Wisconsin Congressman Ron Kind has introduced the Rural and Underserved Small Hospital Protection Act known as the RUSH Act. The measure is an attempt to fix the rural access to care issue felt in many states. For Iowa Farmers Union members it’s one of their top concerns. President Aaron Lehman says in order to adequately protect rural residents with the proper health care takes personnel there to do the job.
Kind says his measure provides clarity after changes were made to Rural Health Clinic reimbursement rules. Lehman says that clarity is essential in fixing the inequities in the current rural health care system.
He says the pandemic brought about many of the challenges facing rural health care and those providers in attempting to meet the needs of underserved areas.
Lehman says IFU will continue to weigh in on the rural health care problem and is studying Kind’s legislation to see what will work best going forward.
