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Rural Health Briefing  July 22 2004

 

National News

 1. Medicare Boosts Payments for Rural Ambulance Services

plus "Super-Rural" Bonus

2. 340B Drug Pricing Program for Small Rural Hospitals
3. National Library of Medicine Focuses on American Indian Health

4. Health Policy and the Uninsured
5. Health Care Workforce Diversity Linked to Patient Satisfaction Outcomes
6. AARP Finds Drugs Price Hikes Tripled Inflation Rate
7. Reducing Risk of Cancer Among American Indians and Alaska Natives
8. Public Health Disparities Geocoding Project
9. Western Governors’ Association Urges Rural Health Action

Across Arizona

1. Statewide Videoconference on Eye Care and Diabetes

2. High Performing Hospital Boards: Roles, Responsibilities and Best Practices

3. 15th Annual Southwest Regional Trauma Conference

4. Trauma Care Training for Nurses, July 24-25 and October 23-24

5. 2004 Arizona Legislation Impacting Rural Health

 

Grants and Opportunities

1.  Rural Health Care Services Outreach Grant, HRSA-05-011

2. HRSA Network Development and Planning Grants

3. Two RFPs Aim to Promote Drug Discount Card Program

4. Rural Entrepreneurship Funds Available from Kellogg for Collaborations

5. Community Awards Program To Support Healthy People 2010 Vision Objectives
6. Aetna Offers Grants to Address Disparities in Health Care

 

Events

 

 

 

National News

1. Medicare Boosts Payments for Rural Ambulance Services plus "Super Rural" Bonus

  CMS has issued an interim final rule with comment period that will increase Medicare payments to ambulance services by $840 million between July 2004 and December 31, 2009. The rule, which implements the ambulance provisions contained in Section 14 of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003 ("Medicare Modernization Act" or "MMA"), will benefit both hospital-based providers and freestanding suppliers of ground ambulance services to Medicare beneficiaries.

  All ground ambulance services will benefit from the new rule, which provides urban ambulance services with a 1 percent increase in payments, while rural ambulances will receive a 2 percent increase. This increase applies to services furnished between July 1, 2004 and December 31, 2006. In addition, for services rendered between July 1, 2004 and December 31, 2008, both urban and rural ambulances will receive a 25 percent increase in their mileage rates for all miles greater than the 50th mile while carrying a beneficiary.  The interim final rule also contains a provision designed specifically to ease the transition to the national fee schedule. CMS is establishing nine regions for the purposes of the fee schedule. For each region, CMS will establish a floor amount for the ground ambulance base rate. This floor will not result in decreased payment rates for any area of the country, but for ambulances in the five regions that would have been paid at lower rates in the absence of the floor, the regional fee schedule will increase payments by as much as 38.6 percent. This provision will be effective for services furnished between July 1, 2004 and December 31, 2009.

  Finally, the interim final rule implements a "super-rural bonus," that expressly benefits the most rural areas for services furnished between July 1, 2004 and December 31, 009. This bonus will increase the base rate by 22.6 percent where the ambulance transport originates in a rural area determined by the Secretary to be in the lowest 25th percentile of all rural populations arrayed by population density.

  Comments on the interim rule will be accepted until August 30 and a final rule responding to those comments will be published at a later date.

 

Super Rural Bonus
  A list of zip codes eligible for the Medicare "Super Rural Bonus" of 22.6% for ambulance trips originating in certain low population density counties and census tracts is available. Small rural hospitals with less than 50 beds that are located in the zip codes eligible for the rural ambulance bonus are eligible for cost-based reimbursement for outpatient labs. Ambulance and lab reimbursement is effective July 1, 2004. Eligible zip codes are marked with a B in the spreadsheet.
  Further details can be found at: ambulance and lab zip codes

 

2. 340B Drug Pricing Program for Small Rural Hospitals
  The HRSA Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP) will offer a technical assistance call Wednesday, July 28th at 2:00 PM Eastern Time. All small and rural hospitals are invited to take part in this call. Due to a provision of the new Medicare Prescription Drug law, certain rural hospitals with a Medicare disproportionate share hospital (DSH) adjustment greater than 11.75 percent may be eligible to receive substantial savings on their outpatient drug purchases through the 340B drug program. This call will focus on the 340B drug pricing program and program staff from the HRSA Pharmacy Affairs Brancy will be available to explain the application process and answer questions on the 340B drug pricing program. The presentation will cover the program structure including benefits, eligibility requirements, application process and available technical assistance. An agenda for the call will soon be posted on the website of the Office of Rural Health Policy (http://ruralhealth.hrsa.gov/).

