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Contents: |
MONTHLY UPDATE:
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Our mission |
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Health Reform |
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On behalf of the Minnesota Department of Health, Minnesota Community Measurement will hold a public forum on January 15, regarding its recommendations on quality measures for public reporting purposes in Minnesota and to solicit input from stakeholders. The Minnesota Department of Health announced a contract has been awarded to Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. related to developing projections of health care spending in Minnesota and reviewing and certifying estimates of actual health spending in Minnesota. Videos from the Health Care Homes Community Meeting on December 12 are online. The community meeting kicked off a smaller work group that will convene to develop standards, and the development process will include opportunity for public input. More Health Reform News and Announcements are online. Implementation of Minnesota's 2008 health reform 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. Stay up to date on health reform by subscribing online.
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MDH/ORHPC News |
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During the summer of 2008, 104 employer organizations provided 84,425 hours of health care internship experience to 303 high school and post secondary students in hospitals, clinics and long term care facilities through the Summer Health Care Internship Program. The program is funded by a grant from the Minnesota Office of Rural Health and Primary Care and is administered by the Minnesota Hospital Association, or contact Lorry Colaizy at (651) 201-3851 or lawrence.colaizy@state.mn.us. The Minnesota Department of Health proposed technical changes on December 22 to the appendix of the 837 Institutional and 837 Professional guides for the claims submission requirements of Rural Health Clinics, Federally Qualified Health Centers and Critical Access Hospitals, along with instructions for submitting public comments by January 20. The announcement and related information, the Professional, pp 58-59 (PDF: 477KB/74pgs) and Institutional, pp 52 (PDF: 440KB/69pgs) changes are online. 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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Minnesota has about 78,000 licensed registered nurses (RN). An estimated 57,000 RNs were working at Minnesota work sites in 2008. Statewide, hospitals account for the largest employer, nearly six in 10 employed nurses. Nurses in the state’s most rural counties are less likely to work in hospitals or clinics. Seventeen percent of rural nurses work in long term care facilities, and 14 percent work in either public health or home health agencies. Principal Work Sites of RNs Working in Minnesota, 2008
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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ORHPC is recruiting volunteers who have experience in health care and/or grant making to objectively review grants proposals. If you are interested, please contact Doug Benson at (651) 201-3842 or doug.benson@state.mn.us or Cindy LaMere at (651) 201-3852 or cindy.lamere@state.mn.us. The Minnesota Primary Care Loan Fund offers loans to clinics, hospitals, networks and others for equipment, working capital, expansion, start-up and other needs. The Office of Rural Health and Primary Care is a partner in the fund, which is administered by the Nonprofit Assistance Fund. |
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Other grants and loans |
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Minnesota's Future Doctors recruits and prepares highly qualified, minority, immigrant, rural, first-in-the-family to attend college, and economically disadvantaged college freshman and sophomores for medical school in Minnesota. The program includes three paid summer internships and is supported by the University of Minnesota Medical Schools and the Mayo Medical School. Applications are due February 1. Information is on the University of Minnesota site and the unofficial student-managed site. Physicians at least 35 years old, 10 years out of medical or osteopathic college and practicing in Minnesota, North or South Dakota are eligible to apply for a Bush Medical Fellowship. Applications are due March 1. Apply by April 1 for the Health Careers Foundation loans or scholarships, which encourage education in the fields of dietetics, medical records, medical technology, nursing, occupational therapy, pharmacy, physical therapy, radiological sciences, respiratory therapy, speech pathology and transcription/coding. The Avon Foundation Breast Cancer Crusade Safety Net program accepts ongoing applications from public, community and safety net hospitals and health care systems that provide breast care to individuals who have low incomes, are at risk, uninsured and underinsured.
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ORHPC STAFF NEWS |
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Kris Gjerde joined ORHPC to help with the Oral Health Practitioner Work Group. When the group dissolves after sending their report to the Legislature, Kris will stay with ORHPC, taking on Rural Health Advisory Committee research work. Kris can be reached at kristine.gjerde@state.mn.us or (651) 201-3858. The Northern Lights Chapter of the Society of Government Meeting Professionals nominated Kristen Tharaldson for the Rising Star Award for her activities on the membership committee. Judy Bergh was in Lewiston for a Flex grantee visit with Southeastern Minnesota Emergency Medical Service (SE EMS). SE EMS, based in Rochester, is conducting community education throughout the 11-county southeastern EMS Region on the warning signs of stroke. |
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opportunities |
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The Advisory Committee of the Minnesota Braille and Talking Book Library is recruiting one member who uses the Braille and Talking Book Library. One registered nurse is needed for the Medical Services Review Board. Complete information is on the Secretary of State Web site.
