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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Health insurance

Financial Risk Acceptance among Rural Health Care Providers Participating in the Quality Payment Program
Summarizes nonmetropolitan and metropolitan providers' participation in different Quality Payment Program tracks and subdivisions, and evaluates provider and patient-panel characteristics associated with financial risk acceptance. Features statistics on risk acceptance with breakdowns by specialty type and metropolitan status, and patient panel characteristics by risk type.
Author(s): Xi Zhu, Mina Shrestha, Fred Ullrich, Keith Mueller
Date: 03/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
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Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS): Participating in the Improvement Activities Performance Category in the 2023 Performance Year - Traditional MIPS
Provides details on how to participate in the performance improvement part of the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS), one of two tracks under the Medicare Quality Payment Program. Identifies differences for small practices and clinicians located in a rural or Health Professional Shortage Area.
Date: 03/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
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MedPAC Report to the Congress: Medicare Payment Policy: Home Health Care Services: Chapter 8
Discusses payment adequacy for home health care services and information on supplemental payments for home health services provided in low-use rural areas. Features statistics on Medicare margins for home health agencies between 2019-2021 with breakdowns by urban and rural areas and the number of home health periods provided to rural beneficiaries by state Review Choice Demonstration status in 2021.
Date: 03/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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MedPAC Report to the Congress: Medicare Payment Policy: Hospice Services: Chapter 10
Discusses payment adequacy for hospice and palliative support services. Includes statistics with breakdowns by urban and rural locations and demographics on Medicare decedents who used hospice during 2010 and between 2017-2021. Compares the actual hospice utilization rates in micropolitan, rural adjacent, rural nonadjacent, and frontier areas to urban hospice utilization rates. Presents data on costs by day, aggregate margins, and the aggregate cap by urban and rural status.
Date: 03/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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MedPAC Report to the Congress: Medicare Payment Policy, 2023
Annual review of Medicare payment policies, with recommendations to Congress. Includes discussion on Medicare payment policies directly affecting rural providers and beneficiaries. Addresses payment adequacy for healthcare facilities and services; Medicare Advantage (MA), including a mandated report comparing per enrollee spending in the MA program with that of traditional fee-for-service (FFS) Medicare; and Medicare Part D.
Date: 03/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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Report to Congress on Medicaid and CHIP, March 2023
Reports on four aspects of Medicaid: 1) collecting and reporting Medicaid race and ethnicity data, 2) increasing the transparency and improving the collection of nursing facility payment data, 3) strengthening evidence under Medicaid drug coverage, and 4) reviewing hospital payment policy for the nation's safety-net hospitals. Chapter 4 examines the relationship between disproportionate share hospital (DSH) allotments to states and the number of uninsured individuals, the amounts and sources of hospitals' uncompensated care costs, and the amounts and sources of hospitals' uncompensated care costs. Table 4-1 details DSH spending for urban and rural hospitals and for Critical Access Hospitals.
Date: 03/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission
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RHCs & the Medicare Shared Savings Program - What You Need to Know
Recording of a March 7, 2023, webinar providing an overview of the transition to value-based care, Accountable Care Organizations, and the Medicare Shared Savings Program. Discusses considerations for Rural Health Clinic participation in the Shared Savings Program. Part of the Rural Health Clinic Technical Assistance Series.
Additional links: Presentation Slides, Transcript
Date: 03/2023
Type: Video/Multimedia
Sponsoring organization: National Association of Rural Health Clinics
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Rural Track Program Funding: An Erosion in Definitions of Rural Places Requires New Action
Policy position paper discussing graduate medical education (GME) in rural areas. Discusses policy changes to rural hospital classification and the impact of these changes on rural GME and rural training track programs.
Date: 03/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Rural Health Association
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CMS Bundled Payments for Care Improvement Advanced Model: Fourth Evaluation Report
Third annual report of the Bundled Payments for Care Improvement Advanced (BPCI Advanced) Model, which tests whether linking payments for a clinical episode of care can reduce Medicare expenditures while maintaining or improving the quality of care. Explores the impact of BPCI Advanced on episode payments, utilization, and quality of care, as well as estimates of Medicare program savings in Model Year 3. Analyzes BPCI Advanced outcomes for beneficiaries from populations that have been historically underserved, including beneficiaries in rural areas and areas with a high Area Deprivation Index (ADI).
Additional links: Appendices, Findings at a Glance
Author(s): The Lewin Group, Abt Associates, GDIT, Telligen
Date: 03/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
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NQF 2022 Activities: Report to Congress and the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services
Summarizes the 2021 work of the National Quality Forum to measure healthcare quality. Includes a discussion on leveraging quality measures to improve rural health.
Date: 03/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Quality Forum
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