Strom Center Blog

Hunger & Poverty Continue to Affect Rural Areas

The Global Hunger Index features Bangladesh as a country with one of the highest hunger indexes in the world. Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries and also one of the poorest. A shocking 49 percent of the population lives below the national poverty line. Child malnutrition is the second highest in the world at 48 percent. The low social status of women in Bangladesh is one of the reasons why women and children continue to suffer from serious health and nutrition issues.

The northern regions of the country in particular face extreme poverty and frequently face food insecurity issues. Most of the populace is dependent on agriculture for their livelihood. Income and employment deficit is rampant in many rural areas where government welfare schemes are not implemented properly.

The primary source of income for a vast majority of the rural and semi-urban population is agriculture. Frequent floods and the vagaries of nature often result in failed or poor quality crops which result in practically zero income for these rural workers who are not skilled in any other job or profession.

The government does have schemes such as right to food and adequate healthcare. Article 15 of the Constitution states that the achievement of securing the basic provisions of life, including food and healthcare for its citizens is a fundamental responsibility of the State. There are multiple programs that focus on providing employment and support for those entrapped in the vicious cycle of poverty.

It is apparent from the conditions prevalent in the villages that much of these projects do not reach the parts of the population for whom the schemes were designed in the first place. Hunger and poverty continue to be the curse of these sections of the society.

A vast majority of the people living in rural areas, experience extreme poverty primarily because of failed crops. They depend heavily on agriculture to see them through for the rest of the year. When crops fail, they have absolutely no other means of sustenance. Food security issues and the need to have targeted assistance because of scarcity of essential services such as healthcare provisions and access to clean drinking water has seen matters go from bad to worse over the past few years.

Medicare Beneficiaries in Rural Areas Get Telemedicine

Patients in rural or remote communities in America often have a difficult time receiving much-needed health care services. To overcome this difficulty the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has finalized a rule for telemedicine services so Medicare beneficiaries can receive the best care and cutting-edge medical assistance from local hospitals.

The new rule simplifies the process for hospitals to credential and grant privileges to physicians and health care practitioners to deliver care through telemedicine. This is particularly beneficial to those rural or remote areas that may lack sufficient staff or resources to deliver specialized services.

“Rural providers face unique challenges in serving the medical needs of their beneficiaries,” notes Alan Weinstock, an insurance broker at MedicareSupplementPlans.com. “Utilizing technology to better serve this community is a big step toward delivering care to these patients.”

Medicare Beneficiaries in Rural America

According to the U.S.

Department of Health and Human Services, “about one in four Medicare beneficiaries live in rural America, and rural providers serve a critical role in areas where the next nearest provider may be hours away.”

The problem is that many rural providers have higher costs than their more urban counterparts. Plus they face the difficulty of maintaining enough patients to break even. To counterbalance these difficulties and address the needs of Medicare beneficiaries in rural and remote areas, Medicare has made exceptions and special arrangements.

Understanding Telemedicine

Telemedicine is the exchange of medical information from one site to another via two-way, real time interactive communication. The sharing of information can be between the patient and his or her physician(s) or between two or more health care professionals.

Specialty medicines often use a more specialized form of the telemedicine term, such as teleradiology or telecardiology.

New Telemedicine Rule on Credentialing

Previously practitioners could not provide care via telemedicine unless they were granted practice privileges both by their home hospital as well as by the remote hospital. It required a complete examination and verification of each practitioner’s credentials including licensing, ability to practice in a state, training and experience, certifications and clinical skills and abilities.

The intent of the new rule is to reduce this burden both for the Medicare-participating hospitals that provide telemedicine services as well as those that use the service by providing an option to streamline the credentialing process. This is good news for all patients, but especially for seniors on Medicare who may have chronic illnesses that require specialty services.