Rural Route
 
February, 2019
Greetings Flex Program Colleagues, 

Please save-the-date for the 2019 Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) Flex Program Reverse Site Visit (RSV) : July 10 - 11, 2019 in Washington, D.C. at the Marriott Wardman Park . The theme is Building Healthy Rural Communities and will focus on the Flex Program Areas and improving on the Core Competencies for State Flex Program Excellence. An emergency medical services (EMS) pre-meeting will be held at the same location the afternoon of July 9, 2019. All state Flex Programs are invited to attend the EMS Pre-Meeting. 

This edition includes a repeat of the update provided to you in the January edition on supplemental work for TASC to provide you, and your hospitals and partners increased resources on EMS and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Also included are a list of resources to support you while writing your fiscal year (FY) 2019 Flex Cooperative Agreement. Please note that all Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) critical access hospital (CAH) regulatory updates will now be posted in the Flex Program Forum

As always, we encourage you to connect peer to peer on the Flex Program Forum. Do you have a question, idea, success or challenge t o share with your Flex Program peers?  Don't miss the ongoing discussions on the  Flex Program Forum ! Please note that you will need to login to view posts - contact TASC for details.

Be sure to check back next month for the addiiton of a new TASC team member!

Take care,

TASC Team

In this Issue
Newsflash
TASC Updates
MBQIP Updates
Webinars & Events
Resources
Quick Links

TASC Home

Events

Resource Library

Staff

State Flex Profiles

FMT

NOSORH

Grants.gov

RHIhub

Rural Health Value

CMS

FORHP Updates
 
Flex Program Update

Updates include: 
  • Flex and EMS Supplement Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO)
  • Recent webinar recordings from FORHP, the Technical Assistance and Services Center (TASC), and Rural Quality Improvement Technical Assistance (RQITA)
  • Request for comments on Performance Improvement and Measurement System (PIMS) measures
  • Forthcoming funding opportunities

CAH Regulatory Update

Updates include: 
  • Proposed Part II of the Medicare Advantage and Part D Programs Advance Notice and draft call letter
  • Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed updates to interoperability & patient access to health data
  • CMS to test new model for emergency medical services 
Continue reading CAH Regulatory Updates (Flex Forum login required - contact TASC for details)
Newsflash
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TASC staff attended the 2019 National Rural Health Association Rural Health Policy Institute earlier this month in Washington, D.C. While there, TASC hosted an annual face-to-face meeting of the National Rural Health Informantion (HIT) Technology Coalition. Are you interested in HIT? There is a standing open invitation for state Flex Programs to join the HIT Coalition. Learn more about the HIT Coalition and contact Nicole Clement to join today.

Early morning flights sure are beautiful. Photo by Nicole Clement.
Early morning flights sure are beautiful. Photo by Nicole Clement.
TASC Updates

With the release of the FY 2019 Flex Program NOFO, we would like to remind you that TASC is available to review one component of your cooperative agreement application prior to your final submission (examples: work plan, narrative). We don't need to remind you that the submission deadline is about one m onth away. If you would like assistance, please choose one section of your proposal for TASC to review. Please submit your request to tasc@ruralcenter.org by March 15, 2019 and allow us five business days to review. TASC will respond with comments and suggestions, but we are unable to re-write content for you. 

With supplemental funding from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), FORHP, TASC is working on projects to address COPD, and EMS needs in rural communities. 

COPD
The goal of the COPD Supplemental Project is to address rural disparities in COPD services and to provide resources and technical assistance to rural hospitals and provider-based clinics in order to address these  disparities The COPD Supplemental Project will result in the creation of a manual, a podcast series, dissemination of an assessment, and three webinars.  The components of the COPD Supplemental Project will address the following topics: the importance of addressing COPD services in rural America, the current landscape in rural, payment, workforce needs, clinical treatment, and technology. Please contact Caleb Siem at  csiem@ruralcenter.org with any questions. 

EMS
The goal of the EMS Supplemental Project is to better position state-wide and community-level EMS agencies to move towards value-based care. The EMS Supplemental Project will result in the creation of three manuals and an online assessment for EMS providers to determine their readiness for value-based payment systems in rural communities. A small group meeting will be held with rural EMS experts from around the country in Spring 2019 to develop key strategies to support the transition of rural EMS services to value models. In addition, there will be an RSV pre-event learning session held in Washington, D.C. on July 9, 2019 for Flex Programs to share progress, challenges, successes, and lessons learned. Please contact Nicole Clement at  nclement@ruralcenter.org with any questions. 


No new changes since February. 

Please keep your Flex staff contact information current by completing the  State Flex Program Contact Information Form  whenever there are staffing changes in your office. 
Please send your MBQIP questions to the TASC email address . TASC will ensure your question reaches the appropriate person.
Webinars, Recordings & Events

Save the Dates

New and Updated Resources 

A full list of resources is available in the  TASC resource library .
Rural Health Leadership Radio  was launched to support rural health leaders to share stories and information about what is working and what is not. Check out their latest podcasts now! 

The most recent interview is with Mike Shimmens, Executive Director with 3RNet (National Rural Recruitment and Retention Network).



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