Rural Health Briefing
Volume VIIII July 9, 2007
Arizona Critical Access Hospital Program
Rural Health Office
UA Zuckerman College of Public Health
in conjunction with the Arizona Rural Health Association
National News
- Community Health Clinics Flourish, But Doctors Are Few
- HELP Panel Approves Health Information Technology Grant and Loan Programs
- TransNational Health: New Research on Health & Immigration
- Rural News Delivery
- SSA-Annual Mailing to Low-Income Medicare Beneficiaries
- Attention Rural Health Clinics: July 10 TA Call
- Bright Futures for Women's Health and Wellness
Across Arizona
- GITA- State Project Management Certification Program
- Arizona Rural Hospital Performance Improvement Summit
- SORH Grant Awards for FY2007
- Public/Rural Health Staff Announcements
- Rural Hospital Performance Improvement Summit
Grants and Opportunities
- Scholarships Available to Attend 2007 APHA Conference
- Rural Health Network Development Planning Grant Program
- Community-Oriented Connectivity Broadband Grant Program
Calendar
July 12-13, Arizona Rural Policy Forum, Flagstaff, AZ
July 16-17, Rural Hospital Performance Improvement Summit, Phoenix, AZ
July 19, EMS Training on Pediatric Trauma, Cochise College, Sierra Vista
July 24, EMS Training on Pediatric Trauma, Flagstaff Medical Center, Flagstaff, AZ
July 24-26, Measuring Diabetes and Obesity in Indian Health Systems, Tucson, AZ
July 25-26, NRHA Annual Quality and Clinical Conference, Kansas City, MO
July 30-August 1, Arizona Rural Health Conference, Fountain Hills, Arizona
Mark Your Calendar
July 30-August 1, Arizona Rural Health Conference, Fountain Hills, Arizona
Sept 12-14, Rural Health Information Technology Conference, Kansas City, MO
National News
1. Community Health Clinics Flourish, But Doctors Are Few
On June 19th, 2007 page A02 of the Washington Post featured the article Community Health Clinics Flourish, but Doctors Are Few; Government Needs to Entice Physicians, Health Officials Say by staff writer Christopher Lee. According to Lee, “The Bush administration has increased spending on community health centers by hundreds of millions of dollars since 2001, helping to open or expand more than 500 of the facilities and extending basic medical services to 4.5 million people. But the promise of better health care for millions of Americans in underserved communities is being undermined by a chronic shortage of doctors -- one that some officials of the health centers say the administration has done too little to address.”
Click here to read the full article.
2. HELP Panel Approves Health Information Technology Grant and Loan Programs
This was a recent Congressional Quarterly featured article by CQ Staff writer Colby Itkowitz:
“June 27, 2007 -- A Senate panel approved by voice vote a bill that would create grant and loan programs to help health care providers buy and adopt new information technology products. The bill (S 1693) would require government purchases of health IT to meet basic standards on information exchange. A panel of government and private-sector stakeholders would set the standards.
Both the Senate and House passed similar bills in the 109th Congress, but a conference never was scheduled to work out differences. The Senate bill would authorize a total of $278 million in fiscal years 2008 and 2009 for competitive matching grants to regional and local health IT networks. The regional networks are designed to unite insurers, doctors, hospitals and other health care providers into a single IT network that can share information. The grants would be available for five years.
Eager to wrap up the meeting before a floor vote on immigration legislation, Edward M.Kennedy, D-Mass., chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, urged members to reserve amendments for the floor. "We have a responsibility to make the miracles of modern medicine available to every American," Kennedy said in a statement when the bill was introduced. "However, in our health care system, medical errors are all too common and coordination of care is often poor."
According to the statement, the federal government estimates the nation could save $140 billion each year from better IT use. Those savings could cut the cost of a family's health insurance by over $700 a year, it says.
"Health IT is about bringing safety and efficiency to our health care system," said Bill Novelli, chief executive officer of AARP, which supports the bill. "People seeking treatment have enough to worry about; if we can alleviate the fear that an error will occur, we need to try to do that."
Privacy advocates are concerned that digitizing health records would leave patients open to privacy violations and identity theft. The legislation would bring health IT databases under the protections of existing patient privacy law (PL 104-191).
The committee approved without objection a manager's package that included a provision to preserve an individual's ability to control the acquisition, uses and disclosure of individually identifiable information.”
3. TransNational Health: New Research on Health & Immigration
Below is a link to some audio files that you can play on your iPod, mp3 player or on your computer. This subject is very exciting and certainly a timely topic: Health and Immigration.
The Center for Health Research is pleased to announce the audiofiles of the entire "TransNational Health: New Research on Health & Immigration" Conference are now available online at the conference's website, http://immigration.berkeley.edu
The sold-out event, held on April 18th at the Berkeley City Club, featured an outstanding slate of researchers and practitioners in the field of immigration and health. The recordings are in MP3 format and may be accessed by a variety of free media players (for example,Windows Media Player, QuickTime, or RealAudio). Speaker presentations are in PDF format and may be viewed with the free Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Click here to access the links.
