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Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Policy

Nurse Practitioners: A Solution to America's Primary Care Crisis
Examines trends in supply and demand of nurse practitioners (NPs), including projected supply of physicians and NPs in rural areas. Includes a table listing state-level scope-of-practice regulatory restrictions on NPs as of 2018.
Author(s): Peter Buerhaus
Date: 09/2018
Sponsoring organization: American Enterprise Institute
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Indian Health Service: Considerations Related to Providing Advance Appropriation Authority
Examines the effects of budget uncertainty on Indian Health Service (IHS) funding and considerations that should be taken into account if IHS was given advance appropriation authority like the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Focuses on administrative impacts, provider recruitment and retention, and the financial effects for tribes.
Additional links: Full Report
Date: 09/2018
Sponsoring organization: Government Accountability Office
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Examining Barriers to Expanding Innovative, Value-Based Care in Medicare
Presents the September 2018 U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on Medicare efforts to transition from a fee-for-service model to a value-based payment model. Features testimony from physicians and healthcare associations, healthcare systems, first responders, and an information technology association. Testimony briefly addresses rural areas, particularly how broadband access and telehealth can benefit rural Americans.
Additional links: Morgan Reed Testimony
Date: 09/2018
Sponsoring organization: House Energy and Commerce Committee, Subcommittee on Health
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Broadband Internet: FCC's Data Overstate Access on Tribal Lands
Examines the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) data collection methods to evaluate tribal broadband access in order to improve the accuracy of their efforts to fund underserved areas. Addresses scenarios that affect broadband access and offers three recommendations for the FCC.
Additional links: Full Report
Date: 09/2018
Sponsoring organization: Government Accountability Office
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MedPAC Comment on CMS's Proposed Rule on the Physician Fee Schedule and Other Revisions to Part B for CY 2019
Comment on a July 2018 Federal Register proposed rule revising the physician fee schedule to improve payment systems for physicians and other Medicare Part B revisions.
Author(s): Francis J. Crosson
Date: 09/2018
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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Policy Landscape for Community Health Center Integration of Behavioral Health & SUD/OUD Services
Presents the findings from an analysis of community health centers (CHCs) in fourteen states to evaluate the services they offer, and recognize the barriers preventing CHCs from implementing, developing, and sustaining the integration of behavioral health and substance abuse disorder services.
Author(s): Kima Taylor
Date: 08/2018
Sponsoring organization: National Association of Community Health Centers
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Implementing Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder in Rural Settings: A Focus on HIV and Hepatitis C Prevention and Treatment
Provides an overview of the epidemiology of opioid use disorder (OUD) with a focus on HIV and Hepatitis C transmission in the rural U.S. and particularly in rural Indiana. Identifies evidence-based treatments for OUD and their effectiveness in reducing other health issues associated with OUD. Discusses barriers to care and policy and research issues for increasing access to treatment of OUD in rural areas.
Author(s): Jennifer R. Havens, Sharon L. Walsh, P. Todd Korthuis, David A. Fiellin
Citation: Current HIV/AIDS Reports,15(4), 315–323
Date: 08/2018
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2018 Update on Priority Strategies: North Carolina Rural Health Action Plan
Details the progress North Carolina has made in 6 priority areas outlined in the 2014 Rural Health Action Plan. These include investment in local industries, ensuring that childhood settings promote educational success, encouraging healthy eating and active living, screening for and treating substance abuse and mental health issues, educating people about insurance and safety net options, and creating incentives to support recruitment and retention of providers to underserved areas.
Date: 08/2018
Sponsoring organization: North Carolina Institute of Medicine
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Exploring the Rural Context for Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)
Discusses adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and how they may impact rural health. Provides policy recommendations focused on the rural dimensions of ACEs. Addresses categories of ACEs, prevalence in rural areas and for Native populations, federal efforts to address ACEs, and the opioid epidemic. Covers the role of school-based healthcare programs to increase access to pediatric specialty services or linking children to needed non-medical services. Profiles a committee site visit focused on a model ACEs program in New York in Appendix A.
Date: 08/2018
Sponsoring organization: National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services
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Advanced Primary Care: A Key Contributor to Successful ACOs
Reviews the literature on accountable care organizations (ACOs) regarding characteristics of successful ACOs and outcomes for cost, quality, and utilization, including literature on rural ACOs. Analyzes Medicare and National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) data on ACO cost and quality outcomes to assess the role of advanced primary care models such as patient-centered medical homes on ACO success.
Additional links: Executive Summary, White Paper
Author(s): Yalda Jabbarpour, Megan Coffman, Andy Habib, et al.
Date: 08/2018
Sponsoring organizations: Primary Care Collaborative, Robert Graham Center
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