Believe it or not, there’s a lot of good that comes out of Washington.

Recently, I participated in the 2024 National Rural Health Association Public Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. I always enjoy this trip, learn something new, and make meaningful friends along the way. Exchanging ideas with other health leaders keeps me on my game, helping rural health organizations grow volumes in a turbulent environment.

Rural Health Congress

Early in the week, I began the first meeting of my second term serving on the National Rural Health Association Rural Health Congress. The purpose of the Rural Health Congress is to develop and approve public policy positions of the NRHA. In this meeting, led by Carrie Cochran-McClain, Chief Policy Officer of the NRHA, we reviewed and discussed several topics including maternal health in rural America. In short, the paper discussed the position of the NRHA in supporting policy changes that encourage and support primary care physicians providing maternity care. It also addressed the need to provide access in rural areas while responding to workplace shortages and addressing racial and ethnic disparities. For example, black women are nearly three times as likely to die of complications related to pregnancy and childbirth compared to white women in the most rural areas. Being reminded of these facts is critical for me in making recommendations to clients regarding the growth, or sometimes the closing, of service lines such as obstetrics. While we know that obstetrics departments are facing increasing pressure to stay open, the reality is that not all decisions for a critical access hospital can be based on profit margin alone, as other factors contribute including meeting community need and potential for downstream revenue.

Visits on Capitol Hill

Maternal health and other important issues were shared with members of Congress during the week by various healthcare leaders. I had the pleasure of joining a contingent from Wisconsin, led by Rural Wisconsin Health Coop Director of Advocacy, Jeremy Levin. Others in our group were Brian Stephens, President and CEO of Door County Medical Center; Bob Van Meeteren, President and CEO of Reedsburg Area Medical Center; Chris Brophy, CEO of Crossing Rivers Health Medical Center in Prairie du Chien; Teresa Lindfors, Chief Strategy & Business Development Officer of Stoughton Health; Zach Meyer MD, a family physician at Gundersen St. Joseph’s Hospital Hillsboro, Bryan Weichelt, Associate Research Scientist at Marshfield Clinic Research Institute; Nicole Thill, Executive Director of the North Central WI Area Health Education Center; Brad Wolters, Director of Federal Government Relations at Marshfield Clinic Health System; and Jon Hoelter, Vice President of Federal and State Relations at WHA.

Our group discussed a variety of important federal health care priorities, including the continued protection of the 340B Discount Drug Program. In fact, a group of bipartisan U.S. senators, including Wisconsin Senator, Tammy Baldwin, introduced a discussion draft of legislation designed to give the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) explicit statutory authority to enforce the requirement that drug companies provide discounts at contract pharmacies and prevent pharmacy benefit managers from pocketing the savings intended for 340B entities. In exchange for these protections, 340B entities would be required to submit additional information.

We also expressed support for extending funding for the Medicare Dependent Hospital (MDH) and Low-Volume Hospital federal programs, which are set to expire Oct. 1st without an extension by Congress. These programs are critical in helping to sustain approximately 15 “tweener” rural hospitals in Wisconsin by reducing their Medicare losses.

Lastly, our group advocated for fixing outdated regulations of rural health clinics. The RHC Burden Reduction Act would modernize the rural health clinic program by amending outdated regulations. Among many benefits, it would allow behavioral health care to be considered primary care so RHCs could expand behavioral health care services.

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Get Involved

If you haven’t attended this conference, I highly encourage you to in the future. You will learn and engage with your colleagues at a level not always possible at other conferences. After attending, I always return home refreshed and energized about my career decision to offer solutions that increase access to rural health organizations.

Have a topic you’d like addressed?

For marketing, business development or communication issues related to rural health, what would you like to learn more about? Please contact me at [email protected] with your ideas. I’d love to hear from you.

Register for our next Webinar!

Please join me, Mike Milligan, for BVK Health’s next NRHA webinar, Reimagining Rural Health Marketing on March 7th at 2 pm CST, where you’ll learn techniques for thinking big on a small budget and how to reduce outmigration and increase outpatient volumes. Visit here to Register Now.