RHIhub This Week - May 27, 2026
As an information clearinghouse on rural health issues, RHIhub provides access to a wide range of resources on relevant topics. Inclusion on RHIhub does not imply endorsement of, or agreement with, the contents by RHIhub or the Health Resources and Services Administration.
A New Network of Rural Providers in Arkansas Looks to Take On The 'Needs and Pain Points' of Behavioral Healthcareby Gretel Kauffman The Arkansas Rural Behavioral Health Access Network hopes to answer a question known to rural providers everywhere: How do we make sure all patients are able to get the care they need? |
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May 27, 2026 -- Describes a telehealth program connecting patients in New Hampshire and Vermont rural hospitals with neonatologists. Notes that nearly half of babies receiving a consult are able to stay at their local facility. Success of the program led to expanding into outpatient high-risk obstetrics care and fetal-maternal medicine services. Expansion into emergency obstetrics is also planned. Source: HealthLeaders Media What to Know About the Current State of Bird Flu in the U.S.: A Conversation with Shawn Gibbs May 22, 2026 -- Discusses the current H5N1 risks in the U.S. for farmworkers and others. Discusses use of personal protective equipment and the role of public health departments in building community trust for improved reporting and prevention efforts. Source: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine News Feenstra Introduces Legislation to Extend Rural Hospital Program May 21, 2026 -- Announces proposed legislation to extend the Rural Community Hospital Demonstration (RCHD) Program for 5 more years. RCHD allows for innovative hospital payment models to support rural facilities. Source: Office of Representative Randy Feenstra New Program Could Bring Low-Cost Generic Drugs to Rural Hospitals May 20, 2026 -- The Helmsley Charitable Trust is funding a pilot program through the Civica Foundation that will give participating hospitals access to a consistent supply of drugs at wholesale prices, without having to buy in bulk. Dozens of independent hospitals in rural areas of Montana, Nevada, and Wyoming are eligible. Source: Wyoming Public Media Federal RegisterCMS: Medicaid Program: Medicaid Managed Care State Directed Payments and Medicaid Fee-for-Service Targeted Medicaid Practitioner PaymentsMay 22, 2026 -- Notice of proposed rule from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services describing alternatives to modify the limit on the total payment rate and other requirements for State directed payments in Medicaid managed care. This rule also proposes to set a limit for certain targeted Medicaid payments in Medicaid fee-for-service. Includes rural considerations throughout. Comments are due July 21, 2026. Source: Federal Register |
Loan repayment for eligible clinicians who provide pediatric medical subspecialty, pediatric surgical specialty, or child and adolescent behavioral healthcare including substance use disorder prevention and treatment services. In exchange for loan repayment, participants agree to 3 years of full-time service at an approved site. Geographic coverage: Nationwide Application Deadline: Jun 30, 2026 Sponsors: Bureau of Health Workforce, Health Resources and Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Pediatric Specialty Loan Repayment Program Site Activation Apply to be an approved Pediatric Specialty Loan Repayment Program site to receive assistance with recruitment and retention of qualified pediatric clinicians. Geographic coverage: Nationwide Application Deadline: Jun 30, 2026 Sponsors: Bureau of Health Workforce, Health Resources and Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Native Voices Rising Grants General operating support grants designed to strengthen Native-led organizations that are improving the lives of their community members. Geographic coverage: Nationwide Application Deadline: Jul 3, 2026 Sponsors: Common Counsel Foundation, Native Americans in Philanthropy NOSORH Rural Health University: Level II Developing Competitive Grant Proposals Level II of NOSORH's Grant Writing Institute is a live webinar series designed to help individuals working in rural and underserved settings move from project planning to full proposal preparation. Through 6 virtual sessions, participants will build grant writing skills while developing key proposal components, including logic models, work plans, evaluation plans, budgets, and proposal narratives. Geographic coverage: Nationwide Application Deadline: Jul 7, 2026 Sponsor: National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health Public Transportation on Indian Reservations Program: Tribal Transit Program Funding to support planning, capital, and operating assistance for tribal public transit services in rural areas. Among other things, this funding supports partnerships working to expand access to health, medical, and social service providers. Geographic coverage: Nationwide Application Deadline: Aug 25, 2026 Sponsors: Federal Transit Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation |
County-level dataset containing the county Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) code, county, state, and indicator of whether each county had hospital-based obstetrics care in years 2010-2024. Available for download as an XLS file. Sponsoring organization: University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center Date: 05/2026 2024 QPP Participation and Performance Results: At-a-Glance Provides an overview of the results of the Quality Payment Program (QPP) for the 2024 performance year. Highlights the percentages of small and rural providers receiving negative, neutral, and positive payment adjustments for 2026. Sponsoring organization: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Date: 05/2026 Aging Well in Rural America: Partnerships, Policy, and Progress Podcast episode describing the beginnings of and next steps for the National Rural Health Association's Age-Friendly Initiative. Discusses social connection in rural communities, community collaborations, and age-friendly care work in the Rural Health Transformation Program proposals. Sponsoring organization: Trust for America's Health Date: 04/2026 Consensus-Based Entity 2025 Annual Report to Congress and the Secretary of Health and Human Services Summarizes the work of Battelle's Partnership for Quality Measurement (PQM) to measure healthcare quality in 2025. Includes references to rural and low-volume settings throughout. Sponsoring