Dear Pharmacists,
There is good news for older adults living in rural communities, including Medicare beneficiaries.
The approximately 57 million Americans living in rural communities, including millions of Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, face unique challenges when seeking healthcare services, such as limited transportation options, shortages of health care services, and an inability to fully benefit from technological and care-delivery innovations. These challenges result in rural Americans facing worse health outcomes and higher rates of preventable diseases than those living in urban areas.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Innovation Center is announcing a new Model, the Community Health Access and Rural Transformation (CHART) Model (or the “Model”).
The Model aims to:
Increase financial stability for rural providers through the use of new ways of reimbursing providers that provide up-front investments and predictable, capitated payments that pay for quality and patient outcomes;
Remove regulatory burden by providing waivers that increase operational and regulatory flexibility for rural providers; and
Enhance beneficiaries’ access to health care services by ensuring rural providers remain financially sustainable for years to come and can offer additional services such as those that address social determinants of health including food and housing.
For more information: https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/community-health-access-and-rural-transformation-chart-model-fact-sheet
