Category Archives: Healthcare

Minnesota applies for $1B in rural health care funds to offset Medicaid cuts especially in rural MN

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I wrote about the $1 billion application earlier; MPR News takes a deeper look…

Minnesota has applied for a share of $50 billion in federal funding for rural health care that was approved by Congress as part of President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

The Minnesota Department of Health applied for $1 billion over five years. Its 62-page application lays out detailed plans for the funds, including fellowships aimed at getting more medical students training and working in rural areas, adding more telehealth opportunities and providing more preventative care screenings in local venues, such as schools, pharmacies and tribal clinics.

It is in reaction to losing funds in other places…

The Minnesota Hospital Association estimates that the state could lose $2.4 billion in federal health care funding in the first year alone, fiscal year 2028. The MHA also finds that 140,000 Minnesotans on Medicaid could lose their healthcare coverage while another 60,000 Minnesotans will likely drop their ACA health insurance because of the rising costs.

It sounds like the impact could be harder felt in rural Minnesota…

About 30 percent of Minnesotans live in rural areas of the state, where the health care system has been severely strained in recent years.

There’s a shortage of physicians, nurses and other medical professionals, and the number of rural medical clinics and hospitals closing is on the rise. The MDH wrote in its application for the Rural Health Transformation Program funding that 34 out of Minnesota’s 95 rural hospitals are financially distressed, which means they’ve had four or more years of negative operating margins in the past eight years. Just this year, Mayo Clinic Health System announced it was closing six rural clinics in southeast Minnesota.

According to the application, Minnesota’s rural residents on average must travel 64 minutes for medical-surgical care, whereas people in the state’s urban areas travel just 19 minutes on average for care.

Research show that seniors are least apt to use telehealth as assisted living residents followed by nursing home

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McKnight Senior Living reports…

Residents of assisted living communities and nursing homes have significantly lower odds of using telehealth compared with older adults who use long-term services and supports and live in the community at large, according to a new study. But assisted living residents were more likely to use it than were nursing home residents.

I thought this was interesting because I might have assumed the opposite but…

The study, led by researchers from Indiana University Bloomington and the University of Minnesota, shows that although telehealth offers a promising strategy for improving access to care and health outcomes, where an older adult lives will affect their odds of using it. The findings were published Tuesday in a JAMDA – The Journal of the Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medical Association article in press.

Using data from almost 7,000 participants in the 2021-2022 National Core Indicators-Aging and Disabilities Adult Consumer Survey for LTSS, the researchers found that assisted living residents had 20% lower odds of using telehealth, and nursing home residents had 63% lower odds of using it, compared with their community-dwelling counterparts. Nursing home residents had 54% lower odds of using telehealth than did assisted living residents.

The findings, the authors said, highlight a disparity in telehealth access and delivery across various LTSS settings. The lower use in assisted living communities and nursing homes, they said, may reflect differences in infrastructure, staffing and resident autonomy.

MN schools experience speech pathologist shortage – but telehealth could help

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KSTP Channel 5 reports…

There is a shortage of speech-language pathologists across the country and in Minnesota.

According to the National Institutes of Health, 1 in 14 kids has had a communication disorder in the past year. The University of Minnesota says it’s working on creative solutions to address the issue.

“It’s really improved his quality of life,” Jessica Weiche said. Her son, 8-year-old Everett Weiche, has been in therapy with a speech-language pathologist since he was a baby and sees an SLP every week at his elementary school in Plymouth.

Emily Aust, president of the Minnesota Speech-Language Hearing Association, said there are districts in Minnesota with openings for SLPs.

And they talk about telehealth as part of the solution…

Becky Ludewig Lulai, director of clinical programs in speech-language pathology at the U of M, said they’re launching telehealth programs in two rural Minnesota school districts.

They have also structured their program to get more graduate students out in schools.

“We have 30 students each getting three external rotations in our programs,” Lulai said.

Communication is essential in school, and students like Everett continue to build on it.

Minnesota applies for $1 billion for health care support including telehealth

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The Minnesota Star Tribune reports…

A $1 billion grant to improve rural health care won’t offset the much bigger losses from looming cuts to the federal Medicaid health program, but Minnesota wasn’t going to miss out on its chance for the money.