  To access the call, dial toll free 1-877-675-5901. The pass code is 340B. Tom Morris will be the call leader. A written transcript of the call will be posted at the ORHP Website within one week. You may also listen to a recording of the call by dialing 1-866-417-5767 thru August 25th. If you have any questions contact Keith Midberry (301) 443-7321 or kmidberry@hrsa.gov.
  See also related item #3, “Two RFPs Aim to Promote Drug Discount Card Program” in Grants section of this newsletter.

 

3. National Library of Medicine Focuses on American Indian Health

  The National Library of Medicine, a part of the National Institutes of Health, has a new Web site to address the health concerns of the 4 million Americans who claim American Indian or Alaska Native ancestry. The site, "American Indian Health," is at <http://americanindianhealth.nlm.nih.gov>.

  Because special populations have different health needs, the Library has created several specialized sites, for example, for Asian Americans, those living in the Arctic and far north, senior citizens, and Spanish-speaking Americans. (These are all available from <http://www.nlm.nih.gov/databases>.)

  American Indian Health addresses the special needs of this population. Research shows that Native Americans are 2.6 times more likely to have diabetes as non-Hispanic whites of a similar age. American Indians also have a greater mortality risk for tuberculosis, suicide, pneumonia, alcoholism, and influenza than the average population.

American Indian Health brings together pertinent health and medical resources, including consumer health information, the results of research, traditional healing resources, and links to other Web sites.

 

4. Health Policy and the Uninsured
  The United States is unique in the industrialized world in the number of people without health insurance.  Despite long-running study of this problem, the political debate on health insurance is often based on conventional wisdom and studies that haven't been integrated into a careful theoretical framework. In a new book, Health Policy and the Uninsured, edited by Catherine G. McLaughlin, leading experts in health policy survey the literature on this subject, synthesizing a wide range of health insurance studies into a comprehensive overview of the uninsured. This coordinated critique summarizes what we do not know about the uninsured and provides a framework for the health policy research still needed. Details at: http://www.urban.org/pubs/uninsured/

5. Health Care Workforce Diversity Linked to Patient Satisfaction Outcomes
  Patients treated by doctors of the same racial or ethnic background generally experience greater satisfaction with their care and, in many cases, better outcomes, a new Commonwealth Fund report on a Johns Hopkins study concludes. The findings, which were based on a comprehensive review of studies done on racial/ethnic and language concordance, highlight the need for greater minority representation within the health care workforce.  Sections include: Disparities in Patient Experiences, Health Care Processes, and Outcomes: The Role of Patient-Provider Racial, Ethnic, and Language Concordance:  http://www.cmwf.org/programs/minority/cooper_raceconcordance_753.pdf  

6. AARP Finds Drugs Price Hikes Tripled Inflation Rate
  Prescription drug prices rose at nearly three times the rate of inflation in the first three months of 2004, negating savings to seniors that were expected to come from the new Medicare drug discount card, according to a study by the AARP. Prices jumped 3.4% during the three-month period ending March 2004 compared with a 1.2% rate of general inflation for the same period. The average annual rate of increase rose from 6.9% for the 12 months ending December 2003 to 7.2% for the 12 months ending March 2004. Further details at: http://www.benefitnews.com/detail.cfm?id=6206

7. Reducing Risk of Cancer Among American Indians and Alaska Natives
  A new report from the American Indian/Alaska Native Research Program at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, titled "American Indian and Alaska Native Cancer Fact Sheet," provides information for AIAN tribal and community members on how to reduce their risk of developing cancer. It was funded by the National Cancer Institute. The fact sheet can be found at: http://www.healthpolicy.ucla.edu/pubs/publication.asp?pubID=93

