In this edition:

• 🏠 Medicare pay raise coming to nursing homes

• 🚜 Putting med students in rural areas

• ¼ Cost prevent mental health treatment

• 📱 Health records coming to new apps

• And more!

Medicare pay raise coming to nursing homes

Nursing homes will be getting a 4.2% Medicare Part A pay raise under the fiscal 2025 final pay rule issued Wednesday.

Providers also will be facing a more aggressive fines system, with civil monetary penalties now applicable in more instances.

The updated system will allow regulators to levy penalties “more commensurate with the identified noncompliance.” “Full use” of CMPs will “encourage faster correction and sustained compliance with health and safety requirements,” officials said.

Kansas program puts med students in rural areas

Western Kansas hospitals often face staffing shortages, but a new program by the Kansas College of Osteopathic Medicine aims to address this issue.

The initiative places medical students in rural settings to gain hands-on experience and shadow healthcare professionals, with the goal of encouraging them to consider careers in these underserved areas.

By offering practical experience in rural settings, the program aims to inspire future physicians to work in these areas, ultimately helping to alleviate local healthcare shortages.

The approach has already shown promise in smaller communities, proving beneficial for both students and rural hospitals.

Cost prevent 1 in 4 from getting mental health treatment

More Americans died by suicide in 2022 than any other year on record in the United States.

Still, significant barriers to care, including lack of insurance and clinician shortages, have kept many Americans from accessing much-needed behavioral health care, according to a new report from Mental Health America (MHA) based on federal data from 2022.

Lack of insurance or financial resources can keep patients from receiving needed care.

Just over 10% of American adults with a mental illness do not have health insurance, the report found, representing nearly six million people.

Almost a quarter of adults who experience 14 or more mentally unhealthy days a month could not afford to see a clinician, a 2% increase from the previous year.