The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is accepting comments on the its proposed rule outlining changes to the CY 2011 hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS). Included in the proposal are significant issues related to the normal operation of small rural PPS and critical access hospitals, and it is very important that CMS receive many comments outlining the issues important to them.
The NRHA has developed a sample letter pertaining to the following proposals that will have a significant impact on rural hospitals. Please review, personalize, and submit your own letter using the sample above. Of course, feel free to modify or expand as you deem appropriate.
Please click here to submit your comments: (http://www.regulations.gov/search/Regs/home.html#home)
Search for “CMS-1504-P” and follow the directions for submitting. The deadline for comments is Tuesday, August 31, 2010 at 5 pm Eastern.
More information on the issues covered:
Physician Supervision
In its 2010 Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) final regulation, CMS issued what it stated as a “clarification” of existing law requiring that all hospitals provide 24 hour “direct physician supervision” of certain outpatient therapeutic services in order to receive proper Medicare reimbursement. In actuality, this “clarification” amounted to a significant change in the way hospitals operate, imposing levels of supervision never previously required. [click to continue…]
Share on Facebook
HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced today a revised membership list for the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) and Medically Underserved Areas/Populations (MUA/P) negotiated rulemaking committee.
The new list, which has increased from 24 to 28 members, includes National Rural Health Association CEO Alan Morgan as a participant. Previously excluded from the committee, the NRHA fought to fix this obvious oversight by HRSA. This effort’s success was due in large part to the help of the numerous NRHA members and friends who offered to call and write Dr. Wakefield and their Congressional representatives to ensure broad rural representation on the committee. For this, we are extremely grateful. Additionally, the NRHA greatly appreciates Dr. Wakefield and HRSA for their willingness to reassess the committee makeup and their continued commitment to improving health care in rural America.
So while the NRHA will now have a seat at the table, we still have much to do to ensure any new HPSA and MUA/P guidelines take the unique needs of rural American patients and providers into account. This committee’s final product will have a huge impact on many rural patients and providers. Please watch for updates as the committee begins its deliberations.
Again, thank you for your diligent efforts to ensure rural representation on this very important committee.
Click here for the new committee membership list.
Share on Facebook
US HPSA Map (Primary Care) Source: Rural Assistance Center raconline.org
Last week we posted about the NRHA’s exclusion from the HRSA committee to develop new recommendations for updating HPSA and MUP designation criteria.
We have received overwhelming response from NRHA members and others in the rural health community who have offered to help contact HRSA or their member of Congress, and for that we are greatly appreciative.
Last week, we sent the following letter to HRSA: HPSA/MUP Letter to Dr Wakefield
As well as the following message to Congress: HPSA/MUP Message to Capitol Hill
We know HRSA Administrator Dr. Wakefield, who has long been a champion of rural America’s health needs, is working to reevaluate the committee’s membership.
Therefore it is imperative we continue to remind HRSA and Dr. Wakefield how important rural representation on this committee will be. So please continue to contact her at the email address or phone number below:
HRSA Administrator Mary Wakefield, PhD, RN
administrator@hrsa.gov
301-443-2216
Share on Facebook
The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) recently released its list of members for its Committee to update Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) and Medically Underserved Population (MUP) designations.
Notably absent from this list, however, is an NRHA representative. We hope this was merely an oversight on behalf of HRSA, whose original guidance specifically included the NRHA on its list of proposed participants, which according to HRSA would “represent all types of interests likely to be affected by the rule to be negotiated.”
Excerpt from Page 3 of HRSA Proposed Rule
42 CFR Part 5: Designation of Medically Underserved Populations and Health Professions Shortage Areas; Intent To Form Negotiated Rulemaking Committee
“III. Affected Interests and Potential Participants
We are proposing to include representatives of the following interest groups and/or organizations as negotiation participants.
…(7) National Rural Health Association…”
The work of this Committee, set up under the recently passed health reform legislation, will have a huge impact on the National Health Service Corps (NHSC), grants to Community Health Centers (CHCs), bonuses to physicians choosing to work in underserved areas, and many other important programs. Whether its recommendations will produce widespread positive or negative outcomes, however, greatly rests on the organizational structure and diversity of the Committee.
Though we believe each member currently named to the Committee will demonstrate extensive knowledge and expertise, we are very concerned the NRHA, the nation’s largest association dedicated specifically to advocating for rural America’s health care needs, will not have a seat at the table. In fact, we believe that NRHA’s exclusion will severely undermine the legitimacy of this Committee’s intended goals.
We urge you to contact HRSA and remind them how important ensuring HPSA and MUP designations are to supporting the unique healthcare needs of rural and underserved populations, and to therefore ask for NRHA’s inclusion in the Committee’s deliberations.
To contact HRSA, specifically its Shortage Designation Branch (SDB), e-mail sdb@hrsa.gov or call 1-888-275-4772. (Select Option 1 for English, and then Option 2 for the SDB.)
Link to Committee Appointments:
http://www.hrsa.gov/about/news/pressreleases/100709shortagecommitteeappointments.html
Share on Facebook
The General Accounting Office (GAO) announnced May 14, 2010 the appointment of four new Commissioners and the re-appointment of two existing members to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC). NRHA congratuates Thomas Dean, M.D., a rural family physician of Wessington Springs, SD and Herb Kuhn, President and CEO of the Missouri Hospital Association on their re-appointments. NRHA still remains concerned about the notable lack of rural representation on MedPAC and urges Congress and policy-makers to correct this imbalance.
Share on Facebook