8. Public Health Disparities Geocoding Project
  A free, on-line monograph sharing the concepts, methods, and US census tract poverty data for improving monitoring of - and research on - social disparities in health, is now available.  The monograph draws on the work of The Public Health Disparities Geocoding Project, based at the Harvard School of Public Health. This project was designed to ascertain which area-based socioeconomic measures (ABSMs), at which geographic level (census block group, census tract, or ZIP Code), would be most apt for monitoring US socioeconomic inequalities in health.  The monograph can be found at: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/thegeocodingproject/

9. Western Governors’ Association Urges Rural Health Action

  At the 2004 annual meeting of the Western Governors Association, a resolution was adopted on rural health improvements. After briefly outlining the challenges faced by rural areas in accessing quality and affordable health care, the policy resolution continued urging action in several areas.

  The governors called on the Congress to fund the National Health Services Corps and the Health Professions programs that serve rural and frontier areas. They continued to encourage the federal government to take further steps to ensure equity in Medicare reimbursement for urban and rural areas. The policy statement called on EMS lead agencies at all levels of government to have a legislative mandate, expertise, flexibility and resources to provide needed support and technical assistance in rural and frontier communities.

  The governors expressed support for the elimination of barriers to the use of telemedicine as outlined in the Western Governors’ Association 1998 report. In particular, they called for increased reimbursement for telemedicine consultations, protection of the privacy of patient-identifiable medical information and continued support of rural health provider telecommunication costs with universal service funds.

  The policy resolution was sponsored by Governors Owens (Colorado), Napolitano (Arizona), Richardson (New Mexico) and Johanns (Nebraska) and is available at: Rural Health Improvements. The Western Governors originally adopted it in 2001.

Across Arizona

 

Statewide Videoconference on Eye Care and Diabetes

  Seven videoconference sites across Arizona will host the Virtual Diabetes Round Table #2, Eye Care & Diabetes - The Eyes Have It! , July 29 from 1:00-3:00 p.m.

The seminar, offered at no cost to participants, will explore the burden of diabetes-related eye disease in Arizona, identify environmental barriers to achieving optimal eye care for Arizonans with diabetes and share solutions to overcoming barriers to optimal eye care for Arizonans with diabetes. All materials from the Virtual Diabetes Roundtable #2 will be available at www.azdin.org by August 2, 2004.

  The event will be available at these sites.

  • Phoenix - Arizona Health Sciences Center
  • Tucson - Arizona Health Sciences Center
  • Douglas - Southeast Arizona Medical Center
  • Ganado - Sage Memorial Hospital
  • Polacca - Hopi Health Care Center
  • Tuba City - Tuba City Hospital (2:00-4:00 p.m. local time)
  • Nogales - Mariposa Community Health Center

 

  For a complete agenda, list of speakers and addresses of the conference sites, go to: The Eyes Have It!

 

High Performing Hospital Boards: Roles, Responsibilities and Best Practices

 

  Education has never been more critical for hospital and health system trustees. To help boards excel in their roles of advocacy, financial oversight, strategic planning and quality/patient safety, the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association will bring together national and local experts to engage participants in a discussion of important issues and best practices in a September 10 seminar in Phoenix. The registration fee is $215 for members and $430 for non-members with late fees after August 27.

  The program will include an overview of the current legislative landscape and also discussions on the critical success factors for effective organizational performance plus how to build a healthy board culture. Interactive group sessions will explore finance and audit committees, Board/CEO relationships, and physician relationships. Details at: AzHHA/High Performing Boards.

15th Annual Southwest Regional Trauma Conference

  Trauma remains the third leading cause of death in the United States and the leading cause of disability in young Americans. Advancements in trauma systems, treatment protocols, technology and training have made an impact on this challenging problem, but injury still remains the greatest silent epidemic of modern society. The 15th Annual Southwest Regional Trauma Conference, October 7-8, 2004 will provide the most current information on trauma and its management to all health care professionals working in this area.

