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National News
- RWJ Funding Opportunity – Health Disparities Research For Change
- Becoming an Emergency Medical Technician: Urban-Rural Differences in Motivation and Job Satisfaction
- Rural Health Clinic Technical Assistance Conference Call Series
- Value-Driven Health Care Initiative
Across Arizona
- Arizona Gets 14th Critical Access Hospital
- Governor Napolitano Proclaims April 2007 as Arizona Public Health Month
- Critical Access Hospital Executive Training Seminar Rescheduled
- Critical Access Hospitals Offered Funding Opportunity To Support Health Information Technology
Grants and Opportunities
- Improving the Health of Immigrant and Refugee Communities
- Supporting Innovation in Health and Health Care
Calendar
April 2-8, National Public Health Week
April 5-7, HIV/STD Prevention in Rural Communities: Sharing Successful Strategies V, Bloomington, Indiana
April 6, Talking Medicine Circle, Tucson, contact Carmen Garcia Downing cgarciad@ahsc.arizona.edu or Andrew Stuck at 626-9271
April 9-13, 19th Annual Arizona Indian Council on Aging Conference, Fountain Hills, Arizona
April 11-12, Arizona Policy Training Institute, Phoenix
April 12, Local Health Departments and Community Health Centers: Opportunities for Collaboration, conference call, 1:00-2:30 p.m. MST, contact
mailto:cvalderama@naccho.org to register
April 19, Executive Training for Arizona CAHs: Gold Standard Performance, Phoenix and via videostream
April 12-28, National Infant Immunization Week and Vaccination Week in the Americas
April 23-29, Medical Fitness Week, nationwide
April 23-24, 4th Annual Leadership Summit on Health Disparities, Washington, D.C.
May 20-24, Community Health Workers as Essential Components of Public Health, Tampa, Florida
May 21-23, National Network of Public Health Institutes Annual Conference, New Orleans
Mark Your Calendar
June 4, Great Critical Access Hospital Boards – Governing at the Edge, Phoenix and via videostream
June 6-8, 5th Annual Western Region Flex Conference, Jackson Hole, Wyoming
June 19-22, Race and Class Inequalities in Health, Boston
July 24-26, Measuring Diabetes and Obesity in Indian Health Systems, Tucson
National News
1. RWJ Funding Opportunity – Health Disparities Research For Change
In an effort to improve the quality of health care for people with chronic diseases, particularly those populations most likely to suffer from lower quality care, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) is working towards identifying and implementing real-world solutions to eliminate the gaps in care experienced by patients from racial and ethnic minority populations. As part of this effort, RWJF has released its second call for proposals for its program Finding Answers: Disparities Research for Change. Information on Finding Answers’ Round 2 Call for Proposals, including proposal requirements, is available on the RWJF Web site, www.rwjf.org. Brief proposals are due May 17, 2007. For more information, contact the Finding Answers program at (866) 344-9800 or info@SolvingDisparities.org.
Click here for more details.
2. Becoming an Emergency Medical Technician: Urban-Rural Differences in Motivation and Job Satisfaction
There is a new working paper from the North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center at the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It uses cross-sectional data from the 2003 national Longitudinal Emergency Medical Technician Attributes and Demographic Study (LEADS) Project to explore urban-rural differences in why EMTs enter the field, what is important in their jobs, and whether they are satisfied with their profession.
Click here for a link to the paper and further details.
3. Rural Health Clinic Technical Assistance Conference Call Series
Recently the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP) announced a new conference call series designed to provide Rural Health Clinic staff with valuable technical assistance and RHC specific information. The announcement states that over the next year, ORHP, with the assistance of the National Association of Rural Health Clinics (NARHC), will conduct four to six national teleconference calls. Presentations will include RHC billing, quality improvement, best practices, and more. There is no charge to participate in the Rural Health Clinics Technical Assistance Conference Call Series.
Click here for more details.
4. Value-Driven Health Care Initiative
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary, Mike Leavitt, will be visiting Arizona and Nevada in April to promote the HHS nationwide campaign to control health care costs while improving quality. Dates of his visit will be confirmed within the upcoming weeks. According to HSS, rising healthcare costs are a large and growing burden on businesses across the nation. The HSS is encouraging its partners to join employers across the country to support the transformation of the national health care system through the four cornerstones of the Executive Order (interoperable health IT; transparency of price and quality; and incentives for high value health care) by signing the Purchaser Statement of Support. This will help send a powerful message that business and health care stakeholders support reform of the healthcare system.
