See what happens when I go on vacation…..the Senate finally voted on extending the FMAP! With a vote of 61-39, the Senate approved a slightly scaled back version of the FMAP extension. Beginning in January 2011, the FMAP extension will provide a 3.2%first quarter increase, which is reduced to...

The Senate Labor, Health & Human Services, Education and Related Agencies marked up its draft appropriations bill and released a final version July 29th. The bill provides $169.9 billion in discretionary funds for a variety of programs, some of which would be very helpful for rural healthcare consumers &...

The Senate is expected to vote on the FMAP extension no later than 5p tomorrow. I will be out of town and not able to provide an update until Monday. Fingers crossed that the extension is approved!

Looks like the FMAP vote that was allegedly set to take place last night (Monday 8.2) was postponed. The Senate might vote on it tonight. Perhaps tomorrow. No one really knows. Isn’t our political system fun!?!?! On another note, the House is on recess until Tuesday, September 14th. This...

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) invites you to join a series of national provider calls addressing the specifics of the Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive programs for hospitals and individual practitioners. Learn the specifics on what you need to participate in the these incentive programs –...

Tip Sheets for Eligible Professionals and Hospitals are now available on the CMS EHR Incentive Programs website http://www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms. Select the Medicare Eligible Professional or Hospital tab on the left, and then scroll to “Downloads.” Available documents include: • Medicare EHR Incentive Payments for Eligible Professionals This tip sheet describes...

New video features Colorado Workforce Collaborative Click on the above link to watch a video from The Colorado Trust highlighting some of the issues faced in recruiting and retatining healthcare professionals in rural and underserved areas of Colorado and how the Colorado Health Professions Workforce Collaborative is working to...

Details are foggy right now, but it sounds as if the Senate is expected to vote tonight on extending the FMAP bump to states. As has been previously mentioned here in The Rural Voice, the FMAP is the methodology used by the federal government to provide states funding for...