  This year's conference in Tucson will offer sessions on resuscitation, airway management, brain trauma, x-ray interpretation, ultrasound basics as well as pregnancy and pediatric trauma topics plus much, much more. Three concurrent sessions are offered throughout each day so participants have a variety to choose from at any given time.
This conference has been organized under the leadership of the Southern Arizona Trauma Network (SATNET) and in conjunction with the Division of General Surgery and Trauma at the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center and University Medical Center. Details at: Trauma Conference.

Trauma Care Training for Nurses, October 23-24

  Advanced Trauma Care for Nurses will be offered in a two-day course at the University Medical Center in Tucson on October 23-24. This course is designed specifically for registered nurses who want to increase her/his knowledge in the management of the multiple trauma patient.  The course is taught concurrently with a physician ATLS course. The Society of Trauma Nurses (STN) and the American College of Surgeons sponsor the course and STN provides continuing education credit for successful completion of the ATCN course.

  The first day will cover the following:

  • Initial Assessment & Management
  • Airway and Ventilatory Management
  • Shock
  • Thoracic Trauma
  • Abdominal Trauma
  • Rotation in Practical Skills Stations:  Airway & Ventilatory Management, Hemorrhagic, Shock and Initial Assessment

  The second day’s training will include:

Head Trauma

Spine and Spinal Cord Trauma

  • Musculoskeletal Trauma
  • Rotation in Practical Skills Stations:
  • Spine and Extremity Injury, Pediatric Trauma and Head Trauma
  • Injuries due to Burns and Cold
  • Pediatric Trauma & Trauma in Women
  • Transfer to Definitive Care
  • Written Examination & Triage Case Scenarios
  • Initial Assessment Skills Stations

  A registration form and further details can be obtained from Melody Pelot at 626-5095 or mailto:melodyp@email.arizona.edu.

2004 Arizona Legislation Impacting Rural Health

  HB 2182: Alcohol Detoxification Study Committee
A 15-member committee is established to study regional alcohol detoxification centers. The committee's charge is to review data on alcohol abuse, alcohol-related crimes and death, the effects of alcohol abuse on county governments, and to identify current programs, promising treatment models, projected availability of services and potential sources of funding. The committee shall meet four times, at least once on tribal lands and shall report its activities and recommendations. The committee terminates on October 1, 2005.

  HB 2197: Statewide Emergency Trauma System
The Department of Health Services will be required to develop and administer a statewide emergency medical services and trauma system. The bill modifies the composition and charge of the State Trauma Advisory Board and appropriates up to $100,000 from the Emergency Medical System Operating Fund in FY 2004-2005 to DHS for this purpose.

  HB 2256: Nursing Assistants Medication Pilot Program
In an effort to ease the nursing shortages, and decrease the nursing workload in nursing facilities, this bill allows the Board of Nursing to create a pilot program to study the effect of allowing Certified Nursing Assistants to administer non-needle medication in skilled nursing facilities. Facing opposition from some nurses fearing the demise of the nursing profession, this bill specifically excludes acute and sub-acute patients and ends in December 2008.

  HB 2268: Poison Control Centers Appropriation
$225,000 is appropriated from the Poison Control Fund in FY 2004-2005 to the DHS for the University of Arizona poison control center and $125,000 for the poison control center located in Maricopa County. The monies are to be used for salaries, employee-related expenditures and staff retention at the poison control centers.

  HB 2345: Nutrition Feeding Assistants Training Programs
Department of Health Services will adopt rules prescribing minimum standards for training programs and feeding assistants in skilled nursing facilities.  The bill also allows DHS to grant, deny, suspend, or revoke approval of any training program that violates the adopted standards and to impose a civil penalty not to exceed $500, on training programs that violate the adopted standards.

  HB 2495: Appropriation for Interpreter Training for Deaf and Hearing-Impaired
In an effort to increase the number of qualified interpreters in the state, this bill appropriates $750,000 from the Arizona Commission for the Deaf and the Hard of Hearing's Telecommunications Fund collected from the Commission's share of the telecommunications excise tax to pay for escalating training needs.

