A new study from the University of Iowa (UI) finds rural hospitals that use telehealth to back up their emergency room (ER) health care providers not only save money but find it easier to recruit new physicians. The results suggest that expanded use of tele-emergency services could play a key role in helping small, rural Critical Access Hospitals maintain their emergency rooms.
Read MoreFor many years, the rate of uninsured children in the United States has been declining thanks to bipartisan efforts to extend coverage through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. But in 2017, approximately 276,000 more children became uninsured, leading to a total of 3.9 million uninsured children nationwide. The rate for children age 18 and younger went up from 4.7 percent in 2016 to 5 percent in 2017,
Read MoreThe Commonwealth Fund released its 2018 Scorecard on State Health System Performance, an annual state-by-state report compares access to care, quality of care, health outcomes and health disparities across the US using data on more than 40 measures. Iowa has consistently ranked high in the report, but this year the state saw even more improvement. Iowa is ranked sixth in the nation for overall health system performance and sixth for access and affordability, up one and two spots respectively from 2017. The healthy lives category improved for Iowa as well, moving up four spots to number 12.
Read MoreThe Affordable Care Act (ACA) allows states to expand Medicaid access to childless adults whose incomes are below 138 percent of the federal poverty level. In the last two years, multiple attempts in Congress to repeal the ACA would have also ended expanded Medicaid. Where it has been adopted, expanded Medicaid has bolstered finances at rural hospital. The majority of recent rural hospital closures – about 90 since 2010 – have occurred in non-expansion states.
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