National Rural Health Association

The NRHA applauds the passage of S. 901, the Health Care Safety Net Act which provides $12.9 billion dollars for rural and medically underserved areas. On July 22, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed S. 901; the House of Representatives earlier passed a similar bill. The act reauthorizes and strengthens three programs which together provide a safety net will help millions of rural Americans each year access needed health care services. View Full Story

Plan now to attend the Rural Health Clinic Conference October 14-15 and Critical Access Hospital Conference October 15-17 in beautiful Savannah, Ga. Each conference is the best of its kind and was designed exclusively for the needs and concerns of CAH and RHC administrators, leadership and staff. View Full Story

On the same day President Bush vetoed H.R. 6331, Congress overwhelmingly overrode that veto. The House of Representatives voted 383-41 and the Senate voted 70-26. Both the House and Senate had more votes to override the veto than were originally cast to send the bill to the president. The NRHA strongly supported passage of the bill, which provides nearly $2 billion critical dollars to rural America and eliminates the pending 10.6 percent cut in Medicare payments to physicians through December 2009. View Full Story

Thanks to pressure of NRHA members and congressional supporters, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has withdrawn a proposed rule on the designation of Medically Underserved Populations and Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSA). After extending the public comment period on two different occasions, HRSA determined that due to receiving "many substantive comments on the proposed rule," the department "will issue a new notice of proposed rulemaking for further review and public comment prior to issuing a final rule." View Full Story