Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Telehealth
Medicare Waiver Expiration & Telehealth FAQs
Provides answers to frequently asked questions regarding the expiration of Medicare telehealth waivers on September 30, 2025. Covers in-person visit requirements, billing procedures, and the applicability of policies across different care settings, including Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) and Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs).
Additional links: Chart: Telehealth Medicare Post-September 30, 2025
Date: 10/2025
Sponsoring organization: Center for Connected Health Policy: The National Telehealth Policy Resource Center
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Provides answers to frequently asked questions regarding the expiration of Medicare telehealth waivers on September 30, 2025. Covers in-person visit requirements, billing procedures, and the applicability of policies across different care settings, including Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) and Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs).
Additional links: Chart: Telehealth Medicare Post-September 30, 2025
Date: 10/2025
Sponsoring organization: Center for Connected Health Policy: The National Telehealth Policy Resource Center
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How States Can Boost Behavioral Health Services in Rural Communities
Explores ways state officials can utilize federal funds to increase mental health and substance use treatment for rural communities. Highlights strategies for increasing access to behavioral health services in rural communities that can be funded through the Rural Health Transformation (RHT) Program.
Author(s): Alexandra Duncan, Kristen Mizzi Angelone
Date: 10/2025
Sponsoring organization: Pew Research Center
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Explores ways state officials can utilize federal funds to increase mental health and substance use treatment for rural communities. Highlights strategies for increasing access to behavioral health services in rural communities that can be funded through the Rural Health Transformation (RHT) Program.
Author(s): Alexandra Duncan, Kristen Mizzi Angelone
Date: 10/2025
Sponsoring organization: Pew Research Center
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Technological Innovation in Rural Health and Human Services Spaces, with Dan Shane
An episode of the Exploring Rural Health podcast featuring Dan Shane, Associate Professor with the RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis. Focuses opportunities for applying technological advances in rural health and human services, potential challenges, and future avenues of development.
Date: 10/2025
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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An episode of the Exploring Rural Health podcast featuring Dan Shane, Associate Professor with the RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis. Focuses opportunities for applying technological advances in rural health and human services, potential challenges, and future avenues of development.
Date: 10/2025
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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Tenecteplase in Practice: A Rural Tele-Stroke Network's Experience
Compares care outcomes of Alteplase and Tenecteplase as thrombolytic agents for acute ischemic stroke in rural populations. Utilizes data of 1,644 patients who received treatment through the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) Telestroke Network.
Author(s): Alexander Vorobyev, Marina Buciuc, Kevin Jacks, et al.
Citation: Journal of Stroke & Cerebrovascular Diseases, 34(10), 108416
Date: 10/2025
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Compares care outcomes of Alteplase and Tenecteplase as thrombolytic agents for acute ischemic stroke in rural populations. Utilizes data of 1,644 patients who received treatment through the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) Telestroke Network.
Author(s): Alexander Vorobyev, Marina Buciuc, Kevin Jacks, et al.
Citation: Journal of Stroke & Cerebrovascular Diseases, 34(10), 108416
Date: 10/2025
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Community Health Centers and Rural Health: Essential Access, Enduring Challenges
Discusses the role community health centers (CHCs) play in delivering primary care in rural areas. Describes the challenges rural CHCs face and strategies to stabilize and strengthen these facilities. Includes data on the rural CHC workforce and the percentage of all CHC patients served by a rural CHC by state. Compares healthcare quality, the percent of medical and mental health visits that were virtual, and the percent of patients with select chronic conditions by rural and urban location.
Date: 09/2025
Sponsoring organizations: National Association of Community Health Centers, WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
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Discusses the role community health centers (CHCs) play in delivering primary care in rural areas. Describes the challenges rural CHCs face and strategies to stabilize and strengthen these facilities. Includes data on the rural CHC workforce and the percentage of all CHC patients served by a rural CHC by state. Compares healthcare quality, the percent of medical and mental health visits that were virtual, and the percent of patients with select chronic conditions by rural and urban location.
