|
Rural Health Briefing, October 1, 2006
Page One
New FCC Funding for Rural Health Broadband
The Federal Communications Commission has established a new pilot program (FCC 06-144) to help public and non-profit health care providers build state and region-wide broadband networks dedicated to the provision of health care services, and connect those networks to Internet2. The pilot program will fund up to 85% of the costs incurred to deploy state or regional broadband networks dedicated to health care and up to 85% of the costs of connecting the regional and/or statewide to Internet2. An estimated $60 million will be awarded from this initiative in the first year. Application details will be coming soon to the FCC website.
Note: Funding applications will be on a fast track with only 30 days to submit after approval of requirements by OMB.
Click here for more information.
Arizona Offers Rural HIT Grants
The State of Arizona is soliciting proposals for the newly established Rural Health Information Technology Adoption (RHITA) Grant Program. The RHITA Grants provide resources to rural health care providers to develop health information technology infrastructure. Grants will be awarded for the purpose of increasing health care quality and efficiency while decreasing the costs of providing care in under served areas. $1.5 million has been appropriated for the program.
The program is being administered by the Arizona Government Information Technology Agency.
Applications are due October 20, 2006.
Click here for details.
National News
1. Developing a Secure Health Information Exchange
2. HIT Funding Resources
3. Mexico Posts Pollution Registry
4. NRHA Urges Legislative Support
5. Nurses Surveyed on HIT
6. Rule Pending for Rural Health Clinics
7. Spanish Language Health Literacy Tool
8. Improving Latino Healthcare
9. HIT Certification and Standardization
10. CEOs Top Ten List
Across Arizona
1. Help for Arizona’s Most Vulnerable Population
2. TV Series Examines at Healthcare Quality
3. Telehealth Carts Arrive in Tuba City
Grants and Opportunities
1. HHS Health Disparities Among Minority and Underserved Women
2. HRSA Rural Health Network Development Planning Grants
3. HRSA Rural Health Outreach Grants
4. The William B. Graham Prize for Health Services Research
5. CDC Conference Grants for Public Health
Calendar
October 3-6, NRHA’s Rural Health Clinics and Critical Access Hospitals Conference, St. Louis, Missouri
October 11, Strengthening Hospital-Physician Relationships, Webcast, 11:00 a.m. (Arizona time)
October 9-13, Border Binational Health Week 2006
October 16-17, Second Nationwide Health Information Network Forum, Washington, D.C.
October 22-25, 10th Annual Conference on Rural Telecommunications Congress, Little Rock, Arkansas
October 26-27, National Prevention Summit: Prevention, Preparedness, and Promotion, Washington, D.C.
November 1-2, Designing Reliable Delivery of Optimal Care, San Francisco
November 2-3, Navajo Nation Public Health Surveillance Conference, Window Rock
(registration free by contacting Christopher Corniola at 928-871-6265 or chris.corniola@nndoh.org before October 20)
November 3, Tipping Point: Achieving Health Insurance Coverage
for ALL Arizonans, Scottsdale, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m., St. Luke’s Health Initiatives
November 4-8, Public Health and Human Rights, 134th Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association, Boston
November 8, The Coming Death and Transformation of the American Hospital, Phoenix, 7:30.-11:45 a.m., St. Luke's Health Initiates
November 14-16, 2nd Annual National Rural Hospital Performance Improvement Conference, San Antonio
December 10-13, 18th Annual National Forum on Quality Improvement in Health Care, Orlando, Florida
Mark Your Calendar
February 12-14, 2007, The Clock is Ticking for Rural America: A Behavioral Health and Safety Conference, Sioux Falls, South Dakota
June 6-8, 2007, 5th Annual Western Region Flex Conference, Jackson Hole, Wyoming
National News
Developing a Secure Health Information Exchange
The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) and Internet2 have created a partnership to explore the development of a secure, reliable and advanced networking solution for the transmission of medical information, messages and images throughout the broad health care industry. The two organisations are exploring a new network designed to offer the health sciences and health care sectors a private and secure medium for exchanging health information. A next-generation architecture built to meet federal regulatory requirements, this new network may also have value to offer in the work of the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN).
