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Obviously is being held remotely. All members and witnesses will participate Via Videoconferencing as part of our hearing microphones will be set on mute to eliminate background noise. Members and witnesses, youre going to have to unmute your microphone each time you wish to speak. So i just say that as a reminder and as a little housekeeping issue, but please remember to do that. Documents for the record can be sent to megan mullen at the email address we provided to your staff. All documents will be entered into the record at the conclusion of the hearing. The chair now recognizes herself for five minutes for an Opening Statement. Lets see, where is the clock on the screen . There it is, okay. In any given year, one in five adults experience a Mental Illness such as depression, anxiety, or bipolar disorder. B ....
And make sure that they get exactly what they need. The chair would like to recognize the gentleman from oregon, mister schrader. Is he available . Not seeing or hearing him. The chair recognizes Mister Kennedy. Mister kennedy available . Not in his chair. Then the chair will recognize thegentleman from New Hampshire , miss custer or five minutes of questions. You need to unmute. You. Thank you very much. Thank you madam chair. I appreciate this hearing and i appreciate the opportunity to address you on this important issue. Here in New Hampshire weve had a dramatic increase. Depression, anxiety, trauma and grief as a result of covid and we are struggling as well with changes to the Economic Impact on our Heal ....
And so you constantly gradually fall behind urban areas so that does become a problem in rural areas. Similar are observations on wage index from ms. Peterson or mr. Stover . The wage index relative to critical reimbursement is not as significant as a pps setting. However, the idea that physicians and specially trained nurses and nobody flebomotists and technicians can be recruited to rural areas for less than when they would earn in the urban areas is simply not true. We compete on a National Level for these very, very scarce resources. Same observation, mr. Stover. Yes, mr. Chairman, i would agree with my colleague, ms. Peterson. My last question would be on telemedicine, are you getting reimbursed do you have Behavioral Health also . We do, yes. Are you being reimbursed for Behavioral Health in the same way for ....
Form in rural and underserved areas. Cms recognizes challenges faced by beneficiaries and providers in rural areas. I look forward to working with hrsa and the congress delivering quality care to Medicare Beneficiaries regardless of their location. Thank you again and im happy to answer your questions. Thank you both. Let me answer a couple of questions and well do fiveminute rounds here. Mr. Morris, the department the budget the administration submitted would have cut your budget by 20 million. Did you ask for that cut . Mr. Chairman, we support the president s budget and the request that came forward. We think it supports the key programs for our office. Includes continued funding for the outreach program, the rural hospital flexibility program. For our policy and Research Activities and we think those are the programs that can be most effective meeting the nee ....
Any real meaning in the real world . I mean, isnt the reality that when we say we are reimbursing more than costs, we only reimburse not all costs are reimbursable. We create this impression that a hospital is getting more than what it costs them to operate. Is there analysis . Can you quantify really what is going on in a hospital when we tell them or when we tell the public that your hospital is getting 101 of costs when its really reimbursable costs . Yeah, that is a as you know, thats a very complicated question. You know, it goes back to the historical costs of the hospital and if they converted to critical access, what those historical costs feed into, what they would be paid under the ch reimbursement status. So it does vary from state to state. But i would be happy to get back with you and also with your staff. We can connect you with some of the folks at the university of North Carolina as well some of our experts to bett ....