Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Telehealth
Ensuring Medicare Beneficiary Access: A Path to Telehealth Permanency
Recording of a November 14, 2023, U.S. Senate Committee on Finance Subcommittee on Health Care hearing on the role of telehealth in improving access to care and the potential to make COVID-19 Medicare flexibilities permanent. Features testimony from Nicki Perisho, Principal Investigator and Program Director for the Northwest Regional Telehealth Resource Center, and Eric Wallace, Medical Director for the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Health System Telehealth Program.
Additional links: Eric Wallace, UAB Health System Telehealth Program - Testimony, Nicki Perisho, Northwest Regional Telehealth Resource Center - Testimony
Date: 11/2023
Sponsoring organization: Senate Committee on Finance, Subcommittee on Health Care
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Recording of a November 14, 2023, U.S. Senate Committee on Finance Subcommittee on Health Care hearing on the role of telehealth in improving access to care and the potential to make COVID-19 Medicare flexibilities permanent. Features testimony from Nicki Perisho, Principal Investigator and Program Director for the Northwest Regional Telehealth Resource Center, and Eric Wallace, Medical Director for the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Health System Telehealth Program.
Additional links: Eric Wallace, UAB Health System Telehealth Program - Testimony, Nicki Perisho, Northwest Regional Telehealth Resource Center - Testimony
Date: 11/2023
Sponsoring organization: Senate Committee on Finance, Subcommittee on Health Care
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Calendar Year (CY) 2024 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule
Fact sheet providing an overview of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) final rule regarding updates and changes to the Medicare payments under the Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) and other Medicare Part B issues for calendar year 2024. Summarizes provisions related to paying separately for Community Health Integration, Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) Risk Assessment, and Principal Illness Navigation services; telehealth services; mental health visits furnished by Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) and Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), including marriage and family therapists and mental health counselors as eligible for payment at RHCs and FQHCs; and more.
Date: 11/2023
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
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Fact sheet providing an overview of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) final rule regarding updates and changes to the Medicare payments under the Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) and other Medicare Part B issues for calendar year 2024. Summarizes provisions related to paying separately for Community Health Integration, Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) Risk Assessment, and Principal Illness Navigation services; telehealth services; mental health visits furnished by Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) and Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), including marriage and family therapists and mental health counselors as eligible for payment at RHCs and FQHCs; and more.
Date: 11/2023
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
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Health is Primary: Charting a Path to Equity and Sustainability
Examines factors driving the downward trends in primary care, including fewer clinicians practicing primary care, fewer available appointments, lower spending on primary care, and fewer adults reporting that they have a usual source of primary care. Features a literature review, supply and demand analysis, and recommendations for potential solutions. Mentions rural throughout.
Additional links: Slide Presentation
Author(s): Alison Huffstetler, Ann Greiner, Anam Siddiqi, et al.
Date: 11/2023
Sponsoring organizations: Primary Care Collaborative, Robert Graham Center
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Examines factors driving the downward trends in primary care, including fewer clinicians practicing primary care, fewer available appointments, lower spending on primary care, and fewer adults reporting that they have a usual source of primary care. Features a literature review, supply and demand analysis, and recommendations for potential solutions. Mentions rural throughout.
Additional links: Slide Presentation
Author(s): Alison Huffstetler, Ann Greiner, Anam Siddiqi, et al.
Date: 11/2023
Sponsoring organizations: Primary Care Collaborative, Robert Graham Center
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Use of Telemedicine and Quality of Care Among Medicare Enrollees With Serious Mental Illness
Examines telemedicine use during the COVID-19 pandemic among Medicare beneficiaries with mental illness. Analyzes levels of telemental use by mental health practices who saw patients with schizophrenia or bipolar I disorder the year before the COVID-19 pandemic and during the first pandemic year. Discusses patient outcomes and quality of care as correlated with telemental use, with data broken down according to practice characteristics and patient demographics, including rurality.
Author(s): Andrew D. Wilcock, Haiden A. Huskamp, Alisa B. Busch, et al.
Citation: JAMA Health Forum, 4(10)
Date: 10/2023
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Examines telemedicine use during the COVID-19 pandemic among Medicare beneficiaries with mental illness. Analyzes levels of telemental use by mental health practices who saw patients with schizophrenia or bipolar I disorder the year before the COVID-19 pandemic and during the first pandemic year. Discusses patient outcomes and quality of care as correlated with telemental use, with data broken down according to practice characteristics and patient demographics, including rurality.
Author(s): Andrew D. Wilcock, Haiden A. Huskamp, Alisa B. Busch, et al.
Citation: JAMA Health Forum, 4(10)
Date: 10/2023
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Telemedicine Buprenorphine Initiation and Retention in Opioid Use Disorder Treatment for Medicaid Enrollees
Evaluated buprenorphine treatment via telemedicine and overdose outcomes for 91,914 people in Kentucky and Ohio on Medicaid in 2020 to determine the impact of telemedicine on treatment retention and opioid-related nonfatal overdose. Includes discussion on the implications for rural residents.
