Communicating information is critical during emergencies and disasters.
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By understanding the attitudes and beliefs that drive patient behavior, health care organizations “can design messaging that promotes positive health outcomes, including messages deployed during a public health emergency,” writes Erin Fogarty, health education and marketing director for the Livingston County Health Department in Pontiac, Ill.
The shortage of behavioral health care professionals is a serious public health issue, particularly in rural areas. In rural Iowa, some care providers have found successful new pathways to recruit, train and retain behavioral health specialists.
During a roundtable live-streamed this week from Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, CEOs from Dartmouth Health, Maine Health and The University of Vermont Health Network discussed the crisis facing the nation’s rural hospitals and health systems, from workforce shortages to inflation and payer and regulatory concerns.
Hear how the results of a community health needs assessment in Hardeman County, Tennessee, spurred local hospitals to tackle food insecurity with innovative new approaches.
Congress should support flexible payment options and update reimbursement rates to help rural hospitals overcome the challenges that threaten access to care in rural communities, the AHA told the Senate Finance Subcommittee on Health Care in a statement submitted for a hearing May 17 on the issue.
AHA urged leaders of the House (LINK) and Senate (LINK) Appropriations Subcommittees on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education to give favorable funding consideration in fiscal year 2024 to health care programs shown to improve access to quality health care for patients and communities.
Sen. Roger Marshall, M.D., R-Kan., opened the federal forum closing plenary by running down a list of concerns facing hospitals in his home state, and the value of the rural emergency hospital model to support remote communities.
The Rural Health Redesign Center helps interested critical access hospitals and rural hospitals with 50 or fewer beds transition to Medicare’s new Rural Emergency Hospital designation. Learn more about the designation and its payment implications in this podcast from AHA’s special series on rural care providers.
Health care leaders can develop “specific competencies and skills that can contribute to effective crisis management,” write Helena Bonfitto and Benjamin Wise, senior program managers for AHA Funded Partnerships.
Three rural health care policy experts talk about the challenges, goals and opportunities in the context of AHA’s 2023 rural agenda.
A new Senate bill has won AHA’s backing due to the way it would provide rural hospitals with a much-needed financial lifeline
Sens. Bob Casey, D-Pa., and Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, have introduced the Rural Hospital Support Act (S.1110), AHA-supported legislation that would make permanent the Medicare-dependent Hospital program and enhanced low-volume Medicare adjustment for small rural prospective payment system hospitals.
AHA today voiced support for bipartisan legislation that would create a Rural
The Federal Communications Commission today released a final rule adopting changes proposed last year to the Rural Health Care Program to improve the accuracy of urban and rural rates, funding cap rules and invoicing for the program, among other changes.
Quality improvement initiatives create “a living, breathing network of providers and patients working together to achieve optimal outcomes for all communities,” writes Benjamin Wise, senior program manager of communications strategy for AHA Funded Partnerships, highlighting key takeaways from a roundtable discussion at the AHA Rural Health Care Leadership Conference in February.
The latest from the 2023 Rural Health Care Leadership Conference.
Bolivar (Tenn.) General Hospital and its CEO, Ruby Kirby, will receive the
Commenting on CMS' proposed Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters for 2024, AHA voiced support for proposals to designate certain behavioral health provider types and Rural Emergency Hospitals as essential community providers, among other proposals.
CMS released new guidance and FAQs outlining the requirements and process for eligible rural and critical access hospitals interested in converting to a Rural Emergency Hospital, a new Medicare provider type effective Jan. 1.