1. CAHs Negotiate with Medicare Advantage Plans

  A new Rural Health Policy Brief examines how administrators of Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) have handled contracts with Medicare Advantage (MA) plans. Most contracts (after negotiation) specified that payments would be cost-based but there were some notable exceptions across lines of service. Some administrators voiced concern about retaining patients if MA contracts were not accepted.

  Click here for the 8 page report.

 
2. HRSA Goes HIT

  HRSA’s new Office of Health Information Technology is being headed by Cheryl Austein Casnoff. The office will help grantees use health information technology (HIT) to improve the quality of care and concentrate on developing an HIT strategy that benefits safety-net providers responding to the needs of the uninsured, underserved, and special needs populations.

  The new office will have three major entities. Two are new: a Division of HIT Policy and a Division of HIT State and Community Assistance. The third entity already exists -- the Office for the Advancement of Telehealth, which was recently housed in the HIV/AIDS Bureau.

3. New U.S.-Mexico Border Health Web Site

  A new U.S.-Mexico Border Health web site has information on sources of health funding, grant-writing for health projects, health topics, links to health agencies in each border state, an overview of federal activities, and a searchable resource database.
The website, funded by HRSA, was created and will be administered by the University of North Dakota’s Rural Assistance Center (RAC).

Click here to go there. 

4. Best Practices for Regional Health Information Organizations
  The Center for Health Transformation (CHT) and IDX Systems Corporation recently reported achievable recommendations to spur the adoption of electronic health records and regional health information organizations (RHIOs), based on the best practices of successful health data exchanges. Drawn from discussions among technology experts, public policy analysts, and leaders of thriving regional networks at the CHT Connectivity Conference, held October 18, 2005, the white paper, "Accelerating Transformation through Health Information Technology", highlights proven and practical strategies for health care providers, federal and state policymakers and other stakeholders.
  Click here for the 54 page report.

5. Broadband Can Deliver Health Services Economically
  Accelerating Internet broadband deployment in the United States could deliver better health services to elderly Americans and individuals with disabilities and slash overall health care costs, according to a new report from the New Millennium Research Foundation.
  The report claims that the most important way broadband may be used is through integrated monitoring and intervention systems for patients with chronic illnesses such as a Veterans Administration chronic disease monitoring program, which has cut hospital admissions by as much as 60 percent and prevented illnesses from getting worse. Broadband is currently not reaching rural areas as quickly as urban areas.
  Click here for the 36 page report, Great Expectations: Potential Economic Benefits to the Nation from Accelerated Broadband Deployment for Older Americans and Americans with Disabilities.

6. EHR Adoption Could Be Slow
  The Bush administration's goal of having electronic health records (EHRs) for most Americans by 2014 is likely to take nearly another decade to achieve, a study has concluded. Although viable EHR technologies have been available for some time, adoption has been slow.
  At the slowest likely rate of EHR adoption, 86.6 percent of physicians in small practices will be using EHRs in 2024 - a decade beyond the target date that President Bush set in 2004.
  The study is detailed in an article, "Predicting the Adoption of Electronic Health Records by Physicians: When Will Health Care Be Paperless?" in the January/February issue of the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association. It acknowledges that “no single tactic will successfully address all the barriers to adoption…”

7. Medication Safety in Rural Hospitals
  What are medication safety practices in small rural hospitals in relation to pharmacist staffing and available technology? A recent national study finds that, depending largely on patient volume, JCAHO accreditation and financial condition, these hospitals face important limits on hours of on site pharmacy coverage and clinical computer availability.
  The majority of hospitals have implemented key safety practices including a do-not-use-abbreviations list, using two patient identifiers for administering medications, having two health professionals independently check doses of high alert medications and a high alert drug list. Only half of the hospitals had implemented all four practices.
  According to the study, these significant relationships between financial condition and medication safety practices support continuation of Medicare policies of ensuring financial stability of small rural hospitals.
  Click here for the 51 page study, Pharmacist Staffing and the Use of Technology in Small Rural Hospitals: Implications for Medication Safety. 

8. New Chair of AHA Rural Section
  Richard Slusky, CEO of Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center in Windsor, Vermont will lead the American Hospital Association's (AHA) Section for Small or Rural Hospitals in 2006. The 23-person governing council represents small or rural hospitals in the AHA's policy process and member services initiatives. Mt. Ascutney Hospital is a critical access hospital, with 23 acute (medical/surgical) and swing beds; 10-bed distinct-part rehabilitation unit; and 50 nursing home beds. It has been recognized for many years as a leader in community health education and prevention programs.

9. HeartPartners Project To End
  Due to changing priorities in Medicare coverage, the HeartPartners demonstration project will come to an end late in February 2006.  The goal of the project had been to reduce the incidence of acute hospital stays while improving medical outcomes and the quality of life for seniors suffering from congestive heart failure.

10. CMS Solving Medicare Part D Problems

  Problems with beneficiary prescriptions?  CMS has assigned regional caseworkers for such problems as eligibility, enrollment, authorization and lack of PDP follow up.  The email address for Region 9 is Ro9drugteam@cms.hhs.gov.

  In addition, a Pharmacy Helpline is available only to pharmacists who encounter problems verifying beneficiaries' eligibility/enrollment in a plan.  That number is 1-866-835-7595.