  HB 2671: Ambulances Serving Underserved Areas
To assist underserved communities with ambulance service, this bill allows counties with populations of less than 500,000 to enter into contracts with ambulance service providers to provide service in rural or wilderness areas.

  SCM 1002: Radiation Contamination in Mohave County
This legislation urges Congress and the U.S. President to enact and implement legislation compensating Mohave County victims of atmospheric nuclear testing at the Nevada test site.

  SB 1095: Teratogen Funding
In order to sustain this birth defect program, this bill re-allocates 0.01% of the Telecommunications Excise Tax to the Teratogen Information Program Fund administered the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center to finance the Teratogen Information Program.

  SB 1166: AHCCCS Healthcare Group
This bill does many things.  One of the major provisions allows HCG to contract with other health care providers to provide services in areas that do not have a sufficient provider network (Apache, Greenlee, Mohave and Navajo Counties).  The bill also expanded HCG eligibility. 

Two other bills that did not pass may be of interest.
  SB 1175 - Rural Physician Study Committee
This bill would have recreated the Rural Physician Study Committee to examine issues impacting health care in rural areas. 

  SB 1191 - Rural Hospitals
This bill would have required AHCCCS to increase rural hospital inpatient reimbursement to reflect the actual cost of providing care. 

(Our thanks to Julie Keane, staff member, Arizona State Senate for sending this summary.)

 

Grants and Opportunities

Technical assistance is readily available for the development of grant proposals and other funding applications from the experienced staff of the Rural Health Office and the State Office of Rural Health Program. Please contact Jennifer Peashock by email at mailto:peashock@email.arizona.edu.

 

Note: HRSA has released the guidance for the upcoming network development, planning and outreach grants. It is available at: Program Guidance.

 

1. Rural Health Care Services Outreach Grant, HRSA-05-011

 

Application Due Date: September 13, 2004

  The Office of Rural Health Policy's Rural Health Care Services Outreach Grant Program encourages the development of new and innovative health care delivery systems in rural communities that lack essential health care services. The emphasis of this grant program is on service delivery through creative strategies requiring the grantee to form a consortium with at least two additional partners.

  Through consortia of schools, churches, emergency medical service providers, local universities, private practitioners and the like, rural communities have managed to create hospice care, bring health check-ups to children and provide prenatal care to women in remote areas. To be eligible, the grant recipient's organizational headquarters must be a rural public or rural nonprofit private entity and be located in a designated rural county, eligible ZIP Code of an urban county, exclusively provide services to migrant and seasonal farmworkers in rural areas or be an American Indian Tribal or quasi-tribal entity.

  The Outreach program supports projects that demonstrate creative or effective models of outreach and service delivery in rural communities. Applicants may propose projects to address the needs of a wide range of population groups including, but not limited to, low-income populations, the elderly, pregnant women, infants, adolescents, rural minority populations and rural populations with special health care needs. All projects should be responsive to the unique cultural, social belief and linguistic needs of the target population.

  Applicants may propose to deliver many different types of services. These include primary care, dental care, mental health services, home health care, emergency care, health promotion and education programs, outpatient day care and other services not requiring inpatient care.

These grants are available for the delivery of health care and related services to defined population groups in rural areas. These may be new services in the community or an expansion of existing services. A primary purpose of the program is to foster the development of new collaborative efforts for the delivery of health care in rural areas. Consequently, a consortium of three or more separately owned health care organizations working together must plan and implement the grant project activities. The participating organizations may be similar (e.g., all hospitals) or diverse providers (e.g., hospital, home health agency, public health departments, mental health providers, rural health clinics, community or migrant health centers.

Individual grant awards will be limited to a total amount of $200,000 (direct and indirect costs) per year. Applicants may propose project periods up to the maximum of three (3) years.

  The legislation for this program states that applications should be prepared in consultation with your State Office of Rural Health (SORH).

