Rural Health Panel to Examine Workforce, Reimbursement

The Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) has launched a Rural Health Task Force, co-chaired by former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and former Senator Olympia Snow, with the goal of developing policy recommendations to improve quality and access to health care for Americans living in rural areas.

This initiative will focus on policies that allow rural communities to tailor health services to meet their needs. This would include transitioning some Critical Access Hospitals, which often operate at a financial loss and serve few patients, to emergency centers or other facilities. The task force will also address the need for reimbursement reform and development of quality metrics for rural providers, allowing for increased participation in value-based reimbursement models. Efforts to develop a sustainable healthcare workforce will include enhanced recruiting from local communities and increasing exposure to rural healthcare settings for medical students during training. The use of telemedicine services was proposed as a tool to better connect both patients and providers with medical specialists. However, issues with limited broadband availability in some rural areas and reimbursement for telemedicine services must be resolved before this can become a widespread solution.

ASCP has previously described the challenges faced by laboratory professionals working in rural areas, including a lack of training opportunities, geographic isolation, and limited resources. To address these issues, data from the ASCP’s Wage and Vacancy Surveys can be used to inform workforce development strategies. The Partners for Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment in Africa initiative, led by ASCP, used a cloud-based digital image system to allow clinicians in Africa to consult with pathologists in the United States, increasing access to high-quality and efficient diagnostics. This approach could also be used in rural areas with limited access to pathology services.

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