Four working groups have been established to explore an advanced medical network during the next year.
* Identity Management that will allow the identification and authentication of individuals regardless of their physical location.
* Privacy & Security that will focus on the tools and techniques that will assure the privacy and security of the information that travels on the network.
*Biomedical - Health Sciences and Health Care - Education that will focus on meeting the unique needs and accessing the resources required for biomedical education.
*Telehealth that will focus on the implications for clinical practice when a reliable advanced network is available.
Adapted from Virtual Medical Worlds, August 1, 2006
HIT Funding Resources
Rural Monitor, Summer 2006 provides a good overview of funding for rural hospitals and clinics getting involved in HIT. A HIT initiative or project might involve several actions and components including purchasing computers and other technology, acquiring a faster telecommunication service, and the hiring and training of IT personnel, in addition to the initial and ongoing costs of developing a HIT plan.
Click here for details.
Mexico Posts Pollution Registry
Mexico has recently posted an online Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (PRTR), similar to inventories in the US, Canada and Europe. This register can be useful for making government policy and also aid scientific research. It contains company names and production site addresses tied to the amounts of toxic substances each transfers or releases to air, land, and water. The statistics are preliminary and businesses have a comment period to make corrections.
Click here for details under Links of Interest. You choose Informe Preliminar del RETC from the list where you can register to use the site.
NRHA Urges Legislative Support
The National Rural Health Association is urging members to contact their congressional representatives regarding adding $7 billion to Labor-HHS-Education (H.R. 5647). The bill, if amended and passed, would secure support for a broad range of domestic programs—including the programs that make up the “rural health safety net.”
Click here for details on the bill.
Nurses Surveyed on HIT
An online survey about workplace uses of IT reports that 86 percent believed IT has the potential to improve the quality of patient care. Surprisingly, one-quarter indicated they had received no IT training on the job over the last year, while another 56 percent said they had gotten only between one and eight hours of IT training. Only a little more than one-third indicate that nurses at their organization participate in choosing IT systems and only 14 percent believe that physicians are consulted. Despite this, nurses spend a significant amount of time each day working with IT. Of the respondents, 44 percent said they spend three or more hours daily using some IT device. The most common device, by far, is still the desktop computer (89 percent) while 16 percent use computerized diagnostic equipment, 9 percent use a handheld device and only 3 percent use PC tablets.
Six out of ten nurses said they employed an electronic medical record everyday, while about half said they used IT to order patient tests or medications through a CPOE system. More than one-third of nurses surveyed complained incompatible, unreliable or limited access systems were a major barrier to their IT use. Lack of nurse training and the need to spend too much time helping doctors on the systems were among the most frustrating problems for about one-quarter of nurses.
Survey results from 559 nurses was conducted by CDW Healthcare.
Adapted from eWeek.com, September 6, 2006
Rule Pending for Rural Health Clinics
CMS has posted an interim final rule (CMS-1910-IFC) regarding Rural Health Clinics. The rule amends some payment procedures, establishes a process and criteria for disqualifying from the RHC program clinics that no longer meet the basic location requirements (rural and medically underserved), and to require RHCs to establish quality assessment and performance improvement programs. Comments to the rule can be filed until November 21, 2006.
Click here for details.
Spanish Language Health Literacy Tool
Researchers have developed an easy-to-use word-recognition test to assess Spanish speakers' comprehension of medical terms commonly used in clinics and community health programs. Low health literacy plays an important role in health disparities and may contribute to low quality of care, and even medical errors. The researchers evaluated the test-the Short Assessment of Health Literacy for Spanish-Speaking Adults or SAHLSA — and found that it could reliably identify those with low health literacy. The test, which asks patients to identify words such as embarazo (pregnancy), microbios (germs), and infección (infection), found no major differences among the groups except that patients of South American origin scored higher. This new tool is intended to overcome problems encountered in translating word-recognition health literacy assessment into Spanish. The article, "Development of an Easy-to-Use Spanish Health Literacy Test," was published in the August issue of Health Services Research.
