The House passed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 and sent the bill to the Senate where the Parliamentarian has already judged that a number of the provisions contained in the bill, including the $15 minimum wage, must be removed in order for the bill to...
Congress has cleared the path for congressional committees to create the next stimulus package, currently pegged at $1.9 trillion. An amendment by Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) that was adopted on the Senate floor would establish a deficit-neutral reserve fund relating to strengthening the Provider Relief Fund,...
More than 100 rural hospitals closed from January 2013-February 2020, leading to people living in areas having to travel further to get the same health care services - about 20 miles further for common services like inpatient care and about 40 miles for less common services like...
Following an outcry from the physician community, Congress modified the CY2021 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule payments to cover for the cuts that specialists faced as well as sequestration implementation. CMS put out a notice that they have update the payment system to reflect the 3.75 percent...
CMS has revised its COVID-19 data reporting requirements for hospitals, as well as CAHs, effective with the publication of the Outpatient Prospective Payment rule, scheduled for December 29. The rule expands data reporting to include current inventory supplies of any COVID-19-related therapeutics, current usage rate...
The Covid-19 vaccine has to be stored at -70 degrees Celsius, most rural hospitals can't afford ultra-cold freezers to store it, click here....
Rural residents, as many as 33 percent, may choose to seek inpatient care at hospitals located in urban areas, even though the service is available at nearby rural hospitals, according to a new report released by CMS. Additionally, the highest "bypass rate" was for critical access hospitals...
HHS announced it has awarded $35 million in grants to 50 rural organizations to boost telehealth, the health care workforce, health research, assistance for rural hospitals and HIV care. HHS said about $8.8 million was awarded to 30 organizations across 23 states as part of the...
In a bill sponsored by U.S. Sen. Smith and Sen. Wicker, the PPP Access for Rural Hospitals Act, seeks to waive the affiliation rules to give CAHs and other rural hospitals access to the Payroll Protection Program. Granting smaller non-profit and rural hospitals access to the PPP program...
Before the pandemic, 47 percent of rural providers operated in the red. Since 2010, 128 rural hospitals have closed, with more rural hospitals on track to shut down this year until Congress in March approved $100 billion to health care providers in the CARES Act. So far...