Medicare payments to hospitals with 50 beds or fewer represent less than 2% of the overall Medicare budget?!?!? For more facts on rural healthcare, visit our national partner organization the National Rural Health Association.

The White House Project is a non-profit agency that seeks to advance women’s involvement in the political process. On Saturday, July 31st, The White House Project will be holding an event in Montrose, Colorado entitled: Colorado Rural Go Lead 2010. It will be held from 10a – 4p at...

The Colorado Trust recently published an issue brief entitled The Magnitude of Underinsurance in Colorado. The brief discusses the current state of Coloradans who are underinsured and how the underinsured experience similar problems faced by those who are uninsured. Underinsurance is defined as, “having public or private insurance coverage...

We are all eagerly awaiting the final rule from CMS to the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record Incentive Funding proposed rules that were published in January 2010. This final rule will define the meaningful use criteria that providers must achieve to qualify for incentive funding. A final release...

On July 1, 2010 the Office of Management and Budget completed its review of the ”Modifications to the HIPAA Privacy, Security, and Enforcement Rules Under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act”. This is the long awaited regulation that goes with the changes to the HIPAA...

Starting tomorrow, July 1st, the Primary Care Office will open up the next opportunity of funding for the Colorado Health Service Corps (CHSC). CHSC is the state’s health professions loan repayment program, which provides funding to primary care physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, certified nurse midwives, licensed mental health...

With the passage of federal health reform, a number of new catagories of hospitals are eligible for the 340B drug discount program. Newly eligible hospitals include Critical Access Hospitals, Sole Community Hospitals, and Rural Referral Centers. Safety Net Hospitals for Pharmaceutical Access along with the National Rural Health Association...

The Colorado Department of Health Care Policy & Financing (HCPF) is seeking comment on a document entitled Olmstead: Recommendations and Policy Options for Colorado. This report recommends policy options for the state in regards to disabled citizens and people with long term care needs who wish to live in...

The Centers for Medicare & Medicare Services(CMS)has launched their official Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program Website. You can access the website by visiting THE Consortium’s main webpage under Resources or directly by visiting http://www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms/. The website contains the latest information regarding EHR incentive programs including who is eligible...

On June 24th, the Office of National Coordinator (ONC) released a temporary certification rule for EHRs to allow progress towards reaching meaningful use. Most notably, current CCHIT certified EHRs were not granted automatic certification status, rather, they will also be required to go through the ONC testing and certification...