Collage of elderly people

Dually eligible individuals covered under Medicare and Medicaid who live in rural areas struggle to access the services, care coordination, and integrated care programs they need. Health Management Associates (HMA) conducted multi-state roundtable discussions with diverse stakeholders culminating in The Health Equity & Access for Rural Dually Eligible Individuals (HEARD) Toolkit.

Access the Toolkit

The toolkit is structured around three domains used to organize eight solutions (illustration below). For each solution, HMA provides a description of the rural access challenge, the proposed solution and the proposed tool. Each tool is powered by some type of lever available to the federal and state government in hopes policymakers will build upon this toolkit through continued dialogue with rural communities.

In Focus HMA HEARD Toolkit Framework

Webinar: Rural Health Equity for Dually Eligible Individuals: Raising Rural Voices to Improve Access to Services and Integrated Care Programs

February 2, 2023 | 12:00 pm CT

During this webinar, HMA experts and panelists Dr. Kevin Bennett (CRPH, USCMed, NRHA), Dennis Heaphy (DPC), Pam Parker (SNP Alliance) and Tallie Tolen (New Mexico Medicaid) will provide an overview of the toolkit.

Webinar Objectives 

  1. Understand why the voices of rural dually eligible individuals must drive planning efforts to generate innovations and prioritize investments to advance independent living and recovery goals.
  2. Learn how experiences shared from New Mexico, North Dakota and Tennessee can offer lessons.
  3. Explore eight actionable solutions for improving health and social outcomes among rural dually eligible individuals as outlined in the HEARD toolkit.
  4. Understand why community engagement and investment in rural capacity are essential to improving access to services and integrated care programs for rural dually eligible individuals.