Special Challenges faced by Health Care Providers in rural areas
- Ongoing nursing shortage especially of oral health and mental health care providers
- Inadequate resources for primary care. Emergency rooms used as first choice for care by many patients in the community.
- Growing elder population with comorbid conditions
- Increased Medicare and Medicaid patient population and cost coverage
- Growing number of aging HIV/AIDS patients, living with this disease for more than15 years, returning to their rural homes with increasing complex health issues in addition to their HIV condition. This poses new challenges for health care providers.
Legislative Priorities – Texas Organization of Rural and Community Hospitals
High Priorities:
Physician Recruitment/Corporate Practice of Medicine
Medicaid Reimbursement
Rural Hospital Pharmacy Supervision
Aging Hospital Infrastructure
Other Important Issues for Texas Rural Hospitals
Third-party Payer Outsourcing
Correction to New Physician Loan Repayment Program
Expanded Borrowing Authority Needed for Public Rural Hospitals
Federal Health Reform
SPA Act Inclusion of Certain Hospitals
Correctional Health Care Use of Rural Hospitals
Increasing Fees
Redistricting
For more information, please visit Texas Organization of Rural and Community Hospitals’ website: http://www.torchnet.org/legislative_priorities.php