More than 450 rural health advocates attended the NRHA’s 2012 Rural Health Policy Institute in January. The Colorado Rural Health Center and other rural advocacy partners asked our members of Congress to support the fragile rural healthcare delivery system with three legislative requests.
1. Protect and extend vital rural Medicare programs. Failure to extend these important provisions past their 2012 expiration dates will harm rural providers and the patients they serve.
2. Send the message that sequestration will disproportionately harm rural providers. The Budget Control Act mandated a Medicare spending sequester that will disproportionately harm rural providers and should be modified to avoid crises in access to care.
3. Support strong funding for the rural health safety net. Strengthen the "rural health safety net" by providing critical funding in fiscal year 2013 for programs vital to the efficient and effective delivery of health care in rural America.
Check out the NRHA Policy Institute Action Kit to read more about these rural programs, the sequestration and the potential impacts on rural providers and communities.
