Membership Drive:
NARHC Memberships run from January 1st through December 31st annually. If you are not a member, click here for the membership form.
Want to save money on your 2009 NARHC Membership dues? Click here for a Membership Recruitment Program form for all of the details.
Want to know more about benefits of being a member? Click on the "About Us" page for all of the details.
Looking for Information regarding upcoming conferences?
Click on the Events tab and scroll down to the appropriate conference. To view the agenda, click on On-Line Registration and Payment and once this screen opens, click on flyer/brochure.
Updated News
October 7, 2008
RHC TA Call on the 21st time has been changed. This call will now take place at 3:00 pm ET. Toll Free number is 888-259-2603 and the Passcode is 107208. Click here for the slides.
If you ever plan to recruit for a physician, PA, NP, CNM or other health professional for your RHC, you won't want to miss this informative call. Participation could save your clinic thousands of dollars in recruiting costs if and when ou need to recruit a health professional for your RHC.
RHC Proposed Rule Comment Period - August 25, 2008
Earlier today, CMS responded to the Congressional and organizational requests for a 60 day extension of the proposed rule comment period by saying NO. Consequently ALL comments in response to the RHC proposed rule must be submitted by 5:00 pm (EASTERN) tomorrow, August 26th.
If there is any good news in all of this, it is that several of the Senators who requested the extension are extremely upset with CMS's refusal to grant this reasonable request. We are in the process of working with these offices to develop a strategy to prevent the unnecessary and inappropriate closure of Rural Health Clinics.
In the meantime, I want to urge everyone to submit comments on the proposed changes. If we have any hope of getting CMS to make the changes necessary to prevent the inappropriate closure of RHCs, then it is imperative that you write.
NARHC Draft Comments
Attached is a copy of the draft comments NARHC intends to submit prior to the August 26th deadline. It is possible that some changes will be made. It is being reviewed for content and it is also being reviewed for typographical and grammatical errors. (Click here for draft comments)
You are encouraged to review these comments and where you think appropriate, submit comments similar to those incorporated in the NARHC document. I would ask that when submitting comments, be as specific and heartfelt as possible. Explain the situation in your community and most importantly, what these proposed changes may mean for access to health care in your community.
Realistically we don't expect CMS to accept everything we've recommended but if we don't ask, it can't happen. Some of these proposals go a bit farther than some might like but again, if you don't push the extremes, you can't change the middle ground either.
Your feedback (with what little time we have) would be appreciated.