On Friday, President Obama signed into law the Preservation of Access to Care for Medicare Beneficiaries and Pension Relief Act of 2010. Whew! That’s a mouthful. What this means is that Medicare claims will now be processed with a 2.2% increase (retro to June 1st). This slight bump in...

The Rural Health Research & Policy Center just released an 85 page document summarizing the impact of federal health reform on rural healthcare delivey called: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: A Summary of Provisions Important to Rural Health Care Delivery.

I had the distinct pleasure of presenting at the Connected Care press release today, the official launch of telemedicine services in four of our rural communities: Buena Vista Family Practice in Buena Vista, High Plains Community Health Center in Lamar, Rio Grande Hospital in Del Norte, and St. Vincent...

It’s not too late to register for CRHC’s Annual Rural Health Conference, July 1-2 in beautiful Breckenridge, Colorado. Learn more about the ARRA funding requirements, meaningful use requirements and other resources available for Health Information Technology as well as other informative sessions on healthcare reform, quality and patient safety,...

The Colorado Health Foundation has established a “Loan Fund” through a partnership with NCB Capital Impact (NCBCI) to provide short-term loans to current grantees who may be experiencing a cash flow problem due to slow receivables. The purpose of the loan is to help grantees, maintain continuity of operations,...

With all the doom and gloom in regards to the state budget and reimbursement delays & cuts, I am happy to share with you the following news. Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health & Human Services, along with the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) announced the availability of $250...

Ladies & Gentleman. The moment we’ve all been waiting for…….The offical first day of summer! And for policy wonks like myself, the June Revenue Forecast (listed under Budget Balancing News in the middle of the page). An initial glance does not look promising. Even with the delay in Medicaid...

The Senate passed a temporary fix to the Medicare SGR on Friday, but the House still needs to vote on the bill before it can become law. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) has been holding Medicare claims since June 1st waiting to see if Congress would stop...

The Senate has been debating what is known as the tax extender bill for the past few days and it looks like they are going to have to cut back on what they initally hoped to achieve. The bill includes a temporary fix to the Medicare SGR, which expired...