The National Forum of ESRD Networks has introduced or updated several Medical Advisory Council (MAC) Toolkits. Two new Kits include the Transplant Toolkit and the Medication Conversion Toolkit. The Transitions of Care Toolkit was updated in mid-April. Find them all at http://esrdnetworks.org/resources/toolkits/mac-toolkits-1, along with the existing Home Dialysis Toolkit, Medical Directors Toolkit, QAPI Toolkit, Medication Reconciliation Toolkit, Catheter Reduction Toolkit, Vaccination Toolkit, and Assurance of Diabetes Care Coordination Toolkit.
Month: May 2019
Talk to Your Patients about Mental Health
May is Mental Health Month. Raise awareness by talking about mental health conditions. Recommend appropriate preventive services, including the Initial Preventive Physical Examination, Annual Wellness Visit, and Depression Screening.
For More Information:
- Medicare Preventive Services Educational Tool
- Initial Preventive Physical Examination Booklet
- Annual Wellness Visit Booklet
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Mental Health website
Visit the Preventive Services website to learn more about Medicare-covered services.
CMS Rural Health Strategy
Approximately 60 million Americans or roughly 1 in 5 live in rural areas, with nearly every state having a rural county. CMS recognizes the significant obstacles faced by patients and providers in rural areas and places an unprecedented priority on improving the health of these Americans, including the introduction of the first Rural Health Strategy. In the last year, CMS took several steps to improve rural health:
- Expanded access to telehealth and other virtual services across the Medicare program
- Proposed to increase the wage index of rural and other low wage index hospitals through the Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) proposed rule: CMS is seeking input on several approaches for accomplishing this
- Proposed to remove urban-to-rural hospital reclassifications from the calculation of the rural floor wage index value through the IPPS proposed rule
- Announced the CMS Primary Care First Initiative, a new set of payment models for primary care practices and other providers: Seeking public comment on the Direct Contracting: Geographic Population-Based Payment model option
- Developing a new innovative model for rural communities that will offer a pathway for stakeholder coalitions to invest collectively in increasing access and improving rural health care delivery
See the full text of this excerpted CMS Blog (issued May 8).