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Spring Newsletter

Public News Service

Governor Bob McDonnell has signed the "Telemedicine Bill" into law, and it means that health centers across the state will be able to offer much more in the way of interactive audio, video and other electronic media for diagnosis, treatment and consultations.

This is an especially big boost for community health centers and patients in rural communities, where access to specialists for such conditions as heart disease and cancer has been limited, according to (VRHA member) Howard Chapman, executive director for Southwest Virginia Community Health Systems.

Read the full article.

South Hill Enterprise

Healthcare on the Square has had a tumulus history over the past five years, but it’s leaders once again proved they were unwilling to quit Wednesday as they celebrated the grand reopening of the health center’s pharmacy.

“It had been closed for two years,” said Healthcare on the Square Executive Director Richard Melke (a VRHA member) in opening remarks to a crowd gathered to celebrate the reopening. “It has now been open for a little more than two weeks and that is great news for the community.”

Ken Sims, the new pharmacy director, told the audience that the response from the community since opening had been wonderful.

“A lot of people from the community have come in and spoken to us and told us how excited they are to have the pharmacy up and running again,” he said. “it is saving them the time of driving to other areas to get their prescription filled. Now they can just walk across the breezeway to get it filled and they do not have to go out in the weather or in the pollen.”

Governor Bob McDonnell concluded his work on the biennial budget passed by the General Assembly by returning 96 amendments for the legislature to consider in the reconvened session on April 21st. The amendments focus overwhelmingly on measures designed to spur job creation and economic development in the Commonwealth, with another set of amendments designed to improve healthcare and public safety for Virginians. 

Click here to read the full press release.

Click here for a list of Governor McDonnell's amendments to the state budget as passed by the General Assembly. Budget amendments effecting Health and Human Resources can be found on pages 15 - 31, 44 and 48. The reconvened veto session at which the General Assembly will accept or reject these amendments is next Wednesday, April 21.

Doctor-Starved

By Debra McCown - Bristol Herald Courier

With a collaborative grassroots effort, Southwest Virginia can get healthier, community leaders said during a health summit. Sponsored by the Healthy Appalachia Institute at the University of Virginia’s College at Wise and the Southwest Virginia Health Authority, the summit was held to discuss a plan unveiled last year for better health in the region.

“We’re probably one of the sickest regions in the state and the nation,” said state Delegate Bud Phillips, D-Castlewood, who was the first speaker. “I truly believe that health care in Southwest Virginia is at a crisis point.”

Read the full article.

The National Rural Health Association will be featuring Dr. Joycelyn Elders as the keynote speaker for the 2010 Annual Rural Health Conference.

Confirmed as the sixteenth surgeon general of the United States on September 7, 1993, Joycelyn Elders is the first African American and the second female to head the U.S. Public Health Service. Raised in rural Arkansas, she and her seven siblings worked in the cotton fields and attended an all-black school thirteen miles from home.

Featuring more than 50 educational, practical and cost-saving sessions, this event is designed to connect and inform all rural health professionals. Exclusive tracks are planned for rural health policy, HIT and hospitals, clinic management, education and research, rural community, leadership development, and state health resources.

Arrive in Savannah, Ga., the day before NRHA's Annual Rural Health Conference to hear expert analysis of the historic health reform legislation at the Health Reform Workshop.

By Louis Wenzlow, Rural Wisconsin Health Cooperative

ONC announced supplemental Regional Extension Center (REC) funding to provide technical assistance to critical access hospitals (CAHs) and rural hospitals with less than 50 beds. According to the funding announcement, this program is supposed to provide RECs with additional staffing and expertise to assist these hospitals in selecting, implementing, and meaningfully using electronic health record (EHR) systems. 

This is of course welcome news. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) identified CAHs and rural hospitals as prioritized providers, but the initial REC program guidance revised ARRA language and definitions to create an exclusive focus on primary care physicians. (See Chapter 5 of ARRA History http://www.worh.org/hit/arra-history/ for more detail on the initial exclusion.) I can only suppose that the“supplemental” announcement is ONC’s way of recalibrating the REC program to comply with congressional intent.