Date: 09/2025
Sponsoring organizations: National Association of Community Health Centers, WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
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Study Team Perspectives on a Multisite Randomized Clinical Trial with Underserved Rural Populations: A Mixed Methods Feasibility Analysis
Surveys clinical trial study staff on barriers and facilitators of conducting the iAmHealthy Intervention, a mobile health-based clinical trial focused on addressing obesity among rural families and children. Discusses participant recruitment, engagement, and retention, best practices for communicating study procedures and expectations, experiences working with rural populations, and more.
Author(s): Kristina L. Foster, Sarah Sanders, Christi A. Madden, et al.
Citation: PLoS One, 20(9), e0333229
Date: 09/2025
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Surveys clinical trial study staff on barriers and facilitators of conducting the iAmHealthy Intervention, a mobile health-based clinical trial focused on addressing obesity among rural families and children. Discusses participant recruitment, engagement, and retention, best practices for communicating study procedures and expectations, experiences working with rural populations, and more.
Author(s): Kristina L. Foster, Sarah Sanders, Christi A. Madden, et al.
Citation: PLoS One, 20(9), e0333229
Date: 09/2025
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Creation of a Telehealth Addiction Consultation Service at a Rural Hospital: A Case Study
Details the implementation and evaluation of the Community Addiction Consult (CAC) service, which facilitated medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) treatment and provided other supports for hospital-based addiction care via telehealth consultations by community, non-hospital clinicians in rural Massachusetts. Highlights the significance of the CAC model as a support for improving access to hospital-based substance use disorder treatment in rural areas.
Author(s): Rachel Katz, Tiarra Fisher, Talia Singer-Clark, et al.
Citation: Addiction Science & Clinical Practice, 20, 76
Date: 09/2025
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Details the implementation and evaluation of the Community Addiction Consult (CAC) service, which facilitated medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) treatment and provided other supports for hospital-based addiction care via telehealth consultations by community, non-hospital clinicians in rural Massachusetts. Highlights the significance of the CAC model as a support for improving access to hospital-based substance use disorder treatment in rural areas.
Author(s): Rachel Katz, Tiarra Fisher, Talia Singer-Clark, et al.
Citation: Addiction Science & Clinical Practice, 20, 76
Date: 09/2025
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Stuck in the Middle: Internet Insecurity in Rural America
Reports on internet insecurity and internet use among 2,600 rural households in Michigan and Colorado, with additional data and discussion of factors influencing rural internet access throughout the United States.
Date: 09/2025
Sponsoring organization: Connected Nation
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Reports on internet insecurity and internet use among 2,600 rural households in Michigan and Colorado, with additional data and discussion of factors influencing rural internet access throughout the United States.
Date: 09/2025
Sponsoring organization: Connected Nation
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State Strategies for Strengthening Rural Health: Insights from NASHP's 2025 Annual Conference
Summarizes a session from the National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP) 2025 Annual Conference regarding state strategies to improve access to care in rural communities. Highlights policies from North Dakota, Washington, and West Virginia related to workforce and capacity challenges, broadband and telehealth, behavioral health access points, and linking health and social care.
Date: 09/2025
Sponsoring organization: National Academy for State Health Policy
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Summarizes a session from the National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP) 2025 Annual Conference regarding state strategies to improve access to care in rural communities. Highlights policies from North Dakota, Washington, and West Virginia related to workforce and capacity challenges, broadband and telehealth, behavioral health access points, and linking health and social care.
Date: 09/2025
Sponsoring organization: National Academy for State Health Policy
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MedPAC Comment on CMS's Proposed Rule on CY 2026 Revisions to Payment Policies Under the Physician Fee Schedule and Other Changes to Part B for Payment Policies
Comment on a July 16, 2025, Federal Register proposed rule revising the physician fee schedule to improve payment systems for physicians and other Medicare Part B revisions. Includes a discussion of a proposal to allow Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) and Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) to provide and bill for medical visits via telehealth and be paid at Physician Fee Schedule (PFS)-equivalent rates through December 2026.
Date: 09/2025
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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Comment on a July 16, 2025, Federal Register proposed rule revising the physician fee schedule to improve payment systems for physicians and other Medicare Part B revisions. Includes a discussion of a proposal to allow Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) and Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) to provide and bill for medical visits via telehealth and be paid at Physician Fee Schedule (PFS)-equivalent rates through December 2026.
Date: 09/2025
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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