Improving Latino Healthcare
The Latino Healthcare Taskforce has made recommendations in a report entitled “Strategies for Improving Latino Healthcare in America.”
The report recommends several strategies.
- Create a national strategic action plan for Latino health improvement
- Expand market-based options to reduce uninsurance
- Seed-fund five Latino health empowerment centers
- Implement community-based initiatives to boost enrollment in federal health programs for children
- Establish a national multimedia Latino health literacy initiative
- Expand initiatives to ensure a diverse healthcare workforce
- Medical malpractice reform
- Healthcare information technology
- Benchmark progress in Latino health
Click here for the full 65-page report.
HIT Certification Picture
The certification and standardization of HIT systems is in a complex and developmental stage. Several organizations have an active role in this.
Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT) is the recognized certification authority for electronic health records and their networks, and an independent, voluntary, private-sector initiative. Their mission is to accelerate the adoption of health information technology by creating an efficient, credible and sustainable product certification program.
It was created by three leading HIT industry associations – the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) and The National Alliance for Health Information Technology (Alliance).
In September 2005, HHS awarded CCHIT a three-year contract to develop and evaluate certification criteria and create an inspection process for HIT in three areas:
* Ambulatory EHRs for the office-based physician or provider
* Inpatient EHRs for hospitals and health systems
* The Network components through which they interoperate and share information
Click here for details,
Health Information Technology Standards Panel will soon identify the technical and data standards to enable the availability of a core registration dataset (“clipboard”) and medication history, including vocabularies, messaging, authentication, security standards and documentation.
Click here for details.
HL7 (Health Level Seven) is an international community of healthcare subject matter experts and information scientists collaborating to create standards for the exchange, management and integration of electronic healthcare information. It plans to develop coherent, extendible standards that permit structured, encoded health care information of the type required to support patient care, to be exchanged between computer applications while preserving meaning. "Level Seven" refers to the highest level of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) communications model for Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) - the application level.
Click here for more details.
SNOMED-CT (Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine--Clinical Terms) is a comprehensive clinical terminology formed by the convergence of SNOMED RT® and the United Kingdom's Clinical Terms Version 3 (formerly known as the Read Codes).
SNOMED CT is one of a suite of designated standards for use in U.S. Federal Government systems for the electronic exchange of clinical health information. It was developed by the College of American Pathologists.
Click here for details.
CEOs Top Ten List
What are major operational concerns of hospital CEOs? According to the Camden Group, a healthcare management consulting firm, here are the top ten.
10. A lack of capital
9. Recruitment and retention of medical staff
8. Management of the gap in work redesign between the prior work processes and the installation of new technology
7. Identifying new and less costly strategies for providing Emergency Department call-panels
6. Managing continuous cost increases
5. Efficient and effective use of resources in the Emergency Department
4. Lack of education and experience at the middle management level
3. Efficient and effective use if resources in the OR
2. Patient throughput
1. Labor shortages and wage escalation
Across Arizona
Help for Arizona’s Most Vulnerable Population
Financial help is available to the nearly 100-thousand Arizonans who receive Medicare and are members of the AHCCCS Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System. Starting October 1st, people known as dual eligible’s, meaning they qualify under the Federal Poverty Guidelines for both AHCCCS as well as Medicare, will no longer have to pay co-pays for prescriptions under Medicare Part D. Governor Janet Napolitano along with theState Legislature, included funds in the new budget to cover these co-payments.
When the Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage, Medicare Part D, started January 1, 2006, the Federal Government required co-payments of $1 to $5 depending on the type of drug. For those who live within the Federal Poverty Level, which for a single person is an income of $817 a month, the co-pays were causing further hardship.
Arizona residents with questions on this benefit can call 1-800-770-8014.
TV Series Examines at Healthcare Quality
Remaking American Medicine™…Health Care for the 21st Century explores the quality crisis and the innovative solutions being undertaken by providers, patients and theirfamilies to transform the care provided by the institutions we all depend on. The four one-hour programs are scheduled to air on PBS on October 5, 12, 19 and 26 (check local listings for times).