Author(s): Lindsey R. Hammerslag, Aimee Mack, Redonna K. Chandler, et al.
Citation: JAMA Network Open, 6(10), e2336914
Date: 10/2023
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Evaluated buprenorphine treatment via telemedicine and overdose outcomes for 91,914 people in Kentucky and Ohio on Medicaid in 2020 to determine the impact of telemedicine on treatment retention and opioid-related nonfatal overdose. Includes discussion on the implications for rural residents.
Author(s): Lindsey R. Hammerslag, Aimee Mack, Redonna K. Chandler, et al.
Citation: JAMA Network Open, 6(10), e2336914
Date: 10/2023
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Data Element Identification and Data Collection Procedures for the HRSA Direct-to-Consumer Evidence Based Telehealth Network Program
Provides an overview of the development of a common set of data elements to evaluate the Office of the Advancement of Teleheath's Evidence Based Telehealth Network Program, which aims to build an evidence base for telehealth in rural settings. Outlines 27 patient-level, encounter-level, and outcome data elements on patients who receive direct-to-consumer telehealth services and a comparable group of patients who receive in-person services. Describes data collection and management procedures.
Author(s): Marcia M. Ward, Kimberly Merchant, Fred Ullrich, et al.
Date: 10/2023
Sponsoring organization: Rural Telehealth Research Center
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Provides an overview of the development of a common set of data elements to evaluate the Office of the Advancement of Teleheath's Evidence Based Telehealth Network Program, which aims to build an evidence base for telehealth in rural settings. Outlines 27 patient-level, encounter-level, and outcome data elements on patients who receive direct-to-consumer telehealth services and a comparable group of patients who receive in-person services. Describes data collection and management procedures.
Author(s): Marcia M. Ward, Kimberly Merchant, Fred Ullrich, et al.
Date: 10/2023
Sponsoring organization: Rural Telehealth Research Center
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Use of Prenatal Telehealth in the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic
Examines the use of telehealth for prenatal appointments during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Utilizes Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) data to analyze 12,073 respondents who gave birth between June and December 2020, with data broken down according to insurance type, race/ethnicity, marital status, age, health conditions, and rurality.
Author(s): Rebecca A. Gourevitch, Amylee Anyoha, Mir M. Ali, Priscilla Novak
Citation: JAMA Network Open, 6(10)
Date: 10/2023
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Examines the use of telehealth for prenatal appointments during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Utilizes Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) data to analyze 12,073 respondents who gave birth between June and December 2020, with data broken down according to insurance type, race/ethnicity, marital status, age, health conditions, and rurality.
Author(s): Rebecca A. Gourevitch, Amylee Anyoha, Mir M. Ali, Priscilla Novak
Citation: JAMA Network Open, 6(10)
Date: 10/2023
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Telehealth and the Future of Health Care Access in California
Fact sheet offering an overview of telehealth use in California in 2022. Discusses patterns of use by insurance status, age, income, race and ethnicity, language, and geography including rurality.
Additional links: Infographic
Author(s): Sean Tan
Date: 10/2023
Sponsoring organization: UCLA Center for Health Policy Research
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Fact sheet offering an overview of telehealth use in California in 2022. Discusses patterns of use by insurance status, age, income, race and ethnicity, language, and geography including rurality.
Additional links: Infographic
Author(s): Sean Tan
Date: 10/2023
Sponsoring organization: UCLA Center for Health Policy Research
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Recovering from a Cybersecurity Attack and Protecting the Future in Small, Rural Health Organizations
Discusses the impact cyber-attacks can have on rural healthcare facilities. Features two Critical Access Hospital leaders describing attacks at their organizations. Shares insights from an information technology compliance expert, including actions organizations can take to protect themselves.
Author(s): Tami Lichtenberg
Citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 10/2023
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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Discusses the impact cyber-attacks can have on rural healthcare facilities. Features two Critical Access Hospital leaders describing attacks at their organizations. Shares insights from an information technology compliance expert, including actions organizations can take to protect themselves.
Author(s): Tami Lichtenberg
Citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 10/2023
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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Changes in Healthcare Utilization Among Medicare Beneficiaries With Diabetes 2 Years Into the COVID-19 Pandemic
Examines changes in healthcare service use by people with diabetes over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, utilizing 2018-2021 Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) beneficiary data. Includes rural versus urban comparisons of month-by-month and year-by-year changes in usage of telehealth and inpatient services.
Author(s): Xilin Zhou, Linda J. Andes, Deborah B. Rolka, Giuseppina Imperatore
Citation: AJPM Focus, 2(3), 100117
Date: 09/2023
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Examines changes in healthcare service use by people with diabetes over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, utilizing 2018-2021 Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) beneficiary data. Includes rural versus urban comparisons of month-by-month and year-by-year changes in usage of telehealth and inpatient services.
Author(s): Xilin Zhou, Linda J. Andes, Deborah B. Rolka, Giuseppina Imperatore
Citation: AJPM Focus, 2(3), 100117
Date: 09/2023
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