The state completed its application on time last week for the rural health transformation funding, which President Donald Trump’s administration and congressional Republicans offered to soften the blow of Medicaid cuts. Wisconsin similarly announced its appeal for funding.

“This is a lot of money,” said Diane Rydrych, health policy director for the Minnesota Department of Health. “It’s really significant for Minnesota if we get this grant, but it’s also a really tough time. It’s not going to be sufficient funding to address all needs.”

Next up: an unsettling wait. Minnesota should find out in the next month if it will receive its share.

Each state applied for $200 million per year for five years, but the actual amount could vary. Some have worried Republican-led states could have an advantage, given Trump’s rhetoric against Democrats and actions in Democrat-led cities and states, such as military deployments and immigration crackdowns.

Sonds as if the funding could be used for telehealth…

Other goals in the next five years include an increase in telehealth medical appointments and a 10% reduction in rural Minnesotans who return to hospitals with avoidable problems. Essentia Health employs paramedics who visit with patients and help prevent their hospital readmissions, though it has made cuts to the program.

The federal government billed the funding as one-time support for five years, so Rydrych said the state focused its application on up-front investments that could pay off after the money runs dry. Technology upgrades to boost telemedicine visits were one example.

Government shutdown disrupts telehealth at Winona Health

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WXOW reports…

The federal government shutdown is creating new challenges for Winona Health patients who rely on telehealth.

Winona Health officials say the number of people affected is small, but Medicare patients are feeling the change. Some visits that had been conducted virtually must now happen in person.

Hospice care is also impacted. Certain recertification visits that were allowed over telehealth will now require face-to-face appointments.

Administrators say they expect telehealth options to return once Congress resolves the budget impasse.

Mayo Clinic is closing six locations, locals worry about lack of broadband impeding telehealth alternatives

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Explore Okoboji reports…

Mayo Clinic is closing six locations in Southern Minnesota. Montgomery, Belle Plaine, Wells, Caledonia, North Mankato, and Saint Peter will all lose clinics. The Mayo Clinic Health System said in a statement it plans to consolidate clinic services, but locals worry about a lack of access. Montgomery City Administrator Brian Heck said rural Minnesota does not have robust broadband and not every patient is able to use virtual care. The six clinics will close on December 10th.

Help grow the Telehealth Access Point map

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Do you have public space where visitors can securely contact telehealth providers? The NRTRC ( National Consortium of Telehealth Resource Centers ) is trying to grow their publicly available map of places where folks can go to use Telehealth Access Points. The map could be valuable for folks who lack technology to do a telehealth call from home whether they are on vacation, experiencing homelessness or disaster or simply don’t have the technology or tech skills. Here’s more info from a recent post on the NDIA listserv…

In celebration of Telehealth Awareness Week and in anticipation of Digital Inclusion Week, the NRTRC needs your help reaching 250 Telehealth Access Points (TAPs) on the NRTRC Find Telehealth Map.

A TAP is a public-facing space that furnishes a device with working camera, speaker and microphone, an internet connection and privacy considerations in the form of a dedicated room or kiosk for the general public to access a telehealth appointment.  These have been found throughout the nation at community anchor institutions like libraries, social service agencies, community health centers and more.  The NRTRC began mapping public-facing TAPs in 2023 in hopes of creating awareness of the spaces that are available for telehealth appointments and also to help navigators, providers and telehealth participants to find the resources they are looking for to participate in access to telehealth services.

We are thrilled to announce that as of today, we have mapped over 200 TAPs in all around the country, from New York State, to the Marshall Islands!  But we know there are more out there!  We are striving to map 250 or more of these by the time Digital Inclusion Week rolls out on October 6th and we need your help to accomplish this.  If your organization or any organization you know of is providing a TAP in your community, please fill out this form to get it on the map.  TAPs continue to be self-enrolling so you can do this at any time.

We appreciate your participation in this journey and look forward to celebrating this milestone with you all in October. If you have questions about the NRTRC find telehealth map, feel free to reference this user guide, or reach out to us directly.

FCC introduces a ruling that would jeopardize funding for Wi-Fi on school buses

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Telecompetitor reports…

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr yesterday introduced a declarative ruling that would reverse the decisions that enabled use of E-Rate funding to provide Wi-Fi on school buses. He also circulated an order for FCC reconsideration, which would end funding for Wi-Fi hotspots for children or library patrons for use outside of schools and libraries.

