The Biden-Harris Administration is taking actions to improve the health of rural communities and help rural health care providers stay open

The Biden-Harris Administration is taking actions to improve the health of rural communities and help rural health care providers stay open. These actions:

• Build on the Affordable Care Act and Inflation Reduction Act to increase access to affordable health coverage and care for those living in rural communities
• Keep more rural hospitals open in the long run to provide critical services in their communities
• Bolster the rural health workforce, including for primary care and behavioral health providers
• Support access to needed care such as behavioral health and through telehealth services.

The Biden-Harris Administration will support rural communities having access to reliable care, through approaches that expand access to outpatient behavioral health and telehealth services.

• Expanding access to services provided via telehealth. During the first year of the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE), Medicare telehealth visits increased 63-fold, especially benefiting patients in rural communities. CMS is extending many of the Medicare telehealth flexibilities provided during the COVID-19 PHE through December 31, 2024, based on requirements in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023. CMS also created new requirements for Medicare Advantage organizations to develop and maintain procedures to offer digital health education to enrollees to improve access to medically-necessary covered telehealth benefits. Furthermore, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA) requires CMS to provide technical assistance and issue guidance to states on how to improve access to services delivered via telehealth to beneficiaries enrolled in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). This will help people in rural communities by granting access to services without having to travel long distances to see a provider in person.  
• Improving access to high-speed internet. Internet access is important to accessing telehealth and the Biden-Harris Administration has committed to connecting everyone in the country to affordable, high-speed internet. Rural communities, including tribal communities, represent 93% of all locations unserved by affordable, high-speed internet across the country. President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provided $2 billion in funding, through the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program, to fill this infrastructure gap and aid adoption efforts to Tribes. This funding is in addition to $2 billion for ReConnect funding, a program for high-speed infrastructure projects on rural and tribal land. To further support access, IHS is partnering with digital navigators to come to local rural health care facilities to sign up tribal members for the Affordable Connectivity Program which provides a discount for internet bills.