The RUPRI Rural Health Panel, National Rural Health Association, and West Health are proud to announce a Roadmap for the Future of Rural Health. This roadmap highlights key outcomes from the Future of Rural Health Summit held in November 2024. The Summit report envisions rural communities where health care integrates with public services, local economies, …
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Keith Mueller presented Securing a Better Future for Rural Health at the NRHA Annual Meeting in Atlanta. The session presented findings from the 2024 Future of Rural Health Summit held by RUPRI, NRHA & West Health. Please view the presentation here
READ The Future of Rural Health Report Here The RUPRI Rural Health Panel, the National Rural Health Association (NRHA) and West Health held a facilitated convening in November, 2024 to identify the needs of the rural health communities, build on existingstrengths, and develop a cohesive approach to improving the health of rural Americans through policy. …
The RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis has released a policy brief on Evaluating Medicare Advantage Benchmark Setting Methodology on Rural Counties. The Brief Can Be Found Here Key Findings: PurposeCurrent benchmark setting methods for Medicare Advantage (MA) plans provide incentives based on geography and quality. Plans have used these incentives to offer supplemental …
The RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis has released the 2024 Enrollment Update for Medicare Advantage. The Key Findings: Medicare Advantage (MA) enrollment now exceeds 50 percent of eligible beneficiaries(enrolled in both Part A and Part B) in metropolitan counties (56.1 percent); at thecurrent rate of growth, nonmetropolitan enrollment is expected to exceed 50 …
The RUPRI Health Panel has provided comments to CMS on the Medicare and Medicaid Programs Contract Year 2026 policy and technical changes to the Medicare Advantage program, Prescription Drug Benefit Program, PACE and the Medicare Cost Plan Program. Find the Comments Here
RUPRI Health Panel has provided comments on CMS RFI CMS-4207-NCI Medicare Program: Request for Information on Medicare Advantage Data. READ COMMENT LETTER HERE
RUPRI Graduate Students are highlighted in the latest edition of Iowa Now, the newsletter of the College of Public Health, for their efforts to create a Student Association for Rural Health. Read the Article Here
The RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis has released a new brief on Medicare Advantage Plan Growth in Rural America: Availability of Supplemental Benefits Key Findings Include READ THE BRIEF HERE
RUPRI’s Director, Keith Mueller, testified at a hearing on rural health by the United States Senate Committee on Finance on May 16. The hearing Rural Health Care: Supporting Lives and Improving Communities can be viewed HERE. Dr. Mueller’s Written Testimony and Oral Testimony are now available. WRITTEN TESTIMONY ORAL TESTIMONY
The RUPRI Health Panel has released a new brief, Rural Hospitals’ Perspectives on Health System Affiliation. This brief explores the current trend in hospital affiliation from a rural perspective and offers guidance to rural hospital leaders in navigating a potential affiliation. With an understanding of the rural context and challenges facing rural hospitals, risks and …
The National Rural Health Association (NRHA) awarded the Louis Gorin Award for Outstanding Achievement in Rural Health Care to RUPRI Director Keith Mueller. In announcing the award, NRHA praised Dr. Mueller with the following statement: “Throughout his 40-year career, he has advanced rural health through expert nonpartisan policy analysis, national presentations and testimony, and the …
The RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis has released a new policy brief Partnerships to Address Social Needs across Metropolitan and Non-Metropolitan Prospective Payment System Hospitals and Critical Access Hospitals PurposePartnerships between hospitals and other organizations, such as public health departments and social service organizations, are essential to address monumental challenges like managing pandemics, …
RUPRI Health Panel Provided Comments to CMS-3442-P Proposed Rule: Medicare and Medicaid Programs; Minimum Staffing Standards for Long-Term Care Facilities and Medicaid Institutional Payment Transparency Reporting. November 6th, 2023. Read Comment Letter Here
The RUPRI Health Panel offers comments in response to the Committee on Ways and Means Request for Information regarding Improving Access to Health Care in Rural and Underserved Areas. The comments focus on all five topics included in the RFI. The five topics include comments on: Geographic Payment Difference: The Panel recommends that changes to …
The RUPRI Health Panel responded to a CMS proposed rule CY 2024 Payment Policies Under the PhysicianFee Schedule and Other Changes to Part B Payment and Coverage Policies; Medicare Shared Savings Program. READ COMMENTS HERE
RUPRI Health Panel Provided Comments to CMS-5540-NC Request for Information (RFI) seeking input regarding the design of a future episode-based payment model. August 15th, 2023. Read Comment Letter Here
The RUPRI Health Panel provided comments on the HHS 2023 Smoking Cessation Framework. Read the Comments Here. To be most impactful in rural communities, the Panel recommends a broader approach to tobacco cessation, not just smoking cessation. The prevalence of smokeless tobacco (e.g., snuff, dip, snus, and chewing tobacco) is higher in rural areas than …
