Erin Mahn

President Obama signed the two-month payroll tax/Medicare extension into law after the House of Representatives officially passed the Senate extension bill Friday. The measure, almost identical to a Senate-passed resolution, extends vital rural provisions for two months while congressional leaders work out a compromise for a year-long measure. The Senate and House conference committees are [...]

Recently proposed legislation aimed at updating the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR)(HR 3630) left out a number of vital rural Medicare “extenders.”  These “extenders” gained broad bipartisan support in the 111th Congress (PL 111-309) and are vital to ensuring that rural hospitals, doctors and other professionals can provide needed emergency and primary care.  If congressional action [...]

Yesterday, during a special order called by Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle (R -NY), Rep. Dan Benishek (R-MI) spoke on behalf of rural hospitals and the impact Medicare cuts would have on rural patients and providers. In his speech, Rep. Benishek urged his colleagues to remember cuts to rural hospitals would cause rural Americans to lose [...]

Today, on National Rural Health Day, Representatives Aaron Schock (R-IL), Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Bill Huizenga (R-MI), Dennis Rehberg (R-MT) and Greg Walden (R-OR) sponsored legislation that would allow Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) to be eligible for Electronic Health Record (EHR) initiative payments though Medicare. Currently, RHCs are not eligible for EHR payments due to [...]