Rural Health
Resources by Type: Document

Medicare Payment Basics: Durable Medical Equipment Payment System
Overview of Medicare payments for medical equipment used to treat beneficiaries at home. Defines durable medical equipment (DME), details the DME fee schedule, and discusses the competitive bidding program (CBP) for DME. Includes information on adjustments to fee schedule payment rates outside of competitive bidding areas (CBAs).
Date: 11/2025
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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Medicare Payment Basics: Ambulance Services Payment System
Provides an overview of Medicare payments for ambulance services. Discusses rural add-on payment policies, geographic categories determining payment rates, super-rural ZIP codes, and ambulance fee schedules.
Date: 11/2025
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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Medicare Payment Basics: Outpatient Hospital Services Payment System
Outlines Medicare's payments for outpatient hospital services, including considerations for rural sole community hospitals.
Date: 11/2025
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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Medicare Payment Basics: Part D Payment System
Overview of the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit, including subsidy amounts, payments to plans, how enrollee premiums are calculated, and benefit and payment updates.
Date: 11/2025
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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Medicare Payment Basics: Physician and Other Health Professional Payment System
Overview of Medicare payments for physician services conducted in a variety of settings including physicians' offices, hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, skilled nursing facilities and other post-acute care settings, hospices, outpatient dialysis facilities, clinical laboratories, and beneficiaries' homes.
Date: 11/2025
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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Medicare Payment Basics: Skilled Nursing Facility Services Payment System
Overview of Medicare payments for skilled nursing and rehabilitation services. Describes what constitutes a skilled nursing facility and how small, rural hospitals and Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) may be used to provide these services with CMS approval. Compares Medicare daily base rates for urban and rural skilled nursing facilities.
Date: 11/2025
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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Medicare Payment Basics: Accountable Care Organizations Payment Systems
Provides an overview of Medicare's Accountable Care Organization (ACO) programs. Discusses the payment mechanics of ACOs, including the maximum shared savings and losses of Medicare Shared Savings Program ACOs by track and level.
Date: 11/2025
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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Medicare Payment Basics: Critical Access Hospitals Payment System
Presents an overview of Medicare payments for Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs). Compares differences in Medicare payments for CAHs, Sole Community Hospitals, and Medicare-Dependent Hospitals.
Date: 11/2025
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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Comparing Trends in Telemedicine Use and Geographic Disparities in Utilization among Patients with Cancer in the United States
Analyzes how telemedicine use varied by rurality among patients with lung or colon cancer during the early COVID-19 pandemic, using 2020-2021 Medicare fee-for-service claims data. Includes data on the use of telehealth, in-person, and emergency department services.
Author(s): Matthew Mackwood, Qianfei Wang, Tor D. Tosteson, et al.
Citation: JCO Oncology Practice, 22(7), 1331-1340
Date: 10/2025
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ASCO State of Cancer Care in America Special Report 2025: Access to Cancer Clinical Trials in the United States
Reports on the value of clinical trials for cancer treatment, barriers to cancer clinical trial access, and state of federally funded cancer research infrastructure in 2025. Includes discussion of rural communities, among other demographic groups.
Author(s): Erin P. Balogh, Laura A. Levit, Joseph M. Unger, et al.
Citation: JCO Oncology Practice, 21, 1746-1758
Date: 10/2025
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