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RUPRI Health Panel Provided Comments to CMS-2439-P Proposed Rule: Medicaid Program; Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) Managed Care Access, Finance, and Quality. July 1st, 2023. Read Comment Letter Here
The RUPRI Health Panel submitted comments on CMS-1785-P: Medicare Program: Proposed Hospital PPS for Acute Care Hospitals and the Long-Term Care Hospital PPS and Policy Changes and Fiscal Year 2024 Rates Proposed Rule Read Comments HERE
Keith Mueller presented State and National EMS Policy Recommendations at the 2023 National Rural EMS & Care Conference in April 2023. View Presentation Here
RUPRI Health Panel provided comments to the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions to help identify bipartisan solutions to remedy the U.S. health care workforce shortages. March 20th, 2023. Read Comment Letter Here
The RUPRI Health Panel has released a new brief, The Role of Telehealth in Achieving a High Performing Rural Health System: Priorities in a Post-Pandemic System, as a commentary on the preconditions for the optimum use of telehealth, looking at experiences of telehealth usage during the PHE. KEY CONSIDERATIONThe Panel continues to contribute to discussions …
The RUPRI Health Panel has released a new Policy Brief, State-Based Recommendations to Support Rural Ambulance Agencies. State-Based Recommendations• To ensure access to emergency medical services (EMS) for all rural residents, state legislatures should designate EMS as an essential service and provide a portion of the funding necessary to support the costs of maintaining essential …
RUPRI Health Panel Provided Comments to CMS-4201-P Proposed Rule: Contract Year 2024 Policy and Technical Changes to the Medicare Advantage Program; Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit Program; Medicare Cost Plan Program; Medicare Parts A, B, C, and D. February 13th, 2023. Read Comment Letter Here
The RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis has released a new brief on Changes in Service Offerings Post-System Affiliation in Rural Hospitals. Affiliations between rural hospitals and regional and national health systems have increased from 10 to 30 per year in the 2000s to approximately 30 to 70 per year in the 2010s. This …
The RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis has released a new policy brief COVID-19 Mortality Rates across Noncore, Micropolitan, and Metropolitan Counties by Community Characteristics, December 2020-January 2021. This policy brief examines differences in COVID-19 mortality rates across rural-urban designations and stratifications by geography, county-level sociodemographic factors, and county-level health care factors. Between December …
Research on Nonmetropolitan COVID-19 Cases & Death Rates from the RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis was featured in a December 14, 2022 Scientific American® article on mortality rates in rural. The article, People in Rural Areas Die at Higher Rates Than Those in Urban Areas by Tanya Lewis, highlights RUPRI’s ongoing COVID tracking …
The National Advisory Committee on Rural Health & Human Services (NACRHHS) released a policy brief and recommendations to the Secretary of HHS on Rural Emergency Medical Services. Read the Brief Here The NACRHHS examines pertinent issues that affect the health and well-being of rural Americans through discussions with rural stakeholders. Following each meeting, the Committee …
The National Advisory Committee on Rural Health & Human Services (NACRHHS) released a policy brief and recommendations to the Secretary of HHS on the Rural Emergency Hospital Designation. Read the Brief Here The NACRHHS examines pertinent issues that affect the health and well-being of rural Americans through discussions with rural stakeholders. Following each meeting, the …
The RUPRI Health Panel Releases Evolution of Hospital Designations & Payment in the U.S.: Implications for Rural Hospitals Rural hospital closures have increased over the past few decades, and more are at risk for closure. Medicare hospital payment policies affecting rural hospitals play a significant role in the financial viability of rural hospitals. Programs have been …
RUPRI’s Keith Mueller has been selected by the federal Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to serve on a Delphi Panel tasked with developing consensus on a standard definition for “rural health equity.” A Delphi Panel is a selected panel of experts that participate in a structured process to arrive at a group opinion or …
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The RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis released An Insurance Profile of Rural America: A Chart Book. READ the CHART BOOK HERE Over the past decade, health insurance coverage has changed in major ways in rural areas with shifts towards public and publicly subsidized coverage among the nonelderly – Medicaid, Marketplace plans — and …
The Rural Health Research Gateway will host a Webinar It’s Not Easy Being a Rural Pharmacy – Services, Payments, Closures, and Deserts with Fred Ullrich and Keith Mueller, PhD of the RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis. November 14 at 1:00 pm Eastern. Register for Webinar Here Date: November 14, 2022Time: 10:00 am Pacific, …
The RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis has released an update on Health Insurance Marketplaces: Issuer Participation Trends in Non-Metropolitan Places, 2014-22. Read the Report Here. Key Findings Include: Non-metropolitan counties (counties classified as either micropolitan or noncore using urban influence codes) have had less marketplace participation than metropolitan counties since their implementation in …
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The RUPRI Health Panel submitted a comment letter to CMS responding to Request For Information CMS-4203-NC: Medicare Program: Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment and Ambulatory Surgical Center Payment Systems and Quality Reporting Programs… Rural Emergency Hospitals. READ THE COMMENT LETTER HERE
The RUPRI Health Panel has submitted a response to CMS -17700P Medicare and Medicaid Programs; CY 2023 Payment Policies Under the Physician Fee Schedule and Other Changes to Part B Payment Policies; Medicare Shared Savings Program Requirements. READ THE COMMENT LETTER HERE
The RUPRI Health Panel has responded to a CMS Request for Information on the Medicare Advantage program. READ COMMENT LETTER HERE Rural Perspective on Medicare AdvantageOur comments and feedback are offered from the rural perspective, where Medicare Advantage is an increasingly important source of health care coverage. As of March 2022, MA accounted for 45.7 …
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RUPRI Health Panel Provided Comments to HHS Request for Information (RFI): Initiative to Strengthen Primary Health Care. July 31st, 2022. Read Comment Letter Here
The RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis released a Nursing Homes in Rural America Chartbook. Policymakers are increasingly concerned about the availability of post-acute care and long-term care services in rural areas. In this chartbook, we define nursing homes as Medicare and/or Medicaid certified facilities providing post-acute care (skilled nursing facilities) and/or long-term care …
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RUPRI Health Panel Provided Comments to CMS-1765-P Proposed Rule: Medicare Program; PPS and Consolidated Billing for Skilled Nursing Facilities; Request for Information on Revising Requirements for Long-Term Facilities to Establish Mandatory Minimum Staffing Levels. June 8th, 2022. Read Comment Letter Here
RUPRI Health Panel Provided Comments to CMS-1771-P Proposed Rule: Medicare Program; Hospital Inpatient PPS for Acute Care Hospitals and the Long-Term Care Hospital PPS and Proposed Policy Changes and Fiscal Yar 2023 rates; Quality Programs and Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program Requirements for Eligible Hospitals and Critical Access Hospitals. June 8th, 2022. Read Comment Letter Here
Click Here for Comment Letter The Panel underscores the importance of recognizing the variance in demand for Medicaid access and coverage across non-metro and metro areas. In 2019, the percent of Medicaid coverage in non-metro areas was 22.4 percent, whereas in metro areas the percent of Medicaid coverage was 19.1. The three percent difference signifies …
Click Here for Comment Letter on 47 CFR Part 54 The Panel is encouraged by the efforts of the FCC to increase broadband access for rural providers. We encourage FCC to lead an effort to quantify the actual costs of connecting and operating broadband capacity supporting access to healthcare services. With that information subsidies could …
Listen to Podcast Here If you could hit the reset button on healthcare policy, what would you change? In this week’s episode, Dr. Keith Mueller shares his thoughts on what he would improve given the chance to hit the policy reset button, particularly in rural healthcare. “The pandemic taught us we need flexibility to move …
Meeting the Behavioral Health Needs of Farm Families in Times of Economic Distress. Given recent global economic and climate trends, including those induced by the COVID-19 public health emergency, behavioral health consequences related to economic distress will likely continue as a public health concern for the foreseeable future. The RUPRI Health Panel offers guidance for …
RUPRI Health Panel Provided Comments to CMS-4192-P: Medicare Program; Contract Year 2023 Policy and Technical Changes to the Medicare Advantage and Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit Programs. February 2022. Read Comment Letter Here
This document updates the RUPRI Health Panel’s framework for a high-performing rural health care system, originally published in 2011. It offers a revised vision statement and updates the high-performing rural health system pillars (access, affordability, community health, and quality), and describes an underlying base of equity considerations. Abstract: This brief presents the RUPRI Health Panel’s …
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On October 18 during the morning news program, Washington Journal on C-Span, Keith Mueller & Fred Ullrich discussed research from the RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis on COVID-19’s impact on rural people and places. Watch the interview here.
Dr. Keith Mueller presented “Delivery of Healthcare in Rural America” to the Dakota Wesleyan University on September 28, 2021. View Presentation
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