Wednesday, May 09, 2018

Medicare-Medicaid agency says it will lower barriers to telehealth, improve outreach to rural health-care providers

This week the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released a rural health strategy as a sign that it won't forget rural communities when creating regulations. More than 60 million people live in rural America.

The eight-page plan outlines "reduce regulatory barriers to telehealth, improve outreach to providers in these communities to make sure they understand CMS programs, and identify practical solutions that will help better care in these areas," Virgil Dickson reports for Modern Healthcare. "The document did not outline policy announcements."

The plan aims to formally analyze what, if any, impact proposed CMS rules will have on rural health providers and communities, which it has not consistently done until now. 

National Rural Health Association CEO Alan Morgan told Dickson, "We are optimistic that this effort at 'rural proofing' will provide a better regulatory environment for rural providers."

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