HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson kicked off the inaugural conference call between HRSA's Office of Rural Health Policy and the 50 State Offices of Rural Health during his June 19 visit to HRSA by asking for ideas on how the department can improve its efforts to support rural health. 

Describing himself as a “son of rural” and “an old country lawyer,” the Secretary said he was committed to doing more to help rural communities.

“I’m never satisfied with the status quo,” Thompson told the state office directors.  “I always want to find ways on how to improve each and every program that I’m involved in.  I get very passionate when I start talking about rural areas such as rural Wisconsin and rural Kansas and rural California and rural New Mexico.  I want to see what we can do better than we have in the past.”

The Secretary said two immediate concerns are improving Medicare reimbursement for rural providers and expanding the use of technology in health care settings with pilot programs in rural areas.

During the 45-minute call, Thompson discussed his views on rural health issues and took questions from the conference call participants on a range of issues from mental health, emergency medical services and telemedicine.  He also called for improved collaboration between the states and the federal government.

The state office directors touted the Rural Health Outreach and Network Development grant programs as well as the Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility grant program and asked the Secretary to maintain and strengthen his commitment to those programs.

During the call, the Secretary also called for an assessment of the department’s rural activities to get a better handle on how HHS agencies serve rural communities and identify what opportunities there are to improve those services.

“I’ve asked Dr. Marcia Brand of the Office of Rural Health Policy to take a look at the resources throughout the Department,” Secretary Thompson said.  “We have lots of resources and I don’t know if we are maximizing the full utilization of our resources when they’re spread out through a lot of operating divisions.”

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