The Rural Hospital Services Strategic Plan Progress Report released November 2020 as required by S.B.1621 requires the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) https://hhs.texas.gov to create a plan to ensure that Texans residing in rural areas have access to hospital services.
The Texas legislature defines rural hospitals as 1) hospitals that are located in a county with 60,000 or fewer persons according to the 2010 U.S Census, or 2) a hospital designated by Medicare as a Critical Access Hospital (CAH), a Sole Community Hospital (SCH) or a Rural Referral Center (RRC) and not located in a MSA, or 3) a hospital that has 100 fewer beds and is designated by Medicare as a CAH, a SCH, or a RRC, and is located in an MSA.
Over the next two years, HHSC will continue collaboration efforts with the rural hospital community, related hospital associations, and other state agencies to provide consideration of the potential difficulties that impact rural hospitals.
The new HHSC goals are to:
- Ensure Medicaid reimbursements are adequate and appropriate
- Increase access to established revenue opportunities to maximize reimbursement for hospitals
- Identify challenges that hospitals experience in providing services to persons covered by Medicare and other payers
HHSC will continue Ongoing Strategies such as:
- Work with the newly created Rural Hospital Advisory Committee to gather feedback from the public to provide information on future reports and plans
- Analyze federal rules and regulations to identify barriers to rural hospital services
- Analyze state regulatory requirements to determine if cost reductions can be achieved
- Work with cross agency staff to identify federal grant opportunities for rural hospitals and healthcare providers
- Realign hospital rates to reflect current costs
- Monitor federal and state statutory changes related to rural hospitals
Lastly, HHSC plans to include in future reports, initiatives, and requirements from CMS https://www.cms.gov that create opportunities or barriers for rural hospital services as Medicare is the major payer in many rural hospitals.
Go to https://texas.gov/laws-regulations/reports-presentations/all for the Rural Hospital Services Strategic Plan Progress Report