{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.barrasso.senate.gov/newsroom-news-releases-barrasso-presses-hhs-secretary-on-improving-health-care-in-rural-communities/", "Barrasso Presses HHS Secretary on Improving Health Care in Rural Communities", "2023-03-23", "2023", "2023-03", "Republican", "Senate", "WY", "John Barrasso", "B001261", "www.barrasso.senate.gov", "barrasso", "https://www.barrasso.senate.gov/newsroom/news-releases/", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, DC \u2013 U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) recently questioned U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra on protecting the hospice industry from bad actors and improving health care in rural communities.\n\nSen. Barrasso reiterated the need for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to provide a plan to ensure new Alzheimer\u2019s therapies reach rural and tribal communities. He also questioned Sec. Becerra on when CMS will provide a clarification for Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) applications that are being inappropriately rejected or blocked due to lack of policy regarding the RHC location requirements.\n\nSen. Barrasso also spoke on stopping waste, fraud and abuse in the hospice care industry.\n\nSecretary Becerra testified at the Senate Committee on Finance hearing this week.\n\nClick here to watch Sen. Barrasso\u2019s full exchange with Becerra.\n\nOn Stopping For-Profit Hospice Providers:\n\n\u201cAs a physician, I know the importance of protecting Medicare for future generations. Stopping waste, fraud and abuse are critical for all of us. It\u2019s a bipartisan priority.\n\n\u201cLate last year, I was joined by my colleagues on the Senate Comprehensive Care Caucus in sending a letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The purpose was to point out the proliferation of new for-profit hospice providers.\n\n\u201cI think about the hospices in Wyoming, like Central Wyoming Hospice that I\u2019m very involved with in Casper, and we have some around the state of Wyoming. Community involvement, people volunteer, go to events, raise money \u2013 they are amazing centers that provide care and comfort and compassion.\n\n\u201cMost troubling, is that your own data showed a proliferation of these new for-profit hospices \u2013 they are sharing the exact same addresses. I am trying to figure out exactly what is going on here and why this is happening.\n\n\u201cDo you share my concern in this pattern of sudden growth of these Medicare-certified hospices in certain parts of the country?\n\n\u201cWhat are you finding out? Are there bad actors out there and are there things we can do to curb them to prevent some of this waste, fraud and abuse?\u201d\n\nFollow-up:\n\n\u201cI\u2019d like to point out there is a bipartisan group on this committee that want to assist you and help you and share the information you come up with so we can put an end to this.\u201d\n\nClick here to see Sen. Barrasso\u2019s remarks on for-profit hospice providers.\n\nOn Access to New Alzheimer\u2019s Treatments in Rural Communities:\n\n\u201cRural health remains a top priority for me. I met today with the Wyoming Alzheimer Association and there are a number of people here in the audience today listening to you testify wearing the sashes representing family members and others with Alzheimer\u2019s.\n\n\u201cI am encouraged there is a new class of Alzheimer\u2019s treatments. It is giving families some hope they will have more quality time with their loved ones before the disease takes hold. It\u2019s not a cure \u2013 but there\u2019s hope there.\n\n\u201cWe just need to make sure what\u2019s available in certain locations can also be made available to our tribal communities and to our rural beneficiaries.\n\n\u201cThe Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has a policy for coverage with evidence development.\n\n\u201cIt is requiring additional clinical trials and/or registries that could create logistical challenges for people in rural areas as well as providers who are trying to take care of them because they are not all eligible based on where you are.\n\n\u201cHow is CMS planning to ensure that those with Alzheimer\u2019s in rural settings and tribal communities gain access to therapies which are currently FDA approved?\u201d\n\nFollow-up:\n\n\u201cSpecifically, with FDA approved drugs, unless you are part of this next generation follow through, it is harder to get those \u2013 can\u2019t actually get them \u2013 in rural communities, tribal communities based on your location even though it is FDA approved.\u201d\n\nClick here to see Sen. Barrasso\u2019s remarks on access to Alzheimer\u2019s therapies in rural communities.\n\nOn Rural Health Clinics:\n\n\u201cOver 5,200 Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)-certified Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) provide outpatient services all across the country.\n\n\u201cThe Census Bureau no longer defines \u2018urbanized areas,\u2019 previously defined as urban areas of 50,000 or more.\n\n\u201cBut the RHC statute requires that RHCs must be located in areas that are not urbanized area, as defined by the Census Bureau. So they don\u2019t define them anymore.\n\n\u201cSo there is a lack of policy and what we are seeing is RHC applications are currently being either inappropriately rejected based on assumptions of what the new policy is or simply blocked by states waiting for a clarification from CMS.\n\n\u201cI know you are aware of this, can you just hold forth on that?\u201d\n\nClick here to see Sen. Barrasso\u2019s remarks on Rural Health Clinics.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T17:54:45Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.barrasso.senate.gov/newsroom-news-releases-barrasso-presses-hhs-secretary-on-improving-health-care-in-rural-communities/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8439947851002216, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}