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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Medicare

Global Budget Process as an Alternative Payment Model
Analyzes the all-payer hospital rate-setting system of McCready Health in rural Maryland. Discusses the Total Patient Revenue (TPR) system and corresponding essential functions such as rate setting, strategic planning, and care coordination.
Date: 03/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Value
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MedPAC Report to the Congress: Medicare Payment Policy, 2017
Provides an annual review of Medicare payment policies, with recommendations to Congress. Includes discussions on Medicare payment policies that directly affect rural providers and beneficiaries. Analyses payment adequacy for home health, skilled nursing, long-term care hospitals, hospice, ambulatory surgical centers, and rehabilitation facilities.
Date: 03/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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Health Care Innovation Awards (HCIA) Meta-Analysis and Evaluators Collaborative: Annual Report Year 2
Highlights key implementation and impact findings across 108 Health Care Innovation Awards (HCIA) grant recipients, based on work by 7 independent evaluators. Includes discussion of project experiences in rural areas.
Date: 03/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, RTI International
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Evaluation of Health Care Innovation Awards (HCIA): Primary Care Redesign Programs, Third Annual Report
Third annual evaluations for the Health Care Innovation Awards Round One projects focused on primary care redesign, addressing a range of intervention models, target populations, and organizational settings. Presents findings on program impacts related to quality of care, service use, and medical spending. Includes projects serving rural areas.
Additional links: Addendum, August 2017
Date: 03/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Mathematica Policy Research
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Evaluation of the Health Care Innovation Awards: Community Resource Planning, Prevention, and Monitoring: Third Annual Report
Third annual evaluations of 24 Health Care Innovation Awards Round One projects focused on enhancing care coordination and healthcare access through the use of health information technology, care coordination/patient navigation, and health promotion and prevention services. Discusses awardees' progress and impact over the 3-year funding period from 2012 to 2015. Includes profiles of rural-focused projects, as well as projects serving rural and urban areas.
Additional links: Addendum, August 2017
Date: 03/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, RTI International
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Aiming for Fewer Hospital U-turns: The Medicare Hospital Readmission Reduction Program
Describes the Medicare Hospital Readmission Reduction Program (HRRP), analyzes the impact of the program on Medicare beneficiaries and healthcare facilities, and highlights identified issues regarding its implementation. Tables and charts display differences in penalties incurred by urban and rural facilities, and include estimates for FY 2017.
Author(s): Cristina Boccuti, Giselle Casillas
Date: 03/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: KFF
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Evaluation of the Medication Management (MM) Health Care Innovation Awardees: Third Annual Report
Evaluations of 6 Health Care Innovation Awards Round One projects focused on medication management programs, including programs serving rural areas.
Additional links: Addendum, June 2017
Date: 02/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: Acumen, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Westat
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Getting Started with the Quality Payment Program: An Overview of MIPS for Small, Rural, and Underserved Practices
Provides a webinar recording discussing the effects of the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) on small, rural, and underserved practices. Includes sections on eligibility, participation, reporting, performance categories, and submission and scoring methods. Outlines specific eligibility requirements for Rural Health Clinics (RHCs), Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), and Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs), and provides a checklist for preparing and participating in MIPS.
Additional links: Presentation Slides, Transcript, Webinar Playlist by Section
Date: 02/2017
Type: Video/Multimedia
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
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Third Annual Report: HCIA Disease-Specific Evaluation
Findings from the third year for 18 Health Care Innovation Awards Round One projects targeting patient populations with specific diseases. Provides information on program effectiveness based on Medicare and Medicaid claims data and awardee-collected data. Includes projects that serve a variety of rural areas and address conditions such as diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and chronic pain. Approaches discussed include care coordination, education, and telehealth.
Additional links: Addendum, June 2017
Date: 02/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, NORC at the University of Chicago
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HCIA Complex/High-Risk Patient Targeting: Third Annual Report
Third annual evaluations of Health Care Innovation Awards Round One projects focused on patients with medically complex conditions at high risk for hospitalization, re-hospitalization, emergency department visits, or nursing home stays. Presents program effectiveness findings based on Medicare and Medicaid claims data, surveys, site visits, and interviews. Several projects serve rural areas, offering caregiver education and support, telehealth services, and various care coordination approaches.
Additional links: Addendum, April 2017
Date: 02/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, NORC at the University of Chicago
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