The press release announcing the moves says that the extension of the COVID-19 era rules exceeded the FCC’s authority. Carr also claimed the programs had a record of “poor stewardship of scarce funds, and invited waste, fraud, and abuse.”

Expansion of the Universal Service Fund (USF) Schools and Libraries program — also known as the E-Rate program — was approved by the FCC in July 2024.

Carr said expanding the E-Rate program after the pandemic was “in plain violation of the limits Congress imposed on the FCC’s authority. Indeed, the prior FCC eliminated many of the safeguards that Congress placed on those programs. The FCC also failed to demonstrate that these funding decisions would advance legitimate classroom or library purposes.”

Proponents of the added flexibility considered it part of the evolution of libraries. Larra Clark — the Deputy Director of the American Library Association’s (ALA) Public Policy and Advocacy Office and Deputy Director of the Public Library Association — told Telecompetitor in August 2024 that libraries can be enablers that help bring the benefits of the internet to more people.

Testing of school bus Wi-Fi by Google in 2018 yielded positive results.

The news of the FCC ruling elicited immediate reaction.

Healthcare associations urge Congress to extend the hospital-at-home program

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Healthcare IT News reports…

A long list of healthcare stakeholders have signed a letter urging strong support for the Acute Hospital Care at Home waiver program in upcoming government funding decisions.

Writing to Congress this week, the organizations – including HIMSS (parent company of Healthcare IT News), AARP, American Telemedicine Association, Minnesota Hospital Association, Intermountain Health, Mass General Brigham, St. Luke’s Health System, UCAHealth and numerous others organized by Moving Health Home – said the evidence speaks for itself.

Patients, caregivers and providers are generally in strong support of at-home acute care, they said, and as such lawmakers should support the proposed five-year hospital-at-home waiver extension because the model has helped improve patient outcomes, lower healthcare costs and bolster older Americans’ access to medical care.

Moreover, it “will not lead to new costs” – they said in their letter on Wednesday.

They pointed to a 2022 study of patients at a New York City hospital, admitted to either hospital-at-home or inpatient care between September 2014 and August 2017, which found that one hospital-at-home program reduced costs by nearly $6,000 per patient compared with inpatient care.

Further, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has previously found that patients in hospital-at-home programs have lower mortality rates, readmissions and spending post-discharge, while resulting in positive patient and provider experiences, the 140 organizations pointed out.

These and other studies warrant the continued investment and innovation proposed in the Hospital Inpatient Services Modernization Act (S. 2237/H.R. 4313), they told the Democratic and Republican leaders.

Essentia Health asks Congress to extend Medicare coverage for telehealth services

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The Grand Rapids Herald Review reports…

Last week, Essentia Health joined a coalition of health care organizations calling on Congress to extend Medicare coverage for telehealth services before it expires on Sept. 30. In a letter to Congressional leaders, Essentia urged either a permanent extension or, at minimum, a two-year extension, be established to provide stability and clarity for patients, providers and the broader health care system.

Essentia Health focuses on the need for telehealth in rural areas…

As a health care system serving primarily rural communities, Essentia has leveraged telehealth to deliver primary and specialty care to patients who would otherwise have to travel long distances to receive care.

Essentia serves more than 12,300 patients on average per month through telehealth services, with providers conducting an average of 15,000 telehealth visits or consults per month.

Reports comparing social media use and mental health in rural youth vs suburban and urban youth

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Hopelab looks at mental health and social media in kids in rural areas…

In this report, Hopelab examines the mental health, well-being, and online behaviors of young people aged 14-22 (n = 1,274) living in rural communities (21% of those sampled) compared to those living in suburban/urban communities (77%). The term “rural” refers to respondents who selected “rural” when asked to choose the option that best describes where they live, while “suburban/urban” includes those who selected either “suburban” or “urban.” This report explores how rural young people engage with social media, experience mental health and well-being, and access support for mental health needs in comparison to their suburban/ urban peers. This project centers the voices and experiences of rural young people and was developed using youth co-design practices. Youth co-distillation also informed the interpretation of results.6

Here are their key findings:

