WASHINGTON – Sen. Chuck Grassley, a senior member and former chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, today participated in a hearing to examine challenges and opportunities facing rural health care. Dr. Keith Mueller, University of Iowa Health Management and Policy professor and director of its Rural Policy Research Institute, testified.
Grassley opened by recalling his work to seek stakeholder feedback to improve maternal health. He urged committee action on the Healthy Moms and Babies Act, his bipartisan legislation to improve the economics of rural labor and delivery units. The bill specifically aims to ensure hospitals use modern technology in maternity care and reduce maternal mortality rates.
Below are Grassley’s questions of Mueller and Lori Rodefeld, Director of GME Development at the Wisconsin Collaborative for Rural Graduate Medical Education.
Defining the Value of Flexible Medicare Programs for Rural Hospitals:
“Dr. Mueller, over 600 rural hospitals stand to benefit from the Rural Hospital Support Act. The bill permanently extends the Medicare-dependent Hospital and Low-Volume Hospital programs. Congress has reauthorized these programs more than seven times. We have other rural hospital Medicare programs that offer flexibility and support for rural communities, but those programs have been made permanent.
“Why is it important for there to be flexible and targeted rural hospital programs under Medicare? Why should they be permanent?”
Addressing Workforce Shortages in Rural Health Care:
“Ms. Rodefeld, [the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)] is currently distributing 1,200 additional graduate medical education slots. With the 400 slots already distributed, I’m concerned CMS isn’t meeting the rural and underserved thresholds, as required in the 2020 law I helped pass as then-chairman of this committee. When I wrote CMS last year, they responded that they’re meeting the rural threshold by counting urban hospitals that are re-classified as rural. The agency also cited a lack of rural hospital applications.
“Are rural hospitals getting a fair look for the additional residency slots? What can CMS be doing to help rural hospitals apply and be competitive?
More on Grassley’s Rural Health Care Initiatives:
Grassley in April highlighted the importance of extending the Geographic Practice Cost Index (GPCI) floor, which would enable rural state physicians to receive a fairer reimbursement. He also emphasized the need to modernize Medicare Part B rules so seniors can have better access to pharmacists, audiologists and other licensed and trained health professionals. In March, Grassley pressed Health and Human Services Secretary Becerra on his agency’s failure to fill open spots in the Rural Community Hospital Demonstration Program. The Senate Finance Subcommittee on Health last year recognized Grassley’s leadership on rural health care issues.
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