Rural issues
King鈥檚 Daughters Medical Center (KDMC) is implementing a variety of strategic and operational shifts in anticipation of a surge of COVID-19 patients in April. Though the 99-bed hospital is in a rural community, it expects to be negatively affected by higher rates of the coronavirus from New Orleans鈥
Members in Action Case Study: Margaret Mary Health (MMH), located in Batesville, Ind. (population 7,500), is a not-for-profit, critical access hospital employing nearly 850 team members serving a population of more than 30,000 residents. MMH saw a surge of COVID-19 patients in early to mid-March鈥
The first case of COVID-19 in Humboldt County, Calif., was confirmed on February 20, 2020. As of April 4, the number of cases in the county total 44.
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, signed into law on March 27, provides resources and flexibility for rural hospitals.
Representatives from AHA鈥檚 Rural Health Services Council met February 27-28, 2020 in Denver. Agenda items included presentations on patient billing guidelines, policy on 鈥淪eizing the Conversation,鈥 improvements in health plan administrative processes and new models of payment and delivery.
The AHA March 5 expressed support for legislation (S. 3399) to extend for five additional years the Frontier Community Health Integration Project (FCHIP) demonstration. Launched in 2016, the FCHIP aims to better integrate and coordinate care, and reduce avoidable hospitalizations, admissions and鈥
Sens. Jon Tester, D-Mont., and John Hoeven, R-N.D., introduced AHA-supported legislation (S. 3399) that would renew for five years a demonstration project that tests new models of health care delivery for critical access hospitals in the most sparsely populated states.
On this Advancing Health podcast, John Supplitt, AHA senior director, speaks to two rural hospital leaders about the importance of implementing an effective community health worker program to expand health care access.
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar named former Kansas Gov. Jeff Colyer chair of the National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services.
AHA is engaging in early primary states, including Nevada and South Carolina, with ads about affordability and rural health care to ensure issues important to hospitals and health systems stay in front of candidates.