The federal director of rural health policy on Wednesday called the recent Medicare overhaul the most important health policy shift for rural health providers in more than 20 years.
Funding to rural health providers under the new legislation is expected to increase by $20 billion over the next decade, a boon to the nation's 2,100 rural hospitals.
"By anyone's measure, that's a lot of money," Marcia Brand, director of the federal Office of Rural Health Policy, told a conference of health professionals in Fargo.
Brand was the keynote speaker on the opening day of the annual Dakota Conference on Rural and Public Health, attended by health professionals from around North Dakota.
The new Medicare plan includes payment bonuses for doctors serving scarcity areas and equalizes payments to rural hospitals, among other provisions.
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On the other hand, federal grants to support rural medicine -- which this year provided $3.6 million in funding to North Dakota -- face drastic cuts under the Bush administration's proposed budget.
"Much of that would take a hit," said Mary Wakefield, director of the Center for Rural Health at the University of North Dakota. "Probably half of that money would disappear tomorrow if that budget stood."
Programs slated for deep cuts include eliminating a grant program to help critical access hospitals, the smallest and most vulnerable rural hospitals -- which comprise 29 of North Dakota's 37 rural hospitals, she said.
Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., last week introduced a resolution to restore funding to the programs, but mounting deficits will make that difficult, Wakefield said.
Brand is spending two days in North Dakota, and toured the Rural Assistance Center at UND, established by her office in 2002 to serve as an "information portal" to help rural communities with a spectrum of health issues.
"I am really very pleased," she said. The center helps link local agencies to more than 225 federal programs that deal with some aspect of health care.
Readers can reach Forum reporter Patrick Springer at (701) 241-5522