  1. Rural young people are less likely to use social media daily compared to their suburban/urban peers.
  2. Rural young people are more likely to prefer communicating via social media rather than in person, and they use social media differently than their suburban/urban peers.
  3. Rural and suburban/ urban young people experience depression and anxiety at similar rates.
  4. Rural young people are less likely to use mental health and well-being mobile apps, even when experiencing depression or anxiety.
  5. Rural young people are less likely to have attended online therapy to support their mental health and well-being.
  6. Rural young people are more likely to permanently stop using social media due to harassment, negative experiences, or concerns about time spent online.
  7. Rural young people are less likely to encounter affirming content about diverse identities on social media.
  8. Rural young people are less likely to report high levels of life purpose.

“Digital literacy isn’t a luxury. It’s health care access…” Op Ed in Star Tribune

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The Minnesota Star Tribune posts an Op Ed from a technology services coordinator at Senior Community Services, a nonprofit program based in Minnetonka…

Retirement, which should be relaxing, becomes a frustrating tangle of technology to unweave in order to access basic benefits. Unfortunate considering it could be a resource that greatly augments real life.

The hurdles aren’t lack of intelligence or effort. My work has taught me that using technology is a learned skill — sometimes intuitive, sometimes learned through repetition and no logic at all.

Not everyone has broadband access either, or a working device, in addition to the skills to navigate it all. Assuming everyone does is either dangerously optimistic or willfully naive. And yet we’re cutting federal digital equity funding. How are we to ensure these essential systems remain accessible? Technology becomes a barrier, not a benefit.

Digital literacy isn’t a luxury. It’s health care access, financial safety and civic engagement. In Minnesota alone, hundreds of thousands of households lack basic broadband speed to support access to video telehealth.

If the connection is unstable, video calls with a doctor can drop, freeze or lag. To the average tech user, these glitches are minor annoyances. But for someone who isn’t tech-savvy, they’re debilitating. But with the end of programs like the Affordable Connectivity Program and the derailment of the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program, low-income and rural households are being cut off from both the infrastructure and the support they need to stay connected.

Even if we solve the infrastructure problem, anyone who has upgraded their cellphone in the past few years could tell you that services and devices are more expensive than ever. I would never recommend a refurbished, low-cost, generic-brand device to an older adult. They’re often buggy and their user experience is the least intuitive and user-friendly interface I’ve seen.

Thankfully, local programs are stepping in to help. Many libraries now offer computer help clinics, and nonprofits, like ours, hold digital literacy sessions at senior centers and community hubs across the metro.

Volunteers and staff are helping older Minnesotans use their smartphone and tablets and build confidence in this new, vulnerable digital landscape.

EVENT June 17: How Broadband Could Improve Health Outcomes

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Benton Institute for Broadband & Society reports…

Tuesday, June 17, 2025 – 1:00pm to 2:00pm (CST)

Join us on June 17th at 2 PM ET for a webinar on how poor broadband access and adoption can impact healthcare access and outcomes. Available via the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society’s YouTube page, the webinar will also address policy and programmatic approaches to addressing the digital divide in healthcare.

 

Digital health applications—from tele-mental health services to remote patient monitoring to health portals—offer the promise of improving people’s access to healthcare. But in order to ensure that patients can benefit from advances in technology, they need robust, affordable internet connections, devices, and the skills to use these technologies safely.

Dr. Revati Prasad, Executive Director of the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, will moderate a discussion with:

  • Dr. Jorge Rodriguez, Benton Opportunity Fund Fellow and Clinician-investigator at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School

The Benton Institute is proud to support Dr. Rodriguez’s work on the Digital Access Coordinator (DAC) program, which embeds digital navigators within primary care teams, trains them to support non-English speakers, and expands outreach through community-based programs. The webinar will mark the launch of a playbook developed by Dr. Rodriguez and his collaborators for other healthcare organizations interested in implementing similar programs.

  • Sara Raza, Benton Opportunity Fund Fellow and Clinical Fellow, Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation

Raza is exploring how policy and legal frameworks help—or hinder—efforts to close the broadband healthcare gap, especially in rural areas. Recognizing broadband as a super social determinant of health, Raza is analyzing funding streams for healthcare delivery via broadband and exploring the barriers that prevent healthcare providers and insurers from expanding access to digital care.