4. Rural News Delivery
A new rural news and information online publication is open for business. The Daily Yonder is a newspaper for rural America, a daily multi-media buffet of news, commentary, research, and features. The DY begins with an analysis of campaign contributions. Which rural counties gave the most to Sen. Clinton, Mayor Rudy, or John Edwards? The Daily Yonder lets you know.
You can follow Missouri farmer Richard Oswald to a conference on globalization in Iowa, or learn the history of seersucker…all in one spot. Give the Yonder a test drive and tell us what you think. The Daily Yonder is published by the Center for Rural Strategies, coordinator of the 80-55 Coalition for Rural America. If you would like to receive the full copy of an article, please email your request to Shawn Poynter at memsvcs@ruralstrategies.org.
Click here to access the Daily Yonder website.
5. SSA-Annual Mailing to Low-Income Medicare Beneficiaries
The annual mailing of outreach letters to low-income Medicare beneficiaries begins the first week of July from the Social Security Administration. These letters inform low-income Medicare beneficiaries about the Medicare Savings Programs and the extra help available for Medicare prescription drug plan costs. Approximately, 4.7 million people received a letter between May 16 and June 26, 2007. As such, people with Medicare in the community may come to you for assistance.
Background
Section 1144 of the Social Security Act requires SSA to notify low-income Medicare beneficiaries each year about specific programs available to assist them with their medical and prescription drug expenses. The Medicare Savings Program (MSP) provides help to Medicare beneficiaries with limited incomes. MSP may pay for Part A and B premiums, deductibles and co-insurance. For more detailed information about the eligibility requirements and the help available to pay for premiums, cost-sharing, and deductibles, go to http://www.cms.hhs.gov/DualEligible/ .
6. Attention Rural Health Clinics: July 10 TA Call
The next Rural Health Clinic Technical Assistance call will be July 10th at 2:00pm Eastern Time. The call topic will be shortage area designations and Rural Health Clinics. The speakers slides are available for download by going to:
http://www.ruralhealth.hrsa.gov/RHC/index.htm
The call-in number and access code for the upcoming conference call is also available at this site, along with the slides and transcripts of previous calls.
We look forward to your participation in this call.
7. Bright Futures for Women's Health and Wellness
Be sure to check out the Bright Futures for Women’s Health and Wellness resources located on at the Women’s Health page on The U. S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) website.
Click here to access the links.
Across Arizona
1. GITA- State Project Management Certification Program
The Government Information Technology Agency (GITA) has developed a new program to help agency project managers enhance their ability to complete technology projects on time and within budget. The State Project Management Certification program provides State employees with the necessary project management skills to effectively and efficiently develop, implement, and monitor State projects.
The State Project Management Certification program consists of two major components:
1. An intensive, week long class in Project Management taught by an instructor certified by the Project Management Institute. Upon completion of the class students take a comprehensive exam to measure project management aptitude.
2. A one-half day class emphasizing State requirements in security, privacy, enterprise architecture, policies & standards, oversight and project investment justification. The first class, conducted by GITA on June 5, received good reviews and GITA is working to improve the program for future classes.
In addition to these requirements, agency CIO’s must attest that the candidate for certification has at least two years of project management experience.
Click here to read the entire press release.
2. Arizona Rural Hospital Performance Improvement Summit
The Arizona Rural Hospital Flexibility Program is sponsoring a two-day Rural Hospital Performance Improvement Summit on July 16 and 17, 2007, in Phoenix. In partnership with the Health Services Advisory Group and the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association, the first day will focus on manager skill building and strategic capital planning given by representatives from Larson Allen. The second day will focus on the internationally acclaimed use of the Balanced Scorecard framework for maximizing performance and maintaining results. Two national consultants, Paul R. Niven and Gregory Wolf, will talk about their perspective of the philosophy and value of this specific management tool. The day will end by hearing from a panel of Arizona CAH personnel currently using the Balanced Scorecard.
For more information, please contact Joyce Hospodar at 520-626-2432 or at Hospodar@u.arizona.edu
3. SORH Grant Awards for FY2007
By now all State Office of Rural Health Directors should have received the FY 07 Notification of Grant Award. If not, this is the time to contact your respective Project Officer/Regional Liaison (PO/RL). Most states received a Federal award amount of $148,500 which is approximately 1% ($1,500) less than the $150,000 requested.
The University of Arizona Board of Regents and corresponding State Office of Rural Health are pleased to report the renewal of the award for fiscal year 2007.