Rural Health Outreach Grant Program Conference Call 

  HRSA is holding a technical assistance conference call regarding the Rural Health Outreach Grant Program on July 29 at 2:00 p.m. EDT. E-mail or call Mary Collier at mcollier@hrsa.gov .  Provide your name, telephone number, and fax number, if available, and confirm you want to participate in the Outreach Conference Call.  If you do not have e-mail you can phone 301/443-0836 and slowly leave the information requested above.  All reservations must be made by noon EDT, July 29, 2004.

2.  HRSA Grants Available (repeated from May and June 2004 Rural Health Briefings)

Rural Health Network Development Grants (HRSA-04-002)

 

Application Deadline: September 20, 2004

 

  The Rural Health Network Development Grant Program 330A(f) supports development of rural health networks. Grant funds are used to support activities that strengthen the organizational capabilities of these networks whose purpose is to overcome the fragmentation and vulnerability of providers in rural areas. This program is designed for organizations that wish to further ongoing collaborative relationships to integrate systems of care administratively, clinically, financially, and/or technologically. The goal of the Rural Health Network Development Program is to achieve efficiencies; expand access to, coordinate, and improve the quality of essential health care services; and strengthen the rural health care system as a whole.

  The applicant must be a public or nonprofit entity that represents a network that includes at least three or more health care providers. In addition, the grantee must meet at least one of three following requirements:

1) The applicant organization must be located in a rural area or in a rural ZIP code of an urban county (list included in application materials and on program website) and all grant-funded activities must support rural areas; OR 2) The applicant organization exists exclusively to provide services to migrant and seasonal farm workers in rural areas and is supported under Section 330(g) of the Public Health Service Act OR 3) The applicant is a federally recognized Native American Tribal or quasi-Tribal entity that will deliver services on Reservation or Federally recognized Tribal lands (documentation status must be included.)

Contact: Katherine Bolus, 301-443-7444, mailto:kbolus@hrsa.gov or Michele Pray-Gibson, 301-443-7320, mpray@hrsa.gov.

Rural Health Network Development Planning Grant (HRSA-04-003)

Application Deadline: September 8, 2004

 

  The Rural Health Network Development Planning Grant Program supports one year of planning activities to develop integrated health care networks in rural areas. The Planning Grant Program provides support to rural entities that seek to develop a formal health care network and that do not have a significant history of collaboration. Formative networks are those that are not sufficiently evolved to apply for a 3-year planning implementation grant and do not yet have a formalized structure.

  The program is designed to support organizations that wish to develop formal collaborative relationships among health care providers to integrate systems of care administratively, clinically, financially, and/or technologically. The goal of the Rural Health Network Development Program is to achieve efficiencies; expand access to, coordinate, and improve the quality of essential health care services; and strengthen the rural health care system as a whole. The Planning Grant Program supports this overall program goal by providing support to entities in the formative stages of planning and organizing a rural health network.

  The applicant must be a public or nonprofit entity that represents a network that includes at least three or more health care providers. In addition, the grantee must meet at least one of three following requirements:

The applicant organization must be located in a rural area or in a rural ZIP code of an urban county (list included in application materials and on program website) and all grant-funded activities must support rural areas; OR the applicant organization exists exclusively to provide services to migrant and seasonal farm workers in rural areas and is supported under Section 330(g) of the Public Health Service Act; OR the applicant is a federally recognized Native American Tribal or quasi-Tribal entity that will deliver services on Reservation or Federally recognized Tribal lands (documentation status must be included.)

Contact: Michele Pray-Gibson, 301-443-7320, mpray@hrsa.gov.

Two RFPs Aim to Promote Drug Discount Card Program

  The Access to Benefits Coalition and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have issued two Requests for Proposals (RFPs) to promote enrollment in the drug discount card program. They represent an opportunity to educate and enroll rural seniors, particularly low-income seniors, who could benefit from $600 of transitional assistance in the drug discount program.

  Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, on behalf of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Administration on Aging (AOA), is soliciting applications for the Medicare-Approved Drug Discount Card Outreach campaign. This program is part of CMS's and AOA's effort to raise awareness among low-income beneficiaries about the new Medicare-approved Drug Discount Card and, for those who qualify, the $600 annual transitional assistance credit.