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News OF our partners |
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Minnesota Public Radio interviewed Tri-County Hospital telemedicine manager Robin Klemek, University of Minnesota professor Stuart Speedie and Minnesota Telehealth Network project director Cindy Uselman as a Medicare rule change expands telemedicine coverage to nursing homes, community mental health centers and renal dialysis facilities. Minnesota’s network of Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) received a $3.4 million federal grant to continue developing and training health care professionals in rural areas. The funding awarded to the University of Minnesota Academic Health Center comes through the Bureau of Health Professions in the Health Resources and Services Administration, which provides federal dollars matched with university and local resources. With the grant, the Minnesota AHEC will be able to expand from four to six regions of the state. Over the next two years, centers will be added in southeastern Minnesota and in north Minneapolis. A Rochester Post-Bulletin article explains that the pluses of small-town practice overshadow any drawbacks. The Blandin Foundation posted a summary of the Blandin Broadband Conference. National Rural Health Association (NRHA) members elected Dennis Berens their 2009 president-elect. Berens is director of the Nebraska State Office of Rural Health. The Veterans Administration will establish new clinics in 16 states, including two in southern Minnesota in 2010. |
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Now ReAD THIS |
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Federal financing for community health centers doubled over the last eight years, creating or expanding 1,297 clinics in medically underserved areas. The American College of Emergency Physicians gave the nation a D- grade for access to emergency care. With 90 percent of the states earning mediocre or near-failing grades, Minnesota's grade of C+ was good for sixth in the nation. The American Academy of Family Physicians and the American College of Physicians say that implementation of the patient-centered medical home could ease both physicians' and patients' frustrations and bring back the pleasures in generalist medicine. Language Line Services' testing, training and certification division, Language Line University (LLU), launched a free online tool to help hospitals evaluate the skills of professional medical interpreters. The shortage of primary care physicians has caused a dramatic increase in emergency department use according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Physicians in West Virginia want to establish a network of sites where clot-busting thrombolytics would be available for rural residents who suffer a segment-elevation myocardial infarction, or STEMI. Clinicians using an electronic prescribing system appear more likely to prescribe lower-cost medications, according to a new study funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The Health IT Adoption Toolbox was developed by the Health Resources and Services Administration's (HRSA's) Office of Health Information Technology (OHIT) to serve health centers as well as other safety net and ambulatory care providers seeking to implement health IT to improve the overall effectiveness of their institutions. The proposed Health Professional and Primary Care Reinvestment Act would provide incentives to health professionals pursuing primary care practice. It would increase the number of disadvantaged and rural students and expand funding for prevention training. The U.S. health care system performs poorly on many key objectives. Using Physician Payment Reform to Enhance Health System Performance (PDF:20pgs/1MB) suggests that priorities should move beyond pay for performance of individual services and reward physicians for influencing the totality of a patient’s care across all providers and settings. The goal of the brief is to help public and private sector leaders think about and set priorities for future physician payment reform. The Center to Advance Palliative Care explains the five stages of launching a quality palliative care program. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health awarded over $4 million for expansion of the National Children's Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety's initiatives related to injury prevention on farms. The Association of Academic Health Centers produced From Education to Regulation: Dynamic Challenges for the Health Workforce (PDF: 2MB/200pgs). |
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SAVE THE DATE |
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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. The Minnesota Oral Health Summit is January 23 in St. Paul. The Summit, hosted by the Minnesota Department of Health, invites participants to create a shared vision for improving oral health in the state. The Rural Health Open Door Forum is January 28 from 12:30-1:30 p.m. in conjunction with the National Rural Health Association's Rural Health Policy Institute annual meeting in Washington, DC. The Forum addresses Rural Health Clinic, Community Access Hospital and Federally Qualified Health Center issues, as well as other questions that occur in clinical practice pertaining to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services payment systems. Call 1 (800) 837-1935 Conference ID 70013728. The annual American Indian Health Research Conference is March 27 in Grand Forks, North Dakota. The Minnesota Critical Access Hospital and Rural Health Conference is June 15-16 in Duluth. |
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View online all previous issues of the Office of Rural Health and Primary Care publications. |
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