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Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Policy

Caring for People with Serious Illness: Lessons Learned from the COVID-19 Pandemic: Proceedings from a Workshop
Proceedings from a three-part workshop to explore the initial responses to the pandemic by healthcare teams providing care to people with serious illness, the impact of the pandemic on the healthcare workforce, use of telehealth, issues related to communicating with the public about health emergencies, and policy opportunities to improve care for people with serious illness. Mentions rural throughout.
Additional links: Read Online
Date: 2022
Sponsoring organization: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
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The Future of Nursing Podcast
Podcast series exploring strategies for the nursing profession to advance health equity.
Date: 2022
Sponsoring organization: National Academy of Medicine
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U.S. Health Care Expenditures: Costs, Lessons, and Opportunities
Summarizes a March 15-16, 2021, workshop exploring issues related to increasing healthcare spending in the United States. Provides an overview of the scope of healthcare spending in the United States, innovations implemented to address spending, and the role of research in policy change. Includes information on rural payment models.
Additional links: Read Online
Date: 2022
Sponsoring organization: Health and Medicine Division (HMD), National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
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The National Imperative to Improve Nursing Home Quality: Honoring Our Commitment to Residents, Families, and Staff
Examines how the United States delivers, finances, regulates, and measures the quality of nursing home care. Discusses the nursing home care landscape, quality measurement and improvement, workforce, safety, payment and financing, and health information technology. Identifies seven goals and supporting recommendations that provide a framework for a comprehensive approach to improving the quality of care in nursing homes.
Additional links: Read Online
Author(s): Board on Health Care Services
Date: 2022
Sponsoring organization: Health and Medicine Division (HMD), National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
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Experiences of Health Centers in Implementing Telehealth Visits for Underserved Patients During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Results from the Connected Care Accelerator Initiative
Offers an analysis of telehealth implementation in safety net settings with a focus on Federally Qualified Health Centers based on health center-provided telehealth visit data from February 2019-August 2021, as well as interviews with leadership and staff. Covers trends in telehealth use in health centers that participate in the California Health Care Foundation's Connected Care Accelerator initiative, the perceptions of health center leaders and staff, and implications for future policy, practice, and investigation.
Author(s): Lori Uscher-Pines, Natasha Arora, Maggie Jones, et al.
Date: 2022
Sponsoring organization: RAND Corporation
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The Rural Health Safety Net Under Pressure: Understanding the Potential Impact of COVID-19
Examines the stability of the rural health safety net at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Outlines key factors that will influence the impact of COVID-19 on rural healthcare, including access to intensive care unit beds, outpatient service revenues, and rural provider days cash on hand. Highlights provisions of the CARES Act aimed at mitigating the impact of the pandemic on rural hospitals.
Date: 2022
Sponsoring organization: Chartis Center for Rural Health
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Ending Surprise Medical Bills
Offers resources for healthcare providers and consumers regarding surprise billing regulations and policies. Includes information on payment dispute resolution between patients and providers, and between providers and out-of-network health plans.
Date: 2022
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
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Expanding Pharmacists' Prescriptive Authority: Options for Reform
Explores why states may want to consider expanding pharmacists' prescriptive authority. Presents state policy options for expanding prescriptive authority for pharmacists, including advantages and disadvantages of each and examples from states. Also addresses potential concerns about the increased prescriptive authority of pharmacists.
Author(s): James Broughel, Elise Amez-Droz
Date: 12/2021
Sponsoring organization: Mercatus Center
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ASTHO Legislative Prospectus: Rural Health
Discusses legislative trends to support rural healthcare access and facilities. Includes information on developing loan repayment programs for medical providers in rural areas, supporting behavioral healthcare, expanding telehealth, and creating broadband infrastructure.
Date: 12/2021
Sponsoring organization: Association of State and Territorial Health Officials
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State Policy Changes Could Increase Access to Opioid Treatment via Telehealth
Issue brief discussing barriers to opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment via telehealth and policy recommendations to support telehealth, including reimbursement and regulatory policies. Discusses issues of broadband access, infrastructure, and data collection in relation to telehealth implementation.
Date: 12/2021
Sponsoring organization: Pew
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