CHAIR:
Nancy Kassebaum Baker
Burdick, KS
MEMBERS:
James Ahrens
Helena, MT
Stephanie Bailey, B.C., M.D., MSHSA
Nashville, TN
H.D. Cannington
Swainsboro, GA
David L. Berk
Anacortes, WA
Shelly L. Crow
Eufala, OK
Steve Eckstat, D.O.
Clive, IA
Dana Fitzsimmons, R.Ph.
Houston, TX
Rachel Gonzales-Hanson
Uvalde, TX
Alison M. Hughes
Tuscon, AZ
John L. Martin
Fort Kent, ME
Keith J. Mueller, Ph.D.
Omaha, NE
Thomas S. Nesbitt, M.D., M.P.H.
Sacramento, CA
Sally K. Richardson
Charleston, WV
Monnieque Singleton, M.D.
Bamberg, SC
Mary Wakefield, Ph.D.
Fairfax, VA
EXECUTIVE SECRETARY:
Wayne Myers M.D.
Rockville, MD |
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Feb
23, 2000
The Honorable Donna Shalala
Secretary
Health and Human Services
200 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, D.C. 20201
Dear Secretary Shalala,
The National Advisory Committee
on Rural Health recently concluded a successful meeting February 6-9 in
Washington, D.C. It was a pleasure to hear your remarks to the participants
in the National Rural Health Association Policy Institute, which was concurrent
with our meeting.
On behalf of the Committee,
let me share with you the results of our meeting. As you know, this was
my first meeting as chair since taking over for Bob Ray. We used the time
to set our priorities for the coming year and identify the key issues
upon which we want to focus. We heard presentations from the Department
of Veteran Affairs, the Indian Health Service, and the Substance Abuse
and Mental Health Services Administration and identified a range of key
rural health issues that all three of those agencies face.
We also heard from representatives
of the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, which underscored
the growing problems faced by rural residents who do not have access to
adequate health insurance. Dr. Earl Fox of the Health Resources and Services
Administration also met with us to follow up on the Rural Public Health
Report and recommendations that the Committee sent to you last fall. and
continued work on rural public health.
As the meeting came to a
close, the Committee voted to spend the next year looking at the rural
issues related to Medicare reform. Both the Congress and the Administration
have put some Medicare reforms on the table. While legislative action
on this issue may be unlikely in the coming year, we believe it is critical
that there be a rural voice in this ongoing debate about how to change
the Medicare program to adapt to the changing marketplace. It is our hope
that we will spend the next year working on a report and accompanying
recommendations that lay out the critical rural health issues that need
to be addressed in any reform of the Medicare program.
Concurrently, the Committee
also decided to continue focusing on rural mental health, the rural uninsured,
collaboration with the VA in rural communities and continued work on rural
public health.
The Committee will meet again
in June in Eufala, Oklahoma where it will meet with several of the Native
American tribes in the state to discuss issues related to contracting
of health services by the tribes. We will be happy to share with you the
results of this meeting and give you an update on our work on the rural
Medicare reform project. Thank you again for your support of the Committee
and your commitment to rural health. We hope to meet with you again in
the near future.
Sincerely,
Nancy Kassebaum Baker
Chair
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