Click here for further background on the secretary's value-driven healthcare initiative.
Across Arizona
1. Arizona Gets 14th Critical Access Hospital
Written by Alison Hughes, Director, Arizona Rural Hospital Flexibility Program
Cobre Valley Community Hospital, located in Globe, was notified this month that its application for critical access hospital (CAH) designation was approved by CMS. The designation took effect on November, 30, 2006. This is the 15th hospital to be designated critical access in Arizona (Whiteriver I.H.S. Hospital was designated, but reverted back to its former status in fall 2004 due to bed count issues).
A critical access hospital is one that operates with no more than 25 beds, and meets other CMS rules that allows an increase in reimbursement for services to outpatient and inpatient Medicare patients. The hospitals also share in a pool of funding approved by the State legislature that supports services to AHCCCS patients by non-I.H.S. hospitals. The AHCCCS funding pool has never increased with the increase in CAHs, however, resulting in a reduced distribution to the hospital. Arizona’s critical access hospitals are listed below.
Page Hospital
Wickenburg Community Hospital
Northern Cochise Community Hospital, Willcox
Sage Memorial Hospital, Ganado
Hopi Health Care Center, Polacca
Southeast Arizona Medical Center, Douglas
Copper Queen Community Hospital, Bisbee
Benson Hospital
Ft. Yuma Indian Hospital
Hu Hu Kam Memorial Hospital, Gila River
Little Colorado Medical Center, Winslow
Parker Indian Medical Center
Carondelet Holy Cross Hospital, Nogales
Cobre Valley Community Hospital, Globe
2. Governor Napolitano Proclaims April 2007 as Arizona Public Health Month
As part of Governor Napolitano’s Arizona Public Health Month initiative, the theme for National Public Health Week, April 2-8, is "Take the First Step: Preparedness and Public Health Threats." More information is available on the APHA website, including suggestions for sharing information about preparedness. Five segments of the population have been chosen to address during the week:
Monday - Mothers with Children at Home
Tuesday - Local Food Banks
Wednesday - Hourly Wage Workers
Thursday - Schools K-12
Friday - Chronic Disease care needs
Click here for details.
3. Critical Access Hospital Executive Training Seminar Rescheduled
The April 19 training seminar for Critical Access Hospital management teams is being rescheduled for July. Further information will be posted in this newsletter.
Flex staff members are in the process of organizing a two-day performance improvement summit for critical access hospitals. The summit will include the Larson Allen executive Training seminar.
For further information please e-mail Alison Hughes at ahughes@u.arizona.edu
4. Critical Access Hospitals Offered Funding Opportunity To Support Health Information Technology
The Arizona Rural Hospital Flexibility Program recently announced a third round of funding to support critical access hospitals that are planning and implementing electronic health record systems. The first two rounds of funding supported the development of HIT planning, including work flow analyses and HIT business plan development. The new funding round supports implementation of electronic health records in those hospitals that have completed their planning procedures. Up to three contracts are anticipated in this third funding round. Applications will be evaluated by a team of external experts. For further information please contact Joyce Hospodar at (520) 6262432 or via e-mail at Hospodar@u.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.Improving the Health of Immigrant and Refugee Communities
Application deadline: April 13, 2007
This initiative seeks fresh ideas to give immigrants and refugees the tools and support they need to improve and maintain their own health. Today, more than 30 million immigrants and refugees live in the United States. They often have high rates of chronic health problems, due at least in part to difficulties they have getting appropriate social and health services. Language barriers, lack of education and cultural differences sometimes make it harder for immigrants and refugees to obtain culturally appropriate services, outreach or other information that could help them live healthier lives. The project is support by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Click here for details.
2. Supporting Innovation in Health and Health Care
Application deadline: July 10, 2007
The Local Initiative Funding Partners Program is a partnership program between the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and local grant-makers to fund promising, original projects to significantly improve the health of vulnerable people in their communities.
Projects must be new, innovative, collaborative and community-based. They should be nominated by a local grantmaker interested in participating as one of the funding partners. These funders may include independent and private foundations, family and community foundations and corporate and other philanthropies.
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 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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