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Rural Health
News by Topic: Behavioral health

Aug 9, 2022 - Announces the launch Missouri Department of Agriculture's AgriStress Helpline in response to a rural mental health crisis in the state. Notes a 50% faster growth in suicide rates in rural Missouri compare to urban counties, and describes mental health challenges specific to rural agricultural communities.
Source: News Tribune
Aug 8, 2022 - Presents the findings of a study of junior high and high school students in rural Appalachia, noting that more than 7% of respondents disclosed a gender identity that does not fully match their sex assigned at birth. Describes the potential risk for depression, self-harm, and distress related to gender dysphoria among gender-diverse youth and the need for access to gender-related care and mental health services.
Source: WVU Today
Aug 7, 2022 - Describes challenges to meet the mental and behavioral health needs of Maine, noting that hospital emergency rooms are met with increasing suicide rates and mental health emergencies. Discusses efforts by state leadership and health education training programs to support the mental health workforce in the state, particularly in rural areas.
Source: The Maine Monitor
Aug 7, 2022 - Features the Rural New England Health Study, a program that delivers hepatitis C care to rural areas in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts to people who inject drugs through a van equipped to offer medical care, blood testing, and syringe services. Describes the development of the program, its aims to demonstrate mobile drug treatment effectiveness, and the health impacts of hepatitis C.
Source: Burlington Free Press
Aug 2, 2022 - Notice from the U.S. Department of Education proposing priorities, requirements, and definitions under the Mental Health Service Professional Demonstration Grant Program. These proposed priorities, requirements, and definitions are designed to provide competitive grants to support and demonstrate innovative partnerships to train school-based mental health services providers in local educational agencies (LEAs) with demonstrated need. The goal of the program is to increase the number of high-quality, trained providers to address the shortages of mental health services professionals in schools served by high-need LEAs. Comments are due by September 1, 2022.
Source: Federal Register
Aug 2, 2022 - Notice from the U.S. Department of Education proposing priorities, requirements, and definitions under the School-Based Mental Health Services Grant (SBMH) Program. These proposed priorities, requirements, and definitions are designed to direct funds to increase the number of qualified school-based mental health service providers in local educational agencies (LEAs) with demonstrated need. Comments are due by September 1, 2022.
Source: Federal Register
Aug 1, 2022 - Describes a panel of representatives from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Agriculture that explored farmer mental health in Hays, Kansas. Notes that the suicide rate in Kansas is higher than the national average and that the rates in rural and frontier counties were 58% higher than the state average. Discusses financial stress, social isolation, and economic burdens facing farmers and the need for increased access to mental healthcare through telehealth and additional rural services.
Source: Hays Post
Jul 29, 2022 - Notice of proposed rule from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) making changes to the following: 1) Physician Fee Schedule and Medicare Part B payment policies; 2) Medicare Shared Savings Program requirements; 3) updates to the Quality Payment Program; 4) Medicare coverage of opioid use disorder services furnished by opioid treatment programs; 5) updates to certain Medicare and Medicaid provider enrollment policies; 6) updates to conditions of payment for DMEPOS suppliers; 7) coding and payment for wound care management product; and 8) requirements for electronic prescribing for controlled substances for a covered Part D drug under a prescription drug plan or an MA-PD plan. Includes rural references throughout. Comments on the proposed rule are due by September 6, 2022.
Source: Federal Register
Jul 29, 2022 - Notice of final rule from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) updating the FY 2023 prospective payment rates, outlier threshold, and wage index for Medicare inpatient hospital services provided by inpatient psychiatric facilities (IPF), including psychiatric hospitals and excluded psychiatric units of an acute care hospital or Critical Access Hospital. This rule establishes a permanent mitigation policy to smooth the impact of year-to-year changes in IPF payments related to decreases in the IPF wage index. In addition, this rule includes responses to public comments on the results of the data analysis of the IPF Prospective Payment System adjustments and a request for information on Measuring Equity and Healthcare Quality Disparities Across CMS Quality Programs. The changes will be effective for IPF discharges beginning October 1, 2022 - September 30, 2023. This rule is effective October 1, 2022.
Source: Federal Register
Jul 29, 2022 - Features the work of Veteran Valor Farm, a nonprofit organization in rural Minnesota that serves veterans through housing, job assistance, and animal-assisted therapy in a farm setting. Describes the development of the farm by Minnesota veterans, support from local community members, and the need for services among area veterans.
Source: Brainerd Dispatch