4. Public/Rural Health Staff Announcements
The Arizona State Office of Rural Health welcomes its new director this month. Gary Hart, PhD, previously served as Director of the Rural Health Research Center at the University of Washington in Seattle. In addition to serving as Director of the Rural Health Office, Dr. Hart will function as a professor in the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health. Dr. Hart replaces Dr. Lynda Bergsma who has been serving as Interim Director of the Rural Health Office since Alison Hughes’ retirement in 2005 to concentrate on the Rural Hospital Flexibility Program. Dr. Hart can be reached at 520-626-6258 or garyhart@email.arizona.edu
Dr. Iman Hakim has been named Interim Dean of the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health. She replaces Dr. Marie Swanson who recently retired from the post to move back to Indiana to be closer to her family.
Ines Brown has been appointed to the position of Administrative Assistant in the Rural Hospital Flexibility Program at the State office of Rural Health. Brown will be assisting the Flex Program staff with a variety of initiatives aimed at helping the state's small rural hospitals. She can be reached at 520-626-0721 or inesb@email.arizona.edu
Agnes Atakai, director of Health Disparities Outreach and Prevention Education at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, has been appointed to the Minority Women's Health Panel of Experts of the Office on Women's Health (OWH) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The panel ensures that the ethnic minority focus is incorporated throughout OWH's programs, policies and initiatives. Atakai replaces Juana Casillas, who recently retired, as the Native American Liaison at the Rural Health Office. Atakai can be reached at 520-626-4272 or agnesa@email.arizona.edu
5. Rural Hospital Performance Improvement Summit
Calling all Chief Executive Officers, Chief Financial Officers, Chief Nursing Officers, Physicians, and Performance Improvement Directors/Managers! Many rural hospitals have improved their reimbursement, but does achieving CAH designation guarantee financial success? Learn the answer to this, and more, at the 2007 Rural Hospital Performance Improvement Summit, July 16th and 17th from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. each day. The summit is sponsored by the Arizona Rural Hospital Flexibility Program, the Health Services Advisory Group and the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association. It is being held at the Health Services Advisory Group in Phoenix, AZ.
Mon. July 16, Principals from LarsonAllen willl talk about the “Gold Standard” for Critical Access Hospitals
Tues., July 17, nationally acclaimed management consultant and author, Paul R. Niven will discuss how to execute strategy and drive alignment using the Balanced Scorecard framework.
For more information and to register for the event, please contact Ines brown at 520-626-0721 or at inesb@email.arizona.edu
Grants and Opportunities
Note: Technical assistance is available for the development of grant proposals and other funding applications from the professional staff of the Rural Health Office and the State Office of Rural Health Program. Please contact Jennifer Peters.
1. Scholarships Available to Attend 2007 APHA Conference
The Community-Based Public Health (CBPH) Caucus - the "home" for CBPR at the American Public Health Association - is offering scholarships for community-based organizations (CBO)s to attend the APHA conference, "Politics, Policy and Public Health," November 3-7, 2007 in Washington DC.
The letter of explanation and application can be found on the Caucus's website at http://www.cbphcaucus.org.
For more information, please contact Barb Watson, Caucus Administrator at 734-936-1226 or at bjwatson@umich.edu
2. Rural Health Network Development Planning Grant Program
Application Deadline: October 5, 2007
The purpose of the Rural Health Network Development Planning Grant Program is to provide support to entities that need assistance to plan, organize and develop a health care network because they do not have a significant history of collaboration and are not sufficiently evolved to apply for a three year Rural Health Network Development Grant. This support may be sufficient to jumpstart a network into becoming operational and developing strategies for becoming sustainable. The grant program supports one year of planning to develop and operationalize health care networks, consisting of at least three health care providers, in rural areas.
Click here to read more.
3. Community-Oriented Connectivity Broadband Grant Program
Application Deadline: August 20, 2007
The purpose of the Community-Oriented Connectivity Broadband Grant Program is to “provide financial assistance in the form of grants to eligible applicants that will provide currently un-served areas, on a "community-oriented connectivity" basis, with broadband transmission service that fosters economic growth and delivers enhanced education, health care, and public safety services.”
Click here to read more
Contact Your Representatives
a. Arizona Congressional Delegation: Links to Arizona members of the U.S. House of Representatives are available at: U.S. Representatives. Links to Arizona members of the U.S. Senate are available at: U.S. Senate
b. Arizona State Legislators: Available through the Arizona Legislative Information System (ALIS): Call 1-800-352-8404 or follow links at Arizona Legislature.
Important Links
Editor's Note: This online newsletter is a project of the Arizona Critical Access Hospital Program, housed in the Rural Health Office at the UA Zuckerman College of Public Health, and supported, in part, through a grant from HRSA (Office of Rural Health Policy). The program was created by Congress to improve the financial viability and stability of health care in rural areas, including creation of a new designation for rural hospitals as Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs). Designated CAHs are eligible for cost-based reimbursement for services provided to Medicare patients. In some states, including Arizona, additional reimbursement is also available for CAH services provided to Medicaid patients.
Your questions (or answers) are always welcome. Please send them as well as address changes to Alison Hughes, Director. Arizona Critical Access Hospital Program.
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