma hospital means worse patient survival rates. Blood transfusions in the field are expected to improve these rates.
Source: WISH
Feb 8, 2024 - Discusses projected nursing workforce shortages in Arizona. Discusses the causes and impact of shortages in both rural and urban areas, noting that rural residents are often required to travel to urban areas to access care leading to overburdened facilities. Highlights strategies to reduce the shortage.
Source: Cronkite News
Feb 7, 2024 - Highlights proposed legislation in Colorado to address availability of mental health resources for the agricultural community. Discusses mental healthcare workforce shortages, distances to care, and the unique barriers experienced by migrant workers.
Source: KFF Health News
Feb 7, 2024 - Interviews a midwife offering services in a rural Minnesota community with a labor and delivery department closure. Discusses the planning required to travel multiple hours in order to give birth, insurance considerations, and home birth as a solution for limited access to care.
Source: MPR News
Feb 7, 2024 - A New York medical center will install telehealth kiosks in banks in 3 rural towns. The kiosks will offer privacy for measuring various health indicators as well as virtual consultations with healthcare providers.
Source: Finger Lakes 1
Feb 6, 2024 - The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality is requesting information from representatives of health departments, healthcare providers, Critical Access Hospitals, researchers, rural and community health groups, members of the public, and others on maternal health data, particularly what data are most useful and what levels of data should be available. Deadline to submit comments is March 4th.
Source: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Health Resources & Services Administration's Maternal & Child Health Bureau
Feb 5, 2024 - Profiles a homeless teen in rural Texas and discusses lack of access to homeless shelters and other support services rural homeless youth may need. Notes that data gathering challenges means rural homeless teens are likely undercounted. Describes the impact of her homelessness on her physical and mental health.
Source: The Texas Tribune
Jan 31, 2024 - Highlights the role high-speed internet, digital tools, artificial intelligence, and telehealth play in providing convenient and quality healthcare in rural North Carolina, particularly for older adults and people with disabilities. Notes barriers that remain such as access to high-speed internet, costs for expensive devices, and digital literacy.
Source: Carolina Public Press
Jan 30, 2024 - Discusses Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) designations for primary care providers, particularly the challenges with collecting data on policy measures intended to reduce shortages. Discusses recruitment and retention incentive programs, who qualifies as a primary care provider, and rural-specific concerns.
Source: KFF Health News, USA Today
Jan 29, 2024 - Highlights a program in rural Illinois assisting local leaders, business owners, hospital administrators, and more prepare for an influx in funding for broadband expansion. Describes the challenges rural counties often have in accessing federal funds. Discusses telehealth and agriculture as two areas expected to be positively impacted by faster internet service.
Source: The Daily Yonder
Jan 29, 2024 - A rural New York county is hiring its own child development specialists in an effort to decrease long waiting periods for care due to workforce shortages. Notes the benefits of early intervention for both the child and other public health services. Discusses COVID impacts and challenges to accessing care for local families.
Source: The Ithaca Voice

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