According to the latest tracking poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation, most Americans believe it is a "good thing" that Senate Republicans failed in their effort to pass legislation repealing the Affordable Care Act last month. Six out of 10 respondents indicated that they are...
More Americans are living in hospital deserts, places where the nearest emergency room is 30 or more miles away, as rural hospitals are under increased threat of closure. "Some in Congress have proposed efforts to try to save rural hospitals. A bipartisan group of senators led...
The President's Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis released a draft of their first findings. In the report, the commission states the opioid crisis is a "public health emergency" and urges President Trump to declare a national emergency. [button link="http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/08/02/541071209/should-the-opioid-crisis-be-declared-a-national-emergency" target="_blank" hover_type="default" text="Read Draft of...
See the list of 10 states with top performing rural critical access hospitals and read more about them below. [button link="https://www.hrsa.gov/about/news/pressreleases/2017/hrsa-recognizes-ten-states.html" target="_blank" hover_type="default" text="Read Full Article"] ...
Health Bills to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act could put rural providers in serious hardships, exacerbating the issues they already face. Roger Knak, CEO of the Oklahoma CAH Fairview Regional Medical Center, spoke with Modern Healthcare about the potential impact the proposed health bills could...
The unique needs of the populations served by rural hospitals make their financial health difficult, a new report from the Chartis Center for Rural Health shows. With patients of lower socioeconomic status, and disproportionate Veterans and seniors, rural hospitals are struggling. [button link="http://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/rural-hospitals-struggling-serving-populations-many-health-disparities-report-finds#.WWZaNUHB9U8.twitter" target="_blank" hover_type="default" text="Read...
The FCC formally added Nursing Homes to its $400 million program which provides broadband subsidies to rural health care providers. While this comes as good news for nursing homes, this brings more competition for Critical Access Hospitals as the $400 million dollars cap has already been easily reached each year....
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) new Quality Star Rating list has been released. The lack of a rating for 762 rural hospitals leaves many questioning the usefulness of CMS’ Quality Star Rating program for comparing hospitals. [button link="https://www.ruralhealthresearch.org/alerts/176?utm_source=alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20170620rapid-response" target="_blank" hover_type="default" text="Read Full Article"] ...
As the state of Illinois wraps up its second year without a budget, small hospitals are feeling the strain. Franklin Hospital in Benton, Illinois, says they’re now owed more than $2 million in unpaid Medicaid and state employee health insurance. The 16-bed critical access hospital serves the area...
Reps. Peter Welch (D-VT) and Gregg Harper (R-MS) introduced a bill designed to close a loophole in the 340B drug program that the lawmakers say unfairly allows drug companies to deny legally mandated discounts on orphan drugs to safety-net hospitals and other clinics serving a...