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Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Healthcare business and finance

Assisting American Indian and Alaska Native Consumers
Presentation slides discuss the ACA health insurance marketplace, the Indian Health Services, and provides information for American Indian and Alaska Native people pertaining to healthcare coverage. Presents guidance for AI/AN people to ensure they have consistent healthcare coverage.
Date: 05/2024
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
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Quality of Care in the SoonerCare Program, 2024
Reports on access, use, and effectiveness of care for Oklahoma's Medicaid program enrollees. Appendix A provides detailed rural/urban breakdowns on compliance with immunizations, cancer screenings, medication management, and more.
Date: 04/2024
Sponsoring organization: Oklahoma Health Care Authority
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Hospital Price Transparency: What Hospitals Need to Know
Webinar recording presenting part one of a discussion on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) hospital price transparency requirements that went into effect on January 1, 2024. Features a presentation and discussion from a CMS representative.
Date: 04/2024
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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Ground Ambulance Industry Trends, 2017–2022: An Analysis of Ground Ambulance Organization Entrance and Exit
Describes ground ambulance trends from 2017 to 2022, focusing on organizational characteristics associated with organizations' entry into or exit from the Medicare program. Presents data on the likelihood of entry and exit by a ground ambulance transportation organization by ownership status; urban, rural, or super rural location; and volume. Examines the change in traditional fee-for-service Medicare ground ambulance transport volume at the county level after an organization enters or exits the market.
Author(s): Jonathan Cantor, Sara Heins, Petra W. Rasmussen, Christine Buttorff, Andrew W. Mulcahy
Date: 04/2024
Sponsoring organizations: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, RAND Corporation
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Ground Ambulance Industry Trends, 2017–2022: Analysis of Medicare Fee-for-Service Claims
Explores whether ground ambulance organizations have changed between 2017 and 2022. Examines trends in the number of ground ambulance transports paid for by traditional fee-for-service Medicare, the characteristics of organizations billing Medicare for these services, the most common diagnosis codes reported on Medicare ground ambulance claims, and the share of transports to or from an end-stage renal disease (ESRD) facility. Discusses how the growth in Medicare Advantage enrollment could impact the volume of traditional Medicare ground ambulance transports. Includes data on ground ambulance transports by service area population density.
Author(s): Petra W. Rasmussen, Jonathan Cantor, Jennifer Gildner, Sara Heins, Andrew W. Mulcahy
Date: 04/2024
Sponsoring organizations: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, RAND Corporation
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How Does Hawai'i's Economic Geography Affect Its Healthcare Industry?
Reports on geographic factors influencing healthcare economics in Hawai'i, including discussion of geographic decentralization, productivity, workforce recruitment, reimbursement and payment, and more. Highlights barriers to healthcare access and service availability in rural, isolated, and remote communities.
Author(s): Steven Bond-Smith, Daniela Bond-Smith
Date: 04/2024
Sponsoring organization: The Economic Research Organization at the University of Hawai'i (UHERO)
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North Carolina Medicaid Expansion: A Rural Perspective
Reports on expanded Medicaid coverage in rural North Carolina using state-level monthly enrollment data. Compares expansion enrollment in rural, suburban, and urban counties, and evaluates whether enrollment is associated with poverty at the county level.
Author(s): Dalton Bailey
Date: 04/2024
Sponsoring organization: NC Rural Center
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Reconsidering and Measuring Patient Access in Medicaid
Discusses ways to measure patient access and coverage of those enrolled in Medicaid, focusing on their insurance plan quality, reimbursement rates, and clinician networks. Considers policy impacts on rural areas.
Author(s): Benjamin D. Sommers, Renuka Tipirneni
Citation: JAMA Health Forum, 5(4)
Date: 04/2024
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April 2024 MedPAC Meeting Transcript
Transcript from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission's (MedPAC) April 2024 meeting. Covers telehealth in Medicare, alternative approaches to lowering Medicare payments for select conditions in inpatient rehabilitation facilities, approaches for updating the Medicare physician fee schedule, initial findings from an analysis of Medicare Part B payment rates and 340B ceiling prices, and more. Includes discussion of telehealth in rural areas and data on telehealth use in Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) between 2020 and 2022.
Additional links: Telehealth in Medicare: Status Report - Presentation Slides
Date: 04/2024
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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Using the Updated Financial Distress Index to Describe Relative Risk of Hospital Financial Distress
Describes the relative risk of rural hospitals and selected urban hospitals experiencing financial distress in 2023. Provides an overview of an updated Financial Distress Index (FDI), which incorporates variables reflecting changes to operational environments since the publication of the 2017 FDI to predict and analyze financial distress and risk of rural hospital closure. Presents data on the characteristics of hospitals by relative risk of financial distress in 2023 and the number of hospitals in each state across in category of relative risk of financial distress.
Author(s): Tyler Malone, George Pink, Kristie Thompson, Mark Holmes
Date: 04/2024
Sponsoring organization: North Carolina Rural Health Research Program
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