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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Medicare

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010: Impacts on Rural People, Places, and Providers: A First Look
Summarizes six issue areas of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and discusses implications for access to services and improving the health status of rural residents. These issue areas are: health insurance coverage; Medicare and Medicaid payment; quality, financing, and delivery system reform; public health; healthcare workforce; and long-term care.
Author(s): Andrew F. Coburn, Jennifer P. Lundblad, A. Clinton MacKinney, Timothy D. McBride, Keith J. Mueller
Date: 09/2010
Sponsoring organization: Rural Policy Research Institute Rural Health Panel
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A Comparison of Rural Hospitals with Special Medicare Payment Provisions to Urban and Rural Hospitals Paid Under Prospective Payment
Compares the financial performance and condition of rural hospitals with special Medicare payment provisions - Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs), Medicare Dependent Hospitals (MDHs), Sole Community Hospitals (SCHs), and Rural Referral Centers (RRCs) - to urban and rural hospitals paid under prospective payment.
Additional links: Findings Brief: A Financial Comparison of Rural Hospitals With Special Medicare Payment Provisions to Hospitals Paid Under Prospective Payment, 4/2010, Findings Brief: Profitability of Rural Hospitals Paid Under Prospective Payment Compared to Rural Hospitals with Special Medicare Payment Provisions, 9/2010
Author(s): G. Mark Holmes, George H. Pink, Sarah A. Friedman, Hilda A. Howard
Date: 08/2010
Sponsoring organization: North Carolina Rural Health Research Program
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The Medicare Physician Quality Reporting Initiative: Implications for Rural Physicians
Discusses the impact of rurality on office-based physicians' participation in the 2007 Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI), a voluntary pay-for-reporting program in Medicare.
Author(s): Alycia Infante, Michael Meit, Elizabeth Hargrave
Date: 08/2010
Sponsoring organization: NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis
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MedPAC Report to Congress: Aligning Incentives in Medicare, June 2010
Focuses on how incentives in the Medicare program can be leveraged to promote healthcare quality and efficient use of resources, both of which are key elements of a high-value healthcare delivery system. Includes chapters focused on graduate medical education financing and inpatient psychiatric care.
Additional links: Executive Summary
Date: 06/2010
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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Alternatives to the Outpatient Prospective Payment System: Assessing the Impact on Rural Hospitals
Explores alternatives to Medicare's Outpatient Prospective Payment System and how these options would affect rural hospitals.
Author(s): Janet Pagan-Sutton, Claudia Schur, Katie Merrell
Date: 04/2010
Sponsoring organization: NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis
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The Effect of Medicare Part D Plan Switching and Formulary Changes on Sole Community Pharmacies and the Patients They Serve
Presents findings from a survey of sole community independent pharmacies owned by pharmacists. Focuses on the impact of the Medicare Part D program.
Author(s): Michelle Lampman, Andrea Radford, Anh Nguyen
Date: 03/2010
Sponsoring organization: North Carolina Rural Health Research Program
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MedPAC Report to the Congress: Medicare Payment Policy, 2010
Annual review of Medicare payment policies, with recommendations to Congress. Discussions of rural aspects of Medicare payment policies are included throughout the report.
Date: 03/2010
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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The Potential Impact of Pay-for-Performance on the Financial Health of Critical Access Hospitals
Models the impact of different Medicare pay-for-performance (P4P) incentives on the financial health of Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) using quality performance measures for pneumonia and heart failure from several data sources.
Additional links: Policy Brief, February 2010
Author(s): Robert Town, Ira Moscovice
Date: 12/2009
Sponsoring organization: Flex Monitoring Team
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Workforce Challenges in Delivering Health Care to Elderly and Low-Income Populations in Wyoming: Medical Providers' Acceptance of Medicaid and Medicare Patients
Examines medical professionals in urban and rural Wyoming providing care to Medicaid and Medicare enrollees, and factors associated with provider acceptance of new patients. Includes policy considerations to inform state-level policy and program implementation for low-income and elderly populations.
Author(s): Davis G. Patterson, Susan M. Skillman, C. Holly A. Andrilla, Mark P. Doescher
Date: 09/2009
Sponsoring organization: UW Center for Health Workforce Studies
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A Rural Perspective/Commentary Regarding "Transforming the Health Care Delivery System: Proposals to Improve Patient Care and Reduce Health Care Costs"
Outlines the potential impacts of proposed policy reform options from the Senate Finance Committee on rural America. Covers payment reform, long-term payment reforms, healthcare infrastructure investments, Medicare Advantage, and public program integrity.
Author(s): Keith J. Mueller, Andrew F. Coburn, A. Clinton MacKinney, Timothy D. McBride, Rebecca T. Slifkin
Date: 05/2009
Sponsoring organization: Rural Policy Research Institute Rural Health Panel
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