WASHINGTON – Senator Chuck Grassley, Ranking Member and former Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, today participated in a hearing examining the challenges and opportunities facing rural health care. Dr. Keith Mueller, professor of health management and policy at the University of Iowa and director of the university's Rural Policy Institute, testified.
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Grassley began by reflecting on his efforts to seek stakeholder feedback to improve maternal health. He urged committee action on the Healthy Mothers and Children Act, a bipartisan bill to improve economic conditions for the rural labor and delivery sector. The bill specifically aims to ensure that hospitals use the latest technology in obstetric care and reduce maternal mortality.
Below are the questions Grassley posed to Mueller and Lori Rodefeld, director of GME development for the Wisconsin Regional Graduate Medical Education Alliance.
Defining the value of a flexible Medicare program for rural hospitals:
“Dr. Mueller, more than 600 rural hospitals stand to benefit from the Rural Hospital Assistance Act. This bill permanently extends the Medicare Dependent Hospital and Small Hospital Program. program has been reauthorized more than seven times. There are other rural hospital Medicare programs that provide flexibility and support to rural areas, but those programs are now permanent.
“Why are flexible, targeted rural hospital programs important under Medicare? Why should they become permanent?”
Addressing labor shortages in rural medical settings:
“MS. Rodefeld [the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)] is currently distributing 1,200 additional graduate medical education slots. With 400 slots already distributed, I'm concerned that CMS is failing to meet criteria for rural and underserved settings. 2020 Law I Helped Pass As chairman of this committee at the time. When I wrote about CMS last year, they responded that they met the rural standard by counting hospitals in urban areas that were reclassified as rural. The agency also noted a lack of applications to local hospitals.
“Are rural hospitals receiving a fair review for additional training slots? What can CMS do to help rural hospitals apply and remain competitive?
Learn more about Grassley's commitment to rural health care:
In April, Grassley emphasized the importance of expanding the Geographical Cost Index (GPCI) floor to give rural state physicians more equitable reimbursement. He also emphasized the need to modernize Medicare Part B rules to give seniors more access to pharmacists, audiologists, and other licensed and trained health professionals. In March, Mr. Grassley pressed Health and Human Services Secretary Becerra over the secretary's failure to fill openings in the Rural Community Hospital Demonstration Program. The Senate Finance and Health Subcommittee last year recognized Grassley's leadership on local health issues.
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