Earlier this month, CMS released the agency’s first Rural Health Strategy intended to provide a proactive approach on health care issues to ensure that individuals who live in rural America have access to high quality, affordable health care. This new strategy focuses on ways the agency can better serve individuals in rural areas and avoid unintended consequences of policy and program implementation.
The agency-wide Rural Health Strategy, built on input from rural providers and beneficiaries, focuses on five objectives to achieve the agency’s vision for rural health:
- Apply a rural lens to CMS programs and policies
- Improve access to care through provider engagement and support
- Advance telehealth and telemedicine
- Empower people in rural communities to make decisions about their health care
- Leverage partnerships to achieve the goals of the CMS Rural Health Strategy
“For the first time, CMS is organizing and focusing our efforts to apply a rural lens to the vision and work of the agency,” said CMS Administrator Seema Verma. “The Rural Health Strategy supports CMS’ goal of putting patients first. Through its implementation and our continued stakeholder engagement, this strategy will enhance the positive impacts CMS policies have on beneficiaries who live in rural areas.”
