CMS is requesting applications for a new initiative, the Frontier Community Health Integration Project, which will test new models of coordinated and integrated care in rural areas.
Through the initiative, CMS will support critical access hospitals in increasing access to services that are usually not offered in rural, frontier communities. The program will help CMS evaluate if providing certain services in rural areas can improve health outcomes and Medicare spending in these communities.
"We expect critical access hospitals in these regions to introduce new telemedicine, home health and ambulance services to improve the care received by Medicare beneficiaries," Patrick Conway, MD, deputy administrator for innovation and quality and CMS CMO, said in the news release.
Just CAHs in five states — Alaska, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota and Wyoming — are eligible to apply.
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