On Wed Mar 21, CMS announced a call for applications for a new Affordable Care Act initiative designed to strengthen primary care in the United States. Under the Graduate Nurse Education Demonstration, CMS will provide hospitals working with nursing schools to train advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) with payments of up to $200 million over four years to cover the costs of APRNs' clinical training.
APRNs - whether they are nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, nurse anesthetists, or nurse midwives - play a pivotal role in primary care. This new initiative will provide funds to eligible hospitals to increase the availability of clinical training settings that will bolster the skills and supply of APRNs. Payments to the participating hospitals will be linked directly to the number of additional APRNs that the hospitals and their partnering entities are able to train as a result of their participation in the demonstration. The demonstration requires that half of clinical training occur in non-hospital settings in the community. Most clinical training in large hospitals already includes some rotations in settings that treat minority and underserved populations; this demonstration sets a higher requirement for training in non-hospital community-based settings. Students receiving training funded by the demonstration will be encouraged to practice in non-hospital community-based settings, including in underserved areas. CMS will select up to five eligible hospitals to participate in the demonstration, which is expected to run for four years. The demonstration was authorized by the Affordable Care Act, and will be operated by the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation. It is part of the Administration's overall effort to strengthen the healthcare workforce. For more information, including how to apply, visit http://innovation.CMS.gov/initiatives/GNE. ________________________________ CMS.gov Website Upgrade: Please take note that CMS is in the process of making upgrades to the www.CMS.gov<http://www.CMS.gov> website. If you encounter problems accessing information while on the site, please refresh the page or check back later. We appreciate your understanding and apologize for any inconvenience. ________________________________ It's Not too Late to Give and Get the Flu Vaccine. Take advantage of each office visit and protect your patients against the seasonal flu. Medicare will continue to pay for the seasonal flu vaccine and its administration for all Medicare beneficiaries through the entire flu season. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also recommends that patients, healthcare workers and caregivers be vaccinated against the seasonal flu. Protect your patients. Protect your family. Protect yourself. Get the Flu Vaccine-Not the Flu. Remember - The flu vaccine plus its administration are covered Part B benefits. CMS has posted the 2011-2012 seasonal flu vaccine payment limits at http://www.CMS.gov/McrPartBDrugAvgSalesPrice/10_VaccinesPricing.asp. Note that the flu vaccine is NOT a Part D-covered drug. For more information on coverage and billing of the flu vaccine and its administration, as well as related educational provider resources, visit http://www.CMS.gov/MLNProducts/35_PreventiveServices.asp and http://www.cms.gov/immunizations. ________________________________ Note: If you have problems accessing any hyperlink in this message, please copy and paste the URL into your Internet browser. If you know someone who would like to subscribe to a Medicare Fee-For-Service (FFS) provider listserv, go to (http://www.cms.gov/prospmedicarefeesvcpmtgen/downloads/Provider_Listservs.pdf). If you would like to unsubscribe from a specific provider listserv, please go to (https://list.nih.gov/cgi-bin/wa.exe?INDEX) to unsubscribe or to leave the appropriate listserv. Please DO NOT respond to this email. This email is a service of CMS and routed through an electronic mail server to communicate Medicare policy and operational changes and/or updates. Responses to this email are not routed to CMS personnel. Inquiries may be sent by going to (http://www.cms.gov/ContactCMS). Thank you.
