22nd Annual Rural HealthPolicy Institute
Deputy Administrator, HRSAMarcia K. Brand, PhD
January 24, 2011
HRSA and the Affordable Care Act
•HRSA is identified as the lead for morethan 50 provisions in Affordable Care Act.
•There are 16 provisions where HRSA hasbeen identified as a key partner with otheragencies.
•Addressing Key Challenges
•Improving Health Insurance Coverage
•Expanding the Rural Workforce
•Supporting the Rural Infrastructure
•Improving Public Health
•Improving Quality
The Affordable Care Act and Rural America
•Improving Health Insurance Coverage
•Challenges for rural America
•More dependant on individual market
•Small businesses as key employer
•Around one quarter of all rural adults are uninsured.
•Heavy Dependence on Public Programs
The Affordable Care Act and Rural America
The Affordable Care Act and Rural America
•Improving Health Insurance Coverage
•Challenges for rural America
•Coverage for Adult Dependents
•Pre-Existing Condition Plans
•Premium Tax Credits
•Small Business Tax Credits
•Health Insurance Exchanges
The Affordable Care Act:
Expanding the Rural Workforce
•Health professions education and training
•Reauthorizes the National Health ServiceCorps
•Teaching health centers
•Redistribution of unused residency slots
Rural Payment Extensions
Increase Payments for Rural Physicians
•Hospitals
•Primary Care Physicians
•General Surgeons
•Expansion of the 340B Program
The Affordable Care Act
Supporting the Rural Infrastructure
The Affordable Care Act
Supporting the Rural Infrastructure
Community health centers
•$9.5 billion over 5 years will create new healthcenters in medically underserved areas; expandpreventive and primary health care services atexisting sites
•Public Health and Prevention Fund
₋Community prevention initiatives
₋Building the public health infrastructure
₋Expanding public health research andtraining
The Affordable Care ActImproving Public Health
•Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation
•Accountable Care Organizations
The Affordable Care Act
Improving Quality
Health Information Technology A Key Step in Improving Quality
• Challenges for rural providers …
• A focus on rural HIT issues within HHS
₋Changes in meaningful use to address ruralconcerns
₋ Creation of the HHS Rural HIT Task Force
•New investment in rural HIT networks
•Key partnerships with USDA and FCC
“Within the total amountrequested for Rural Healthactivities, the Budget includes$73 million for a new "ImproveRural Health Care" Initiative tostrengthen partnershipsamong rural health careproviders, recruit and retainrural health care professionals,and modernize the health careinfrastructure in rural areas.”
The Improving Rural Health Initiative
The Improving Rural Health InitiativeKey Elements
Health Workforce Recruitment and Retention
Building a Programmatic “Evidence-Base”
Telehealth/HIT Coordination
Cross Governmental Collaboration
Rural Hospital Flexibility ProgramMedicare BeneficiaryQuality Improvement Project
•Rural appropriate measures
•Regional, State, and National benchmarking
•Informed quality improvement strategies
Thank you to our Key Partners!
•National Rural Health Association
•Rural Health Research Centers
•Rural Health Resource Center
•National Association of Rural Health Clinics
•National Organization of State Offices ofRural Health
•National Center for Rural Health Works
•Rural Recruitment and Retention Network
•National Cooperative of Health Networks