Each program examines critical health care issues facing Americans today including patient safety, medical errors, hospital-acquired infections, family-centered care and management of chronic disease. They also offer solutions by showcasing the stories of individuals and institutions who are working to ensure better health care for everyone.
In addition to the television series, an outreach campaign has been developed to engage major health care groups at the national and local level. Click here for publicity materials and links to local campaigns.In Arizona, KAET is producing a special edition of Doctor’s Day, a local health care series that will air in conjunction with the national series. The program will feature statewide Champions of Change who will discuss issues of medical errors and patient safety as it affects the Hispanic population. The Champions will also be featured on Hispanic radio stations and in local newspapers. HSAG and KAET will also host a screening event on behalf of Remaking American Medicine. HSAG's RAM Web page is http://www.hsag.com/ram/.
Telehealth Carts Arrive in Tuba City
The Tuba City Indian Medical Center has purchased small, portable versions of a mobiletelehealth cart (known as the AFHCAN Cart, developed by Alaska Federal Health Care Access Network and the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium) for use in local communities. IHS community outreach teams, particularly in remote areas of Navajo land that lack a solid health care infrastructure, will benefit from this capacity. Such carts feature a PC, monitor and peripherals such as an electrocardiogram, dental camera, digital camera and a vital signs monitor that can measure temperature, blood pressure and heart rate.
Similar telehealth carts have been deployed to about 250 tribal sites in Alaska, Washington and South Carolina as well as on Coast Guard cutters and Coast Guard shore sites.
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.
HRSA Rural Health Network Development Planning Grants
HRSA-07-042Application deadline: October 12, 2006
The Rural Health Network Development Planning Grant Program provides support to rural entities in the development of formal health care networks. The network members should not have a significant history of collaboration and prior collaboration among the Network members is not required. Formative networks are not sufficiently evolved to apply for a three year Rural Health Network Development implementation grant and do not have a formalized structure.
This program provides support to entities that need assistance to plan, organize and develop a health care network.. It supports one year of planning to develop and assist health care networks become operational. Click here for details.
HRSA Rural Health Outreach Grants
HRSA-07-005
Application deadline: October 18, 2006
The Office of Rural Health Policy's Health Care Services Outreach Program encourages the development of innovative health care delivery systems in rural communities that lack essential care services. The emphasis of the grant program is on service delivery through strategies requiring the grantee to form a consortium with at least two additional partners. Programs previously funded have varied greatly. 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.
Click here for details.
The William B. Graham Prize for Health Services Research
Nominations due: December 1, 2006
This prize recognizes worldwide contributions to the improved health of the public through health services research, particularly research that has a lasting impact on the healthcare system. It acknowledges national or international contributions of health servicesresearchers who apply analytic methods to examine the organization, financing, and/or delivery of health services. A single, major research contribution or a career-long record of achievement may be recognized.
The prize consists of an individual award of $25,000. In addition, $25,000 will be awarded to a not-for-profit institution designated by the recipient to support his or her work.
Click here for details.
CDC Conference Grants for Public Health
Application deadlines: December 11, 2006 and March 7, 2007
The purpose of CDCs’ conference support funding is to provide partial support for specificnon-Federal conferences in the areas of health promotion and disease prevention information and education programs, and applied research. $2.6 million in total funding is expected to be made in approximately 100 awards.
Click here for details.
Global Health and Human Rights Award
Nomination deadline: January 15, 2007
The Jonathan Mann Award for Global Health and Human Rights was established to highlight the vital link between health and human rights. Sponsored by four founding organizations, Association François-Xavier Bagnoud, Doctors of the World, John Snow, Inc.and the Global Health Council, the award is bestowed annually to a leading practitioner in health and human rights and comes with a financial reward to help recipients pursue their work.
Click here for details.
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 UA Zuckerman College of Public Health, and supported, in part, 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 questions (or answers) are always welcome. Please send them as well as address changes to Jim Laukes, Editor, Rural Health Briefing.
.
|
