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Rural Health Information Hub
Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Health
News by Topic: Legislation and regulations

Mar 27, 2024 - Notice from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) making changes to rates contained within the VA fee schedule, which is used as part of the rate structure for certain agreements the VA uses to purchase community care under the Veterans Community Care Program (VCCP). This notice also describes the VA's use of non-reimbursable codes and industry-standard business practices to ensure consistent adjudication of claims for services deemed non-billable or non-reimbursable. These changes are effective March 27, 2024.
Source: Federal Register
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 22, 2024 - Announcement from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) of the approval of the Utilization Review Accreditation Commission (URAC) as a national accrediting organization providing home infusion therapy services that wish to participate in the Medicare or Medicaid programs. The approval is effective March 27, 2024, through March 27, 2030.
Source: Federal Register
Mar 21, 2024 - The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has revoked 6 Emergency Use Authorizations issued to Life Technologies Corp.; Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc.; Revvity, Inc.; bioMérieux SA; and Luminex Corp. related to COVID-19 detection and diagnosis tests.
Source: Federal Register
Mar 19, 2024 - Notice of final rule from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Housing Service (RHS) amending the current regulation for the Multifamily Family Housing (MFH) Section 538 Guaranteed Rural Rental Housing Program (GRRHP). These changes are designed to provide RHS with flexibility in its decision-making to fully address these evolving priorities in housing market demands without regulatory changes to the priority-points scoring criteria and improve the customer experience with more timely and proactive responses to housing market demands without frequent regulatory changes. This rule is effective April 18, 2024.
Source: Federal Register
Mar 18, 2024 - The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is seeking comments on the extension of an information collection titled "Disclosure Requirement for the In-Office Ancillary Services Exception." CMS will use the information collected to enforce the requirement that physicians who provide certain imaging services (MRI, CT, and PET) under the in-office ancillary services exception to the physician self-referral prohibition must provide the disclosure notice as well as the list of other imaging suppliers to the patient. Comments are due by May 17, 2024.
Source: Federal Register
Mar 18, 2024 - Notice of final rule from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Housing Service (RHS) updating its regulations and implementing changes related to the administration of property reserve accounts under the Multi-Family Housing (MFH) section 515, Rural Rental Housing (RRH), and section 514, 516 Farm Labor Housing (FLH) programs in order to increase flexibility in project refinancing for additional capital improvements. This rule is effective April 17, 2024.
Source: Federal Register
Mar 14, 2024 - Announces proposed bipartisan legislation aiming to reduce burdens on rural Medicare patients seeking healthcare in an Accountable Care Organization (ACO). The bill expands the ability of Medicare beneficiaries to be assigned to an ACO by allowing assignments based on primary care visits performed by nurse practitioners, physician assistants, or clinical nurse specialists.
Source: Office of Representative Suzan DelBene
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 13, 2024 - The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is seeking comments on the following information collections: 1) Ambulatory Surgical Center Conditions for Coverage; 2) Implementation of the Medicare Prescription Drug Plan (PDP) and Medicare Advantage (MA) Plan Disenrollment Reasons Survey; and 3) Transitional Pass through payments related to Drugs, Biologicals, and Radiopharmaceuticals to determine eligibility under the Outpatient Prospective Payment System. Comments are due by May 13, 2024.
Source: Federal Register