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Contents: |
MONTHLY UPDATE:
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Our mission |
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Health Reform |
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Provide comments by December 8 on community benefit standards for nonprofit health plan companies, as part of the Minnesota Health Reform Initiative. Visit the Health Reform Initiative site to stay up to date on implementation of Minnesota's 2008 health reform law. The law will have important implications for health care safety net and rural providers. The site describes the health reform package, including the Statewide Health Improvement Program, health care homes, payment reform, insurance coverage, workgroups and more. Subscribe to the health reform notices using the links on the site. The Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement to support the Minnesota Departments of Health and Human Services initiative on health care homes is requesting rural and safety net input by December 10. Use this review form to respond to the Health Care Home Outcome Recommendations (PDF: 14pgs/362KB). The Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured looks at 14 states, including Minnesota, in States Moving toward Comprehensive Health Care Reform (PDF: 238KB/19pgs). |
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MDH/ORHPC News |
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Governor Tim Pawlenty announced the appointment of Sen. Julie Rosen to the Rural Health Advisory Committee. Rosen, of Fairmont, replaces former Sen. Betsy Wergin on the committee. The 15-member Rural Health Advisory Committee advises the commissioner of health and other state agencies on rural health issues. Minnesota's Rural Health Plan is online (PDF: 5MB/133pgs). Do you have a rural photo we can use to promote the 2009 Critical Access Hospital and Rural Health Conference? If so, please email it to health.orhpc@state.mn.us. |
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Health Workforce SNAPSHOT |
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Dentists are one of Minnesota’s oldest health care workforces. Forty percent of dentists practicing at least part time at a Minnesota site are 55 years or older. The profession also remains predominately male. Overall, only 21 percent of active Minnesota dentists are women. Outside metropolitan area counties, less than 14 percent are female.
The Health Workforce Analysis Program just released three new fact sheets: Registered Nurses Facts and Data 2008; Dental Hygienists Facts and Data 2006-07; and Greater Minnesota Health Professional Demand Survey (PDF: 76KB/8pgs) The Office of Rural Health and Primary Care tracks Minnesota's health care workforce. Information is online or contact Jay Fonkert at (651) 201-3846 or jay.fonkert@state.mn.us. |
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ORHPC Grants and loans |
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Rural Hospital Flexibility grant applications are due December 15. Information is online or contact Judy Bergh at (651) 201-3843 or judith.bergh@state.mn.us. The Electronic Health Record Loan Program provides no-interest six-year loans to help finance the installation or support of interoperable health record systems. Funding is available to community clinics, rural hospitals, physician clinics in towns under 50,000, nursing facilities, and other health care providers. Applications are online or contact Anne Schloegel at (651) 201-3850 or anne.schloegel@state.mn.us. |
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Other grants and loans |
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Family Professional Partnerships/Children with Special Health Care Needs-Family Opportunity Act applications are due December 19. These federal grants will help fund statewide, family-run centers providing information, education, technical assistance and peer support to families of children with special health care needs. Applications are being accepted until January 9 from section 330 funded health center grantees for the Service Expansion in Comprehensive Pharmacy Services. The Robert Wood Johnson Executive Nurse Fellows Program is accepting applications until January 15 from nurses in senior executive roles in health services, public health and nursing education. Applications are due February 11 for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Nurse Faculty Scholars Program to develop the next generation of national leaders in academic nursing. Dental student applications are being accepted until February 28 for externships with the Indian Health Service Division of Oral Health or a tribal site. The Rural Wisconsin Health Cooperative Board and its attorneys developed a template for a loan agreement and for a hospital policy statement to manage a Pre-Employment Loan Program. Instructions are on the first page of each template. These were developed after determining that large organizations contract with health professional students years before they graduate in exchange for favorable loans that are forgiven after several years of employment–well before rural hospitals try to make contact. |
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ORHPC STAFF NEWS |
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Angie Sechler and Kristen Tharaldson's article Women's Health: Reproductive Health Services in Rural Minnesota appears in the latest issue of the Rural Minnesota Journal. Kristen Tharaldson was a member of the planning committee for the Health Equality: Honoring Culture While Closing the Gap Conference through the Minnesota Department of Health's Office of Minority & Multicultural Health. Amy Vallery shared information on the Dental Loan Forgiveness Program at the University of Minnesota Student Dental Society Event. |
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opportunities |
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Applications are due December 12 for the Barbara Jordan Health Policy Scholars Program. This summer program provides college students an opportunity to work on health policy issues in a congressional office. Nominations are being accepted until December 31 for the James O.Page/JEMS Leadership Award to recognize an individual or an agency who has been a champion for Emergency Medical Services. Comments requested:
Board and Council openings: Twenty-two boards and councils are recruiting new members through the Secretary of State Web site, including Acupuncture Advisory Council (one physician member and one acupuncture practitioner); Board of Behavioral Health and Therapy ( three licensed alcohol and drug counselors, two licensed professional counselors and two public members); Board of Chiropractic Examiners (one public and one chiropractor member); Board of Dentistry (one dentist and one dental hygienist); Board of Examiners for Nursing Home Administrators (one manager of a nonprofit nursing home and one doctor); Board of Medical Practice (four physicians); Board of the Minnesota State Academies (one member of the blind community); Board of Nursing (licensed practical nurse and two registered nurses and one member of the public); Board of Optometry (one optometrist and one member of the public); Board of Podiatric Medicine (one doctor and one member of the public); Board of Psychology (one psychologist as a master's training program representative and one member of the public); Council on Development Disabilities (seven members); Council on Disability (five members); Governor's Interagency Coordinating Council on Early Childhood Intervention (several vacancies including one for a physician representative); Medical Services Review Board (physicians, a registered nurse, chiropractors, hospital administrators and members of the public); Minnesota Board on Aging (continuing vacancy); Minnesota Commission serving Deaf and Hard of Hearing People (12 openings); Occupational Therapy Practitioners Advisory council (one OT assistant and two members of the public); Rehabilitation Review Panel (six members, including one chiropractor and two rehabilitation providers and one medical practitioner); State Board of Physical Therapy (one doctor of medicine, three physical therapists, two assistants and two members of the public); State Rehabilitation Council for the Blind (five members); Statewide Independent Living Council (10 members). Complete information is on the Secretary of State Web site.
