The NRHA provides a regulatory guide to the NRHA membership on a CMS proposed rule to change the conditions of participation of Rural Health Clinics (RHC) and make payment changes for RHCs and Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) under Medicare. The proposed rule could have a radical impact on rural and frontier safety net providers. The guide explains the proposed rule and the proposed changes, shares NRHA's planned comments that will be offered to CMS regulators and gives details on how rural advocates can submit their own comments on the proposed rule. View Full Story

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the fiscal year 2009 hospital inpatient prospective payment system (IPPS) final rule July 31. The rule is intended to focused on quality measures and hospital quality improvement programs. As part of these efforts, CMS added 13 quality measures and removed a single measure from the quality reporting measures that a hospital must report to receive the full market basket update of 3.6 percent. The NRHA had been strongly opposed to the list of 43 new measures in the proposed rule as being overly burdensome to rural hospitals. The association applauds the reduction in the final list, however, we must note that only four of the final measures were adopted by the Hospital Quality Alliance and that CMS expects to finalize two more measures in the hospital outpatient prospective payment system rule later in the fall. The final rule will take effect on Oct. 1, 2008. 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to pressure of NRHA members and congressional supporters, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has withdrawn a proposed rule on the designation of Medically Underserved Populations and Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSA).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

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has published a proposed rule impacting Rural Health Clinic (RHC) and Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) operations. The proposed rule is now available here online. View Full Story

Thanks to the pressure of NRHA members and congressional supporters, HRSA has extended the comment period for the proposed HPSA/MUP rule by 30 days, this time until June 30. The NRHA submitted comments last week, which are now available online. The delay should give you a chance to submit your own thoughts to HRSA. View Full Story

On May 29, the NRHA submitted comments to the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) concerning the proposed combined methodology for determining designation as a Health Professional Shortage Area and/or Medically Underserved Population. This change in methodology could have a radical impact on the ability of rural and frontier communities to recruit additional providers to their community. View Full Story

The NRHA's draft comment letter to a new proposed rule on shortage areas (HPSA and MUP) is now available online for review and to use as a basis for your own comments. Comments are due Thursday, May 29th by 5 PM ET. View Full Story

A new proposed combined methodology for determining designation as a Health Professional Shortage Area and/or Medically Underserved Population has been released. The NRHA provides this regulatory guide to explain the proposed methodology, to explain some how this could impact rural America, to share our initial intent on comments NRHA offers to HRSA regulators, and to give details on how rural advocates can submit their own comments on the proposed rule. View Full Story