  One-time awards ranging from $5,000 to $15,000 will be made to community-based organizations (CBOs) to conduct outreach and education activities and, if possible, conduct enrollment activities as well. Collaborative applicants may apply for a grant of up to $50,000.

  The official RFP is available at
http://www.cms.hhs.gov/partnerships/calendar/about/RFPDrugDiscountCard.pdf,
or it can be requested by calling Joel Hochanadel at (202) 452-9516.

  Application Deadline: July 30, 2004

  The Access to Benefits Coalition (ABC) will provide up to 50 grants for as much as $40,000 each to foster the development of community-wide initiatives focused on enrolling lower income Medicare beneficiaries in the public and private programs that can save them money on prescription drugs. Grant awards will be announced September 1, 2004. To view the complete grant announcement and request for proposal, go to www.accesstobenefits.org and click on Coalition Resources/Grants. The grants are supported by private funds donated to ABC.

Application Deadline: August 2, 2004

4. Rural Entrepreneurship Funds Available from Kellogg for Collaborations

Application deadline: August 13, 2004

 

  The W.K. Kellogg Foundation will award $8 million in grants to foster entrepreneurship across rural America. Four grants of up to $2 million each will be awarded to four rural regional entrepreneurship development systems. Each will promote entrepreneurial activity in their region, produce entrepreneurial models for other communities, leverage significant investment, and stimulate national and state interest in rural entrepreneurship policies and strategies.

  Each of the four regional systems will be organized and led by a collaboration of organizations that will develop and implement products and services to encourage and stimulate entrepreneurship. Such a system would work to bring together rural development entrepreneurial system components of policy, education and training, technical assistance, finance, leadership, culture, and social entrepreneurship to leverage resources and provide greater impact in rural communities.

  The Foundation is seeking applicants who will form a collaborative of groups (may be private, governmental or non-profit) to provide a full range of entrepreneurship development services for their region - be it a community, county, group of counties, reservation or state.

More detailed application information can be found on the Kellogg Foundation's Web site at http://www.wkkf.org/ruralentrepreneurs

5. Community Awards Program To Support Healthy People 2010 Vision Objectives

Application Deadline - August 31, 2004

  The National Eye Institute, through its support contractor Social & Health Services, Ltd., has announced the 2005 round of the Healthy Vision Community Awards Program:  funding for the implementation of health education activities that support the Healthy Vision 2010 objectives and the Healthy People 2010 goals to reduce health disparities and improve quality of life.  The foci of the 2005 awards are: reduce visual impairment due to diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma; reduce occupational eye injury, increase the use of protective eyewear; and increase the use of rehabilitation services and adaptive devices by the visually impaired.  Application forms and program information: www.healthyvision2010.org/funding

 

6. Aetna Offers Grants to Address Disparities in Health Care

Abstract due: October 1, 2004

  The Aetna Foundation has announced the availability of grants focused on disparities in health care. These include both programs to improve the quality of health care delivered to racial and ethnic populations and to enhance services for caregivers and patients at the end-of-life. Priority consideration will be given to programs that address both areas of interest (i.e., end-of-life care for racially and ethnically diverse populations).

Grants will be made only to nonprofit organizations with evidence of IRS 501[c](3) designation or de facto tax-exempt status. Up to $1 million will be awarded.

Submit a proposal abstract using the Aetna Foundation's on-line submission process. |
  Select applicants will be invited to submit detailed proposals. For more information contact:

Sharon Dalton, Managing Director, Aetna Foundation, at SDalton@aetna.com. Technical questions regarding the on-line submission process should be directed to Dave Wilmot at WilmotD@aetna.com. Full details at: Aetna grants.

 

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 Rural Hospital Flexibility Program, housed in the Rural Health Office at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman Arizona College of Public Health, and supported through a grant from HRSA (Office of Rural Health Policy). The Rural Hospital Flexibility 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 comments, editorial suggestions, and discerning questions are welcome. Please send them as well as address changes to Jim Laukes, Editor, Rural Health Briefing.

 
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