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News OF our partners |
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Anita Buel, director of the Deaf Community Health Worker Project in Inver Grove Heights was named one of 10 extraordinary Americans for local innovation in improving health and health care by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Dorothy Opheim, director of Cass County Health, Human and Veterans Services, received the 2008 Barbara O'Grady Excellence in Public Health Leadership Award. HealthPartners Institute for Medical Education, the Minnesota National Guard, the Minneapolis Veterans Administration, the Minnesota Department of Health and Twin Cities Public Television collaborated to meet the health care needs of returning U.S. troops in the initiative Joining Forces. Northern Dental Access Center, a nonprofit dental clinic will open in Bemidji this month. Stratis Health received a contract to support Medicare Quality Improvement Organizations (QIO) operations to improve patient safety and health care quality. Stratis Health will develop and offer tools, resources, training and support for QIOs to work with hospitals and nursing homes on clinical areas and in organizational leadership and team building. Women's health in Cass County and mental health in Mahnomen County are two of the 29 Rural Health Demonstration Projects featured in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Outreach Sourcebook (PDF: 96pgs/458KB)
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Now ReAD THIS |
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The Minnesota Medical Association developed three fact sheets to increase physician awareness of legislative and other changes: E-Prescribing in Minnesota (PDF: 99KB/2pgs), Implementing E-Health in Minnesota (PDF: 85KB/2pgs) and Pay for Performance in Minnesota (PDF:84KB/2pgs). The November 13 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine covers the future of primary care. A national study indicates that the care of trauma patients in the United States is basically the same no matter what the patient's race or ethnicity. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality report Barriers and Drivers of Health Information Technology Use for the Elderly, Chronically Ill, and Underserved is online (PDF: 1,422 pgs/2MB). The national Health Policy Forum report Primary Care Physician Supply, Physician compensation, and Medicare Fees: What is the Connection is online (PDF: 13pgs/467KB). Critical Access Hospitals and other hospitals previously not able to submit data under the hospital outpatient quality data reporting program will be allowed to do so voluntarily beginning with patient encounters in first-quarter 2009, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced. The November/December issue of The Commonwealth Fund newsletter focuses on Indian Health Services Living in a rural county may increase the risk of pre-eclampsia and pregnancy-induced hypertension according to research presented at last month's meeting of the American Society of Nephrology (PDF:50KB/2pgs). The Rural Health Research & Policy Centers explored whether screening for breast and cervical cancer varied between rural and urban areas. The focus of the fall issue of The Rural Monitor is rural cancer. Health Care News and Information reports that health information technology is one of the ways that hospitals are retaining nurses (PDF: 31KB/2pgs). The final report on Medicare Physician Payment Policy and the Rural Perspective is online (PDF:256KB/12pgs). Medicare Billing Information for Rural Providers, Suppliers, and Physicians is online (PDF: 719KB/36pgs). Physical Activity and Health Eating for Rural Young and Adult Women resources encourage an increase in physical activity, health eating and communication with health care providers. According to a report in the November 24 issue of JAMA/Archives of Internal Medicine, face-to-face and telephone follow-up sessions appear to be more effective in the maintenance of weight loss for rural women than weight loss education alone.
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SAVE THE DATE |
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December 10 is a Webinar to understand how TeamSTEPPS can be implemented in federally funded health care facilities, including nursing homes and assisted living facilities. December 11 is the monthly Rural Health Care Program conference call about reduced rates to rural health care providers for telecommunications services and internet access related to the use of telemedicine and telehealth. The National Rural Health Association Rural Minority and Multicultural Health Conference is December 11-12 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The Minnesota Trauma Managers Seminar is January 9 in St. Paul, and at other sites in May. The seminars help health professionals understand trauma system participation criteria, learn about best practices, develop their own trauma program and network with other trauma program leaders and prospective leaders throughout Minnesota. |
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View online all previous issues of the Office of Rural Health and Primary Care publications. |
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