  • Dr. Erezi Ogbo-Gebhardt, Benton Opportunity Fund Fellow and Assistant Professor in Information Science at North Carolina Central University

Dr. Ogbo-Gebhardt is a nationally recognized digital inclusion scholar. She investigates the socio-economic and socio-technological factors that impact broadband and digital technology acceptance, use, and impact of use, predominantly among marginalized populations and communities often underrepresented in technology research. Her recent work has focused on disparities in health-related internet uses and how these disparities changed since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • Sarah Jane Tribble, Lead Reporter, Rural Health News, KFF Health News

Tribble has been reporting on how the lack of quality broadband hampers healthcare in rural settings. Her investigation of “Dead Zones” found that nearly three million people live in rural counties where in-person care is extremely limited and telehealth is largely out of reach. Her reporting has demonstrated the real-world impacts of the digital divide on rural residents waiting for better broadband.

Tune in to understand the evolving role of broadband in clinical care, the barriers patients face in accessing digital health tools, and strategies for building culturally and linguistically responsive digital navigation programs.

Watch the webinar on YouTube. Please RSVP below to receive updates and reminders.

EVENT June 17: How Broadband Could Improve Health Outcomes

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An invitation from Benton Institute for Broadband and Society…

Join us on June 17th at 2 PM ET for a webinar on how poor broadband access and adoption can impact healthcare access and outcomes. Available via the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society’s YouTube page, the webinar will also address policy and programmatic approaches to addressing the digital divide in healthcare.

Digital health applications—from tele-mental health services to remote patient monitoring to health portals—offer the promise of improving people’s access to healthcare. But in order to ensure that patients can benefit from advances in technology, they need robust, affordable internet connections, devices, and the skills to use these technologies safely.

Dr. Revati Prasad, Executive Director of the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, will moderate a discussion with:

  • Dr. Jorge Rodriguez, Benton Opportunity Fund Fellow and Clinician-investigator at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School

The Benton Institute is proud to support Dr. Rodriguez’s work on the Digital Access Coordinator (DAC) program, which embeds digital navigators within primary care teams, trains them to support non-English speakers, and expands outreach through community-based programs. The webinar will mark the launch of a playbook developed by Dr. Rodriguez and his collaborators for other healthcare organizations interested in implementing similar programs.

  • Sara Raza, Benton Opportunity Fund Fellow and Clinical Fellow, Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation

Raza is exploring how policy and legal frameworks help—or hinder—efforts to close the broadband healthcare gap, especially in rural areas. Recognizing broadband as a super social determinant of health, Raza is analyzing funding streams for healthcare delivery via broadband and exploring the barriers that prevent healthcare providers and insurers from expanding access to digital care.

  • Sarah Jane Tribble, Lead Reporter, Rural Health News, KFF Health News

Tribble has been reporting on how the lack of quality broadband hampers healthcare in rural settings. Her investigation of “Dead Zones” found that nearly three million people live in rural counties where in-person care is extremely limited and telehealth is largely out of reach. Her reporting has demonstrated the real-world impacts of the digital divide on rural residents waiting for better broadband.

Tune in to understand the evolving role of broadband in clinical care, the barriers patients face in accessing digital health tools, and strategies for building culturally and linguistically responsive digital navigation programs.

Watch the webinar on YouTube.

Please RSVP to receive updates and reminders.

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will no longer cover costs for high-speed internet for rural healthcare providers

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CMS.gov reports…

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is taking action to preserve the core mission of the Medicaid program by putting an end to spending that duplicates resources available through other federal and state programs or isn’t directly tied to healthcare services.  Mounting expenditures, such as covering housekeeping for individuals who are not eligible for Medicaid or high-speed internet for rural healthcare providers, distracts from the core mission of Medicaid, and in some instances, serves as an overly-creative financing mechanism to skirt state budget responsibilities.

CMS sent a letter to states today notifying them that it does not intend to approve new or extend existing requests for federal matching funds for state expenditures on these two types of programs — designated state health programs (DSHP) and designated state investment programs (DSIP).  DSHPs and DSIPs are state-funded health programs that, without “creative interpretations” of section 1115 demonstration authority, would not have qualified for federal Medicaid funding.