News

New Policies Increase Reimbursement to Critical Access Hospitals in Rural Areas
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently announced two new policies that will increase reimbursement to critical access hospitals for services to Medicare beneficiaries, and will allow these hospitals to use up to 25 beds for acute care services. These policies implement provisions in the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 intended to bolster health care services in rural areas.

As a result of these changes, payments to the 863 critical access hospitals that play a crucial role in the delivery of rural health care are expected to increase by $900 million over the next ten years.

Critical access hospitals are limited-service hospitals located in rural areas that receive cost-based reimbursement. To be designated a critical access hospital, a facility must, among other requirements: (1) be located in a county or equivalent unit of a local government in a rural area; (2) be located more than a 35-mile drive from a hospital or another health care facility; or (3) be certified by the State as being a necessary provider of health care services to residents in the area.

Under policies in effect prior to the new Medicare law, these hospitals could not have more than 15 beds for acute care. As a result of the new law, as implemented by the policies announced today, a critical access hospital can have up to 25 beds designated as either acute care beds or swing beds that may at times be used for acute care, and at other times for post-acute care.

In addition to increasing the permissible number of beds, the new policies put into effect a provision of Medicare law that increases the payment for both inpatient and outpatient services rendered by critical access hospitals from 100 percent to 101 percent of reasonable costs.

Report on the Status of Oral Health Care Services in Appalachia Now Available
To learn more about access to oral health care in rural areas, the National Health Policy Forum at The George Washington University has published "Improving Oral Health: Promise and Prospects." This paper examines the issues affecting access to oral health care, and illustrates some of the major barriers to dental care, particularly the shortage of dentists willing to serve low-income and uninsured patients and the overall lack of growth in the dental workforce. View the full report on the NHPF Web site.

New Study Recommends Ways to Improve the Financial Status of Rural Home Health Agencies in Pennsylvania and in the Nation
The University of Pittsburgh Center for Rural Health Practice housed at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, recently released a report highlighting the results of a year-long study investigating the financial vulnerability of home health agencies. The research was directed by Michael Meit, director of the Center for Rural Health Practice (and Pennsylvania's representative to the Appalachian Regional Commission's Appalachian Health Policy Advisory Council). The study provides recommendations to improve the financial status of rural home health agencies in Pennsylvania and across the nation.

The report, entitled "The Impact of Interim and Prospective Payment Systems on Home Health Providers and Medicare Beneficiaries in Rural Pennsylvania," is available in hard copy by calling Rebecca Gleason at the University of Pittsburgh Center for Rural Health Practice at (814) 362-8656, or by email at rsg2@pitt.edu.

Health
Sources of Funding
Best Practices
Examples of ARC Health Care Projects
Data and Research Reports
News and Events
Spotlight on Health Care Issues
Directory of Health Care Resources