Rural Health Open Door Forum

**Updated February 28, 2013 - The next Rural Health Open Door Forum is scheduled for Thursday, March 7, 2013, from 2:00pm – 3:00pm, ET. If you wish to participate, dial 1-800-837-1935; Conference ID: 91724524. Please see the full participation announcement with agenda in the Downloads section below. Thank you for your continued interest in the CMS Open Door Forums.
**Updated February 4, 2013 - Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will host a Rural Health Stakeholder Call on Monday February 4th at 3:30 pm ET to discuss new steps that HHS is taking to help reduce the regulatory burden faced by rural hospitals, clinics and clinicians who play a key role in ensuring access to high-quality health services in rural America. These measures are part of ongoing efforts by President Obama’s White House Rural Council, which is chaired by Secretary Vilsack. Dr. Patrick Conway, Chief Medical Officer at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Director of the CMS Center for Clinical Standards and Quality will also join the call to provide further details about the new regulatory changes and to answer your questions.
If you wish to participate, dial 888-455-2963; passcode: Rural. Please see Downloads section below for full announcement.
**Updated January 28, 2013 - The next Rural Health Open Door Forum is scheduled for Thursday, January 31, 2013, from 2:00pm – 3:00pm, ET. If you wish to participate, dial 1-800-837-1935; Conference ID: 78862773. Please see the full participation announcement in the Downloads section below. Thank you for your continued interest in the CMS Open Door Forums.
**Updated December 14, 2012 - Please see the "New Electronic Mailing List to Keep Fee-For-Service Providers Informed" announcement in the Downloads section below.

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Rural Health Open Door Forum Overview
The Rural Health ODF addresses Rural Health Clinic (RHC), Critical Access Hospital (CAH) and Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) issues, as well as some inclusion of other questions and concerns that occur in clinical practice pertaining to other CMS payment systems that also extend into these settings. Topics that frequently arise on this forum often deal with payment & billing for services subject to Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) and/or Physician Shortage Area (PSA) status, cost report clarifications, classifications for & qualifications of rural provider types, and the many special provisions being implemented for improving rural health in the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003. Timely announcements and clarifications regarding important rulemaking, quality program initiatives, and other related areas are also included in the Forums.