Contents:

• MDH & ORHPC News
• ORHPC Grants and Loans
• Other Grants and Loans
• Opportunities
• News of our Partners
• Now Read This
• Save the Date

JANUARY 2011

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BEST WISHES FOR 2011!
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MDH & ORHPC NEWS

Submit your presentation proposal by February 4.

The Rural Health Advisory Committee is recruiting five new members. See November open appointments.

Leslie Nordgren joined ORHPC as our new oral health research analysis specialist. Trained as an epidemiologist and dental hygienist, she will conduct a statewide assessment of the dental hygienist workforce and evaluate the new dental health therapist profession. 

The Summer Health Care Internship Program helped 85 facilities and 247 students earned 98,557 intern hours and $668,699 in wages. The MDH grant reimbursed employers $279,600.

ORHPC recommended 21 J-1 visa waivers last year. The program generally splits into two categories: rural primary care in shortage areas and urban sub-specialists using Flex waivers. The specialties range from general internal medicine to an autoimmune neurologist—one of five in North America.

HEALTH REFORM
MDH has certified eight additional health care homes: Centracare Health System-Long Prairie Clinic; Centracare Clinic-Women & Children; Mankato Clinic; Mankato Clinic-Daniels Health Center; University of Minnesota Physicians-Bethesda Clinic; University of Minnesota Physicians-Broadway Family Medicine Clinic; University of Minnesota Physicians-Phalen Village Clinic; and University of Minnesota Physicians-Smiley’s Clinic.

HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Registration for Medicare EHR Incentives begins.

GAO issues criticism of FCC's Rural Health Care Program. The Greater Minnesota Telehealth/e-Health Initiative (GMBTI) participated in the U.S. Government Accountability Office survey.

HEALTH CARE WORKFORCE

SNAPSHOT of Physician Assistants

The physician assistant (PA) field is dominated by some of the youngest health care professionals in Minnesota. More than half the PAs licensed in Minnesota were younger than 45 years of age in 2010 (67 percent). Median ages range from 47 years for registered nurses to 52 years for dentists. Augsburg College offers the only PA program in Minnesota.

Physician assistants by age group, Minnesota 2010

For more information and data on Minnesota's health workforce, visit the ORHPC Health Care Workforce Analysis Program site or contact Angie Sechler at angie.sechler@state.mn.us or 651-201-3862.

STAFF NEWS
Craig Baarson toured the Northern Dental Access Center in Bemidji.

Craig Baarson, Deb Jahnke and Anne Schloegel attended a Rural Health Clinic roundtable with central Minnesota providers in Staples.

Judy Bergh and Anne Schloegel visited Madelia Community Hospital, Sanford Jackson Medical Center and Windom Area Hospital.

Mark Schoenbaum visited Johnson Memorial Hospital in Dawson and Madison Lutheran Home in Madison.

Jill Myers and Ed Van Cleave participated in the first meeting of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services-Health Resources and Services Administration-Workforce Planning Grant Data Work Group in Minneapolis.

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ORHPC GRANTS AND LOANS

Deadline extended! Urban Physician Loan Forgiveness applications are due January 31.

Electronic Health Record loan funds will be available in early 2011.

Minnesota Primary Care Loan Funds available.

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OTHER GRANTS AND LOANS

Apply by February 28 for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars program for physicians.

Apply by February 28 for Indian Health Services Dental Externships.

Apply by March 11 for Supportive Services for Veteran Families Program.

Apply by May 26 for National Health Service Corps loan repayment.

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OPPORTUNITIES

Openings for the Board of Optometry, Board of Psychology, e-Health Advisory Committee (January 2011 vacancy notice), the Environmental Health Tracking and Biomonitoring Advisory Panel (December 2010 vacancy notice) and all seats with terms that ended in December or January ( November 2010 vacancy notice) are listed on the Secretary of State website.

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NEWS OF OUR PARTNERS

NOW READ THIS

CMS delayed implementation of a requirement that physician's or qualified nonphysician practitioner's signature must be included on requisitions for clinical diagnostic laboratory tests.

Census data vividly illustrate Minnesota's rural-urban divide.

Rural Medicare Advantage Enrollment Update

Diet, Physical Activity, and Sedentary Behaviors as Risk Factors for Childhood Obesity: An Urban and Rural Comparison

Federally Qualified Health Centers: Threat or Collaborative Opportunity?

Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Rural Communities

Rural Caregivers

Hospital
   • Impact of Freestanding Ambulatory Surgery Centers on Rural Community Hospital Performance
  • Geographic Differences in Potentially Preventable Readmission Rates in Rural and Urban Hospitals
  • Rural Hospital Support for Emergency Medical Services
  • CMS making free comparative data reports available to CAHs.
  • 3 Actions That Could Save Community Hospitals 
  • Guide to Financing Strategies for Hospitals: With Special Consideration for Smaller Hospitals (PDF: 1MB/32 pgs)
  • Critical Access Hospital Replacement Resources HRSA
  • Rural Hospital Replacement Facility Study Stroudwater Associates (PDF: 2MB/6pgs)

Medical Home  
  • Moving the Medical Home Forward: Innovations in Primary Care Training and Delivery 
 • Team-Based Treatment Helps Those With Cluster of Chronic Illnesses

Mental Health 
  • Is there a rural mental health crisis?
  • Tools for transforming rural mental health programs into promising practices

Workforce 
  • A healthy niche: Program aims to prepare midcareer professionals for jobs in health care information technology
  •  Health sciences magnet in Osseo
  • Pediatricians Needed in the Heartland
  • The Clinical Nurse Leader and Rural Hospital Safety and Quality
  • Community Health Workers and Community Paramedics
  • Pew Study: New Types of Dental Providers Can Improve Access to Care and Dentists' Profits
  • Alaska's efforts on rural dental care paying off

HIT
  • GAO Report Highlights Concern Over Telecommunication Needs of Rural Providers
  • Technology can aid health issues in rural areas
  • Telepharmacy System Boosts Access to Medication Data
  • Wired Up at Home to Monitor Illnesses
  • CCHIT launches certification for home-grown modified EHRs

SAVE THE DATE

National Stroke Association’s first annual Virtual Health Fair is January 19.

Rural Palliative Care Networking Group is January 11, 10 a.m.-noon. Participate in Winona or on conference call.

The National Rural Health Association Rural Health Policy Institute is January 24-26 in Washington, D.C.

Wipfli LLP's 11th Annual Rural Health Clinic Forum and Critical Access Hospital Workshop is February 1-3 in Bloomington.

National Medicare Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) Summit is March 9-11 in Washington, D.C. or online.

Minnesota Rural Health Conference is June 27-28 in Duluth.

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View online all previous issues of the Office of Rural Health and Primary Care publications.

We invite you to forward this newsletter to your colleagues. Not already a subscriber? Subscribe to receive the Minnesota Office of Rural Health and Primary Care free Monthly and Quarterly e-newsletters.

Minnesota Office of Rural Health and Primary Care
P. O. Box 64882
St. Paul, Minnesota 55164-0882
Phone 651-201-3838
Toll free in Minnesota 800-366-5424
Fax: 651-201-3830
TDD: 651-201-5797
http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/orhpc/index.html

Email Mary Ann Radigan at maryann.radigan@state.mn.us or call 651-201-3855 with comments.

Our mission
to promote access to quality health care for rural and underserved urban Minnesotans. From our unique position within state government, we work as partners with communities, providers, policymakers and other organizations. Together, we develop innovative approaches and tailor our tools and resources to the diverse populations we serve.