The first day of the 2012 legislative session is set to begin Wednesday, January 11th and continue until May 9th. Senate President Brandon Shaffer and Speaker of the House Frank McNulty will address each chamber beginning at 10:00 AM, and Governor Hickenlooper will deliver the State of the State address at 11:00 AM on Thursday, January 12th. The speeches can be watched on the Colorado Channel.
During the legislative session, the Colorado Rural Health Center will focus on policy priorities to protect funding for rural providers and facilities, to expand the rural healthcare workforce and support innovative models of care, to build support for Rural Health Clinics (RHC) and Community-funded Safety Net Clinics (CSNC), to promote affordable health insurance options that work for Coloradans and to expand rural access to health information technology. To read more about each priority area, please visit our website. You may also visit the CRHC website to find a link to our bill tracker, which will be updated weekly throughout the session.
Posts in this week’s issue of The Rural Voice will be my last. With a mix of sadness and excitement, I will be leaving CRHC and joining the Colorado Health Institute later this month. It has been an honor to work with you and my CRHC colleagues, especially my co-analyst Alicia Haywood, in support of rural healthcare. The Rural Voice will continue to provide current news and policy updates and be a resource for state and federal issues that impact our rural communities. Please contact Alicia if you need assistance or information on policy topics.
Thank you and take care, Sara
The National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health is hosting a webinar on January 11, 12:00-1:00pm MT for those attending the Rural Health Policy Institute in Washington DC later this month and for anyone interested in learning more about engaging Washington lawmakers. Click here for more information and to pre-register for the webinar.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released new information on the Medicare Shared Savings Program (Accountable Care Organization/ACO). A new webpage on Quality Measures and Performance Standards has the latest information on ACO quality measures. The 2012 ACO Narrative Quality Measures Specifications Manual provides guidance about the 33 required quality measures that are part of the quality performance standard.
