Rural Reporter
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Bipartisan Group Moves To Prevent Medical Bankruptcies
A bipartisan group in the Senate is unveiling draft legislation to prevent medical bankruptcies and protect patients from surprise medical bills, a practice highlighted by several recent stories in the news. The legislation would curb some of the medical costs patients are responsible for while in out-of-network hospitals or providers, and would mandate that out-of-network patients are notified of excess charges in emergency departments once they are stabilized. (Source: Kaiser Health News; Photo: Martin Brosy on Unsplash)
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Governor Walker Touts Bill Protecting Pre-Existing Conditions
Governor Scott Walker is touting a bill that will prohibit health insurance companies from excluding people from coverage based on a pre-existing condition. But health care experts say the bill falls short of coverage protections provided in the Affordable Care Act, which Walker is attempting to overturn through a multi-state lawsuit. (Source: Shawn Johnson / Wisconsin Public Radio)
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A Multidisciplinary Look at Suicide and the Wisconsin Farmer
Our partners at the Rural Wisconsin Health Cooperative hold an annual essay contest competition, awarding a prize of $2,500 for the best paper on rural health.
The prize-winning paper for 2018, "A Multidisciplinary Look at Suicide and the Wisconsin Farmer," takes a comprehensive look at the high rate of death by suicide in Wisconsin's rural areas, particularly for those working in the agricultural sector. The essay examines risk factors facing farmers and the economy's role in rural suicide, and also includes a discussion of intervention and prevention strategies for primary care physicians and communities.
The Hermes Monato, Jr. Essay Prize is open to anyone who has been a student at the University of Wisconsin within the past year. Students are encouraged to write on a substantive rural health topic for a current class, and then submit a copy of the essay to the RWHC by June 1st, 2019 for consideration in the 2019 Hermes Monato, Jr. Essay Prize. Find submission information, and more past prize-winning papers, here.
(Source: Benjamin Beduhn and RWHC)
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Senate Passes Sweeping Bill Addressing Opioid Crisis
The U.S. Senate passed a bipartisan bill on Monday that aims at addressing the nation's opioid epidemic.
The Opioid Crisis Response Act of 2018 contains wide-ranging proposals to address opioid and substance use disorders. Those measures include loosened restrictions on doctors so they can provide more patients with medication-assisted treatment (MAT), which assists those with opioid use disorder ignore drug cravings while in the process of recovery. The bill requires the Medicaid reimbursement of some, but not all, types of MAT.
The bill also contains a number of prevention efforts, and reauthorizes several substance abuse prevention programs that had expired. Hospitals will receive support to provide patients with alternatives to opioids for pain management, and another proposal will require the safety trainings for first responders on handling opioids like fentanyl and carfentanil. Another proposal introduced by Wisconsin Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin is aimed at stopping illegal drug smuggling of fentanyl and opioids into the country.
Still, critics of the bill say it doesn't go far enough, and object to the lack of long-term funding to keep treatment programs running.
In June, the House of Representatives passed a similar bill aimed at curbing the opioid crisis. The legislation is now in reconciliation. (Image: coltsfan on Pixabay)
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New Medicare Compliance Rules Proposed; Comments Due 11/19
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued a proposal to update its Medicare compliance requirements, including a proposed rule that would remove a duplicative requirement for critical access hospitals, and another that would allow health systems with multiple hospitals to unify infection control programs. Comments on the proposed rule are due on November 19th. (Source: Becker's Hospital Review; Photo: Samuel Zeller on Unsplash)
