Contents:

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

JUNE 2011

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MDH & ORHPC NEWS

MDH Launches Minnesota Public Health Data Access: Gateway to Health and Environment Data

HEALTH REFORM
Minnesota Health Care Programs Enrolled Provider Delivery System Demonstrations

CMS Telehealth Credentialing and Privileging Final Rule (Center for Telehealth & e-Health Law Report)

UPCOMING ORHPC MEETINGS
Central Minnesota Regional Trauma Advisory Committee is meeting June 9.

CANCELED: June 9 Rural Hospital Flexibility Program Advisory Committee meeting.

State Trauma Advisory Council is meeting June 21 in St. Paul.

Southern Minnesota Regional Trauma Advisory Committee is meeting June 30.

The Rural Health Advisory Committee is planning a community forum for early August in Park Rapids. Details to come in the July issue of the Monthly Update or contact Judy Bergh at judith.bergh@state.mn.us or Kristen Tharaldson at kristen.tharaldson@state.mn.us.

STAFF NEWS
Chris Ballard provided technical assistance at Hutchinson Area Health Care and helped with trauma designation site visits at St. Joseph's Area Health Services (Park Rapids) and Tyler Healthcare Center. Chris is designation coordinator for the Minnesota Statewide Trauma System.

Jill Myers, Mark Schoenbaum and Ed Van Cleave participated in IOM and the Future of Minnesota Nursing: A Call to Meet Expanding Public Need, a forum for Minnesota’s nurse workforce planning.

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ORHPC GRANTS AND LOANS

Minnesota State Loan Repayment Program applications are due August 12.

Minnesota Primary Care Loan Funds are available. The spring issue of the ORHPC Quarterly described one organization's experience with the Nonprofits Assistance Fund.

Be an ORHPC grant reviewer. Please contact Doug Benson at doug.benson@state.mn.us or 651-201-3842 or Cindy LaMere at cindy.lamere@state.mn.us or 651-201-3852 with your name, profession, place of employment and contact information.

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OTHER GRANTS AND LOANS

Vocational Rehabilitation Service Projects for American Indians with Disabilities applications are due June 7.

Public Prevention Health Fund: Community Transformation Grants will support prevention programs in up to 75 communities across the country over the next five years. At least 20 percent of grant funds will be directed to rural and frontier areas. Applications are due July 15.

Community Based Care Transition Program applications are being accepted for test models to improve care transitions of high risk Medicare beneficiaries.

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OPPORTUNITIES

The e-Health Advisory Committee is recruiting a physician, long term care, pharmacist, dentistry, health plan, large hospital, clinical researcher, health care purchaser/employer, HIT vendor representatives and one professional with expert knowledge in HIT. Openings are on the Secretary of State website.

Facilities participating in the Summer Health Care Intern Program are accepting student applications.

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NEWS OF OUR PARTNERS

NOW READ THIS

Primary Care
  • Care Transitions: “Time to Come Home” focuses on transition from inpatient care to rural community
  • Affordable Care Act, What's in it? Health Insurance Exchanges That Work for Rural (PDF: 90KB/4pgs)
  • Rural vs. Urban Ambulatory Health Care Review
  • Community health centers seen as key to reducing emergency room cost

Hospitals
  • More rural Americans are treated in Emergency Departments for eye injuries
  • Surgeries more common among rural Medicare residents than city dwellers
  • Risk of Financial Distress Among Critical Access Hospitals: A Proposed Model (PDF: 223KB/4pgs)
  •  Trends in Skilled Nursing Facility and Swing Bed Use in Rural Areas Following the Medicare Modernization Act of 2033 (PDF: 663KB/25pgs)
  • Critical Access Hospital Year 6 Participation and Quality Measures (PDF: 338KB/39pgs)

Workforce 
  • Cuts to training could lead to doctor shortage in rural Minnesota
  • The spring Rural Monitor focuses on workforce  (a Rural Assistance Center publication)
  • Informing Rural Primary Care Workforce Policy: What Does the Evidence Tell Us?
  • Rural-urban distribution of the U.S. geriatrics physician workforce 
  • Wanted: General Surgeons in Rural Regions
  • Health IT Pros are the new Cinderella 
  • IT Can Ease Healthcare Staff Shortage
  • ONC Releases First Examinations To Assess Health IT Professionals
  • Rural Hospitals Look Near and Far for Allied Health Professionals
  • Advanced practice RNs are frugal fix to doc shortage - Also read ORHPC's Minnesota APRNs, 2010 (PDF: 581KB/22pgs)

HIT/Telehealth
  • States' Role in Promoting Meaningful Use of Electronic Health Records
  • CMS Readies first EHR Incentive Payments in Medicare Program. Attestation worksheets for eligible professionals and eligible hospitals and CAHs are online to help providers attest to meeting meaningful use.
  • Online tutorials to help physicians adopt HIT ( American Medical Association)
  • Telemental Health Fills Rural Health Care Gap
  • Healthcare Providers Establish Telehealth Reimbursement Models
  • Are There Simple Answers to Telehealth Questions?
  • Medicare Finalizes a New Rule for Telemedicine Services to Keep Beneficiaries in Rural and Remote Areas Dialed in through Telemedicine

Tools/Resources 
Tearing Down Fences: HIV/STD Prevention in Rural America. Providing local information are: Minnesota's Rural AAIDS Action Network, Minnesota AIDS Project and MDH HIV/AIDS.

SAVE THE DATE

Minnesota Healthcare Quality Professionals is hosting monthly webinars.

Community Paramedicine Insights Forum webinar is the third Monday of each month at 2 p.m.

CMS Affordable Care Act and What it Means for Rural Health Providers webinar is June 2 at noon. Call 800-603-1774, Conference ID# 69845798 and enter name/organization. Nancy Rios at 816-426-6460 or Nancy.Rios@cms.hhs.gov suggests checking your connection prior to the event.

Northeast Minnesota Health Care Forum: Health Care Quality and Statewide Health Improvement is June 3 in Mt. Iron.

Minnesota Stroke Conference is June 13 in St. Paul.

Minnesota e-Health Summit is June 15-16 in Brooklyn Park.

The National Association for Rural Mental Health and AgriWellness Joint Conference is June 22-25 in Dubuque, Iowa

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

National Rural Assembly 2011 Gathering is June 28-30 in St. Paul.

Preventing Wrong Site Surgery training (MDH Compliance Monitoring) is July 20 in St. Paul (register before July 15).

National Rural Health Association Quality and Clinical Conference is July 20-22 in Rapid City, South Dakota.

Learn the Basics of Starting a Telemedicine Program is September 21. This half-day workshop is limited to 30 people.

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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.