organization: Partnership for Quality Measurement Date: 02/2026 The Decentralized Academic Health Center: A 21st-Century Model for Rural Health Innovation Discusses the role of academic health centers in addressing rural health needs and proposes the Decentralized Academic Health Center (D-AHC) model. Compares the traditional model with D-AHC and discusses implementation through teaching and workforce, research and data, clinical partnerships and digital health, community engagement and policy, financial sustainability, and provider and community readiness. Includes a 5-phase roadmap for implementation. Author(s): Patrick C. Hardigan, Johannes Vieweg Location: Health Affairs Scholar, 4(5) Date: 05/2026 Financing and Sustaining Integrated Behavioral Health in Primary Care Settings Toolkit Interactive toolkit aims to help primary care providers build and maintain financially sustainable integrated behavioral health (IBH) models into their practices. Highlights models for creating funding streams that can sustain IBH models. Provides substance use resources, a literature collection, and case studies, among other resources, to support IBH program planning and implementation. Sponsoring organization: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Get Your Bearings on Small Census Geographies Webinar recording discussing small geographies in the decennial census and American Community Survey. Discusses blocks, block groups, tracts, ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs), places, and counties. Transcript included beneath the video player. Sponsoring organization: U.S. Census Bureau Date: 04/2026 Governors' Policy Actions on Behavioral Health Access Provides examples of behavioral health priorities outlined in state Rural Health Transformation Programs, including integrated care models, scaling telehealth services, and workforce incentives. Describes how states can incorporate supplemental grant funding to promote sustainable growth of the behavioral health workforce. Sponsoring organization: National Governors Association Date: 05/2026 How Do Changes in Medicare Reimbursement for Mental Health Services Impact Access for Rural Older Adults? Examines how policies allowing marriage and family therapists (MFTs) and mental health counselors (MHCs) to independently bill Medicare have impacted mental healthcare access among Medicare beneficiaries living in rural areas. Utilizes interview data from 14 leaders representing rural health systems and mental health organizations regarding their perceptions on mental healthcare access, Medicare reimbursement policy, and the inclusion of MFTs and MHCs as mental health providers for Medicare recipients. Author(s): Natalia V. Oster, C. Holly A. Andrilla, Davis G. Patterson, Signe Burchim, Janessa M. Graves Location: Journal of Rural Health, 42(2), e70162 Date: 05/2026 Lessons From Rural Communities: Five Tips for Community-Based Organizations Engaging in Research Offers 5 considerations for community-based organizations conducting research in rural communities, discussing building networks, considering community needs, centering local knowledge and experiences, measured metrics, and sustainability. Sponsoring organization: NIH Community Engagement Alliance Date: 05/2026 Reaching Rural Veterans: Applying Mind-Body Skills for Pain Using a Whole Health Telehealth Intervention: The RAMP Pilot Study Explores the efficacy of a pilot program which uses telehealth to provide non-pharmacological pain management to rural veterans. Evaluates the amount of pre-specified milestones for recruitment and enrollment, patient satisfaction, and data collection, among other measures, met by the pilot program. Author(s): Katherine Hadlandsmyth, Roni Evans, Brent D. Leininger, et al. Location: Contemporary Clinical Trials, 162, 108254 Date: 03/2026 RHTP Year 1 Awards Resources A collections of resources focused on Year 1 of the Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP). Includes a calendar showing funding deadlines for each state, a map showing state-level progress on RHTP initiatives, and a directory of RHTP state contacts. Sponsoring organization: National Rural Health Association Rural Health Transformation Fund: Workforce Trends and Implications for Rural Care Webinar presenting findings from a review of all 50 state Rural Health Transformation Fund plans, examining how workforce issues are framed, strategies that states are prioritizing, and how telehealth and digital health are reflected in workforce planning. Also explores the challenge of maintaining the workforce needed to support technology-enabled care in rural settings. Additional links: PowerPoint, Transcript Sponsoring organization: National Consortium of Telehealth Resource Centers Date: 05/2026 Rural Hospital Dashboard Dashboard providing data on hospital closures and associated hospital and county characteristics using 2012-2023 HCRIS, AHRF, and County Health Ranking Files data. Select individual facilities to access facility and county-specific data. Sponsoring organization: HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation States Find Innovative Ways to Support Rural and Small Water Systems Discusses strategies that state have implemented to provide clean and affordable water to rural communities. Highlights maintenance costs of small water systems, funding challenges, and provides successful practices for states to support local water systems. Sponsoring organization: Pew Date: 05/2026 Survivor Views on Rural Health Presents findings from a survey of rural, urban, and suburban cancer patients and survivors on healthcare affordability, medical debt, provider access, cancer screening, patient navigation services, and other topics related to access to care. Sponsoring organization: American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) Date: 05/2026 Urgent Care Center and Retail Health Clinic Use: United States, 2024 Examines 2024 urgent care center and retail health clinic use in the United States by age and urbanization of large central metropolitan, large fringe metropolitan, medium and small metropolitan, or nonmetropolitan. Sponsoring organization: National Center for Health Statistics Date: 05/2026 |
Deadline: Jun 5, 2026 National Association for State Community Services Programs Event Dates: Sep 21 - 25, 2026 Houston, TX Conference Website Call for Abstracts: 2026 Rural Renewal Symposium Deadline: Jul 17, 2026 Oklahoma State University Extension, Rural Renewal Initiative Event Dates: Oct 27 - 28, 2026 Hulbert, OK Conference Website |
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