How Will You Celebrate Safety Net Clinic Week?

The fifth annual Safety Net Clinic Week is quickly approaching! Safety Net Clinic Week (SNCW), co-sponosored by CRHC and ClinicNET, will be held August 18th through the 22nd. It is dedicated to celebrating Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) and Community Safety Net Clinics (CSNCs). In an effort to celebrate, support and raise awareness for Colorado's healthcare safety net, we encourage your clinic to participate in this important week devoted to educating the public, policymakers and other community leaders about Colorado's RHCs and CSNCs. 

We have created a toolkit to help clinics participate in SNCW 2014. We encourage you to use the resources below to have the most successful advocacy week as possible. In addition, a webinar is available to CRHC members on August 6th at 12:00 PM to provide more information on SNCW and the resources available to clinics to celebrate. 

The toolkit links can be found below, and click here to register for the webinar.  

Short Overview of SNCW
SNCW 2014 Logo
Governmental Proclamation or Resolution
SNCW Invitation Template
SNCW Fact Sheet
SNCW Press Release
List of All RHCs and CSNCs

Critical Times for Small and Rural Hospitals

Although Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) are protected from many of the disruptions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, their fates will differ greatly depending on their individual circumstances. Geography, the right mix of services, affiliation with larger partners, and, most critically, cuts of preferential reimbursements that CAHs currently receive but that are far from guaranteed in the future—all of these play a role.

Thanks to the decision of many states not to expand Medicaid, whether a small rural hospital or critical access hospital survives may depend on a host of variables over which leaders have little or no control. For instance, many organizations stand to benefit as more of the previously uninsured acquire health insurance, unless, of course, your state decided to not expand Medicaid. 

Read the article in HealthLeaders Media here.

CMS Wants to Know - Can Medicaid Beneficiaries Find a Doctor?

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is planning to conduct its first nationwide research effort to answer the question of whether adult Medicaid beneficiaries can find providers, and if factors such as being in managed Medicaid versus a fee-for-service offering aid or hurt the search. 

What it's likely to find, according to interviews conducted with state Medicaid officials and medical society officials in 20 states, is a mixed picture overshadowed by general concerns that reimbursement rates remain too low to entice many doctors to accept new Medicaid patients. Read the article in Modern Healthcare here.

CMS Proposes Rule to Expand Telehealth Payments

Wellness and behavioral health visits are among a few telehealth coverage expansions the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) wants to add to the list of Medicare reimbursable telehealth activities under a proposal released Thursday last week. Providers also would be paid for telehealth services in rural areas nearer big cities under a geographical expansion in the proposed rule.

The 609-page proposed rule principally deals with annual changes to polices under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule, including eliminating the exclusion for continuing medication education (CME) under the Sunshine Act that requires drug companies and medical device makers to disclose payments to physicians.
Added to the list of covered telehealth services by the proposal are annual wellness visits, both for an initial visit, and for subsequent visits, if they include a personalized prevention plan of service. 

Read the article in Modern Healthcare here (requires a free subscription).

A June 27th article in Insurancenewsnet.com discusses four major barriers to telehealth adoption. Read the article here, which includes an interview with Ed Bostick, Executive Director of the Colorado Telehealth Network.

Medical Boards Draft Model Law Designed to Make It Easier to Treat Patients Out-of-State and Online

Officials representing state medical boards across the country have drafted a model law that would make it much easier for doctors licensed in one state to treat patients in other states, whether in person, by video-conference or online.

The plan, representing the biggest change in medical licensing in decades, opens the door to greater use of telemedicine and could alleviate the doctor shortage, a growing problem as millions of people gain insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act.

The draft legislation, in the form of an interstate compact (a legally binding agreement among states), was developed by the Federation of State Medical Boards, composed of the agencies that license and discipline doctors. “The proposed compact would create a new pathway to speed the licensing of doctors seeking to practice medicine in multiple states,” said Dr. Humayun J. Chaudhry, the president of the Federation. “It would allow doctors to see more patients than ever before, if they want to.”

Read the article in the New York Times here.

Provider Shortage Worsening, Demand Growing

Health and Human Services spokeswoman Erin Shields Britt says continuing to build the primary care workforce will take time, but she notes President Obama's budget working its way through Congress has several new ways to expand the primary care workforce, which includes nurse practitioners and pediatricians. The Affordable Care Act (ACA), she says, significantly increases the number of primary care providers in rural and underserved areas and increases Medicare and Medicaid payment for services delivered by primary care practitioners.

An article in USA Today this week outlines some of the challenges that continue to get in the way of training and placing providers. The challenges include the rising cost of medical school, more lucrative specialty care and scope of practice laws. Read the article here.

Medicaid Dental Benefits Extended Further Beginning July 1

Beginning July 1st, Medicaid beneficiaries have access to more dental services under a benefit that became available April 1st.

The new benefit provides Medicaid adults age 21 and older with access to up to $1,000 in dental services per state fiscal year, according to a release from the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing (HCPF). "A healthy mouth and health body go hand-in-hand," said Susan Birch, Executive Director of HCPF in a statement. "We have already heard from many of our clients how grateful they are since the initial benefit began in April. Having this enhanced benefit in place will help our clients maintain good oral health and improve their overall health and quality of life."

The extended benefit covers basic preventive dental exams, diagnostic and restorative dental services including extractions, root canals, crowns, partial dentures, complete dentures, periodontal scaling, root planning and other procedures requiring prior authorization.

The expansion is funded through the federal and state government. Colorado's share of the funding comes from a state fund that formerly funded Cover Colorado.

Read the July 1 press release from HCPF here.