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Thomas: Rural Health Needs Are Paramount
 
May 4th, 2005 - WASHINGTON – As part of his Chairmanship role in the Senate Rural Health Caucus, Sen. Craig Thomas recently penned a letter to appropriators in support of rural health programs for fiscal year 2006.

The Senate recently passed its 2006 budget blueprint, in which $100 million in rural health funding was restored through a Thomas amendment. The model provides for numerous critical rural health programs: the rural health flexibility grant program (Flex), rural health outreach grants, the small hospital improvement program (SHIP), telehealth, trauma care, and rural access to emergency devices programs.

“Current spending for rural health programs is relatively small, but it plays a big part in assisting our fragile health care infrastructure,” Thomas said. “We need to be fiscally responsible and further identify ways to eliminate wasteful and inefficient programs,” Thomas said. “At the same time, we have a responsibility to continue policies which support rural health programs that are vital to Wyoming and the nation,” he said.

“These programs fulfill a critical mission in rural communities,” Thomas said. “Improving access to health care in Wyoming and other rural states is paramount to our quality of life,” Thomas said.

Thomas recently visited with rural health care leaders in Wyoming about their specific needs. While Thomas is a strong advocate for the needs of rural health care providers, he knows it takes more than legislation and money to solve multi-faceted challenges such as this one. “In order to be successful in our efforts in rural health care, we need to continue to bring federal, state, and local entities together in order to strengthen our rural health care network,” he said.

The following is a summary of each rural health program:

National Health Service Corps (NHSC): The NHSC plays a critical role in maintaining the health care safety net by placing primary health care providers in our nation's most underserved rural communities. It is crucial that a substantial increase be provided this year to eliminate the 2,800 Health Professional Shortage Areas, 740 Mental Health Shortage Areas and 1,200 Dental Health Shortage Areas now designated across the country.

Rural Health Outreach, Network Development and Telemedicine Grant Program: These grants are available to rural communities working to provide health care services through new and creative strategies including telemedicine and trauma care services. Grantees are also awarded needed funding to develop formal, integrated networks of providers that deliver primary and acute care services. We urge continued support with a modest increase for this essential grant program.

Rural Health Research Grant Program: This grant program supports six academic-based rural health research centers that study rural health issues, including work on rural hospitals, health professionals, delivery of mental health services and the functioning of managed care systems in rural areas. Rural health research centers have also conducted analysis of the impact of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (BBA), the Balanced Budget Refinement Act of 1999 (BBRA) and the Beneficiary Improvement and Protection Act of 2000 (BIPA) on the rural health care delivery system. Their work was also critical to the development of the rural equity package included in the recently enacted Medicare reform legislation. We ask your support for this program with a modest increase to build upon the important work of the rural health research centers that assist federal legislators in crafting national rural health policies.

Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program: The BBA created a nationwide program to improve access to essential health care services through the establishment of Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs), rural health networks and rural emergency medical services. This key rural health program was reauthorized for five years in last year’s Medicare bill and we ask the Committee to continue its support.

Small Rural Hospital Performance Improvement Act: This critical new initiative provides assistance to rural hospitals under 50 beds to improve their data systems, comply with the prospective payment system, comply with regulations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and reduce medical errors. We ask the Committee to continue its support and recognition of the unique circumstances of small, rural hospitals.

Rural Access to Emergency Devices Act (AED): This important rural health program was authorized during the final days of the 106th Congress. It will assist communities in purchasing emergency devices such as defibrillators and training potential responders in their use as well as in basic CPR and first aid. We urge you to again include sufficient funding for this new initiative that will ensure our rural communities are not left behind in the fight to lower cardiac arrest rates across America.

Office for the Advancement of Telehealth: The Office for the Advancement of Telehealth leads, coordinates and promotes the use of telehealth technologies by fostering partnerships between federal agencies, states and private sector groups to create telehealth projects. As telemedicine technologies are critically important to the delivery of care in remote rural and frontier areas, we urge the Committee to continue its support for this program.

State Offices of Rural Health: State offices of rural health play a key role in assisting rural health clinics, community health centers, and small, rural hospitals in assessing the health care needs in rural communities. In those states that have used the resources and expertise of these state offices, S-CHIP has been more successful in enrolling rural children. In partnership with other state agencies the rural health offices have been essential in addressing the unique needs of rural communities. We urge your continued support for this program.

Consolidated Health Centers Program: Community Health Centers (CHCs) provide services to over ten million people living in underserved areas, with about 50 percent of the users being from rural areas. These providers are an essential part of the safety-net of our rural health care system and play an enormous role in access to care for rural areas. We ask your support for adequate funding for this important provider network.

Rural EMS Grant Program: The FY04 budget provided $500,000 in start-up funding for this important new program, which was authorized during the 107th Congress as part of a larger effort to strengthen the health care safety net. This grant program provides resources that EMS squads can use for a variety of purposes, including training volunteers in emergency response and injury prevention as well as helping volunteers meet the costs of obtaining State emergency medical certification. Rural EMS squads can also use the funding to purchase new equipment. This is an important effort that will help rural areas sustain access to emergency medical services by providing EMS squads much-needed resources to improve recruitment and retention of emergency medical personnel. We urge the committee to build on its commitment to this important program by providing at minimum the level of funding afforded to this program in the FY04 budget.

Health Professions: We ask the Committee to continue adequate funding for Health Professions programs and in particular the Quentin Burdick Rural Training program. These programs are the main source of education and training for rural health care providers as virtually all Graduate Medical Education payments go to urban-based teaching hospitals.  

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