Many rural advocates are cheering this development, and I would be among them if not for one sentence in the supplemental FOA: “Funds can only be used to assist CAH and Rural Hospitals that the REC intended to serve in their original application.”

Read the full article.

Rethinking Rural Human Service Delivery in Challenging Times: The Case for Service Integration
Explains the need for a regionally integrated rural human services system in order to address challenges many rural social services agencies face in delivering human services.

Development of the Rural Active Living Assessment Tools: Measuring Rural Environments
Describes research performed that resulted in the development of Rural Active Living Assessment (RALA) Tools, which assess the ability of rural communities to be conducive to physical activity.

Connecting America: The National Broadband Plan
Includes the executive summary and full text of the National Broadband Plan, which began taking form in April 2009 and was finalized in March 2010. The plan makes recommendations to the FCC, the Executive Branch, Congress and state and local governments to ensure all consumers and industries in rural and urban America have access to affordable broadband computer networks.

A Dramatic Shift Away from Private Fee-for-Service Plans in Rural Medicare Advantage Enrollment
In a reversal of recent trends, private fee-for-service (PFFS) enrollment fell dramatically in rural areas in early 2010. As a result, Medicare Advantage (MA) enrollment in rural areas (excluding other prepaid plans) fell slightly in early 2010 for the first time in years. Nationwide, enrollment in preferred provider organization and health maintenance organization plans grew, offsetting the decline in PFFS enrollment and contributing to a slight growth in total MA enrollment in 2010.

Mark your calendar

For more information about these and other events, visit http://www.vrha.org/events.html

April 21: Campaign for Children’s Mental Health Forum - Lynchburg & Roanoke
April 23: Health Impact Assessment/Health Equity - webinar
April 28: RAC 101 - conference call
April 30: STDs: Your Top 3 in Southwest Virginia - webinar
May 11 & 12: Southern Regional Rural Convening - Charlotte
May 12 & 13: VaCHA Leadership and Education Conference - Richmond
May 14: Strong Roots for a Healthy Future: Treatments that Work for Youth - Richmond
May 17 & 18: Statewide Summit on Childhood Obesity - Richmond
May 19 - 21: NRHA's Annual Rural Health Conference - Savannah, GA
June 2-5: National Association for Rural Mental Health Annual Conference - Denver, CO
June 16-18: Medication Use in Rural America Conference - Kansas City, MO

Resources

Renew Rural America
Resources, news and information that rural residents can access and utilize in providing leadership to their communities' revitalization efforts.

Scholars, Fellows & Leadership Programs
Provides a variety of information resources - including programs and scholarships - supporting individuals working to improve health and health care for everyone.

APA: Rural Health
A listing of publications, agencies, organizations and programs on the topic of rural behavioral health.
Organization: American Psychological Association

County-Level Population Data
Provides by State county-level data tables that include population and population change data, and FIPS codes.

New Report Looks at the Operational Aspects of Health Reform and Identifies Key Takeaways for Policy-Makers
Effective implementation of policy reform can mean the difference between success and failure. A new report by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-funded State Coverage Initiatives draws on the implementation experiences of five states—Massachusetts, New Mexico, Tennessee, Vermont and Wisconsin—to provide insights into the operational aspects of health reform. It also shares key lessons for state policy-makers.

Implementing State Health Reform: Lessons for Policymakers identifies the key questions that policy-makers should consider when implementing health care reform, and also provides a set of related takeaways—particularly what must happen operationally pre- and post-implementation. The questions and takeaways are relevant to both state and national reform, in part because recent enactment of federal reform legislation will have enormous implementation implications for states.

Funding Opportunities

Tides Foundation: HIV Young Leaders Fund
The Tides Foundation partners with philanthropists, foundations, activists, and organizations to promote positive social change across the globe. The HIV Young Leaders Fund, an initiative of the Tides Foundation, supports organizations working to address the needs of young people most affected by HIV in their communities, including young people living with HIV. Key activities supported by the Fund include: local, national, regional, or international HIV advocacy; local peer-based HIV services; and community mobilization. There are two application tracts: grants of up to $30,000 for Core Funding and grants of up to $20,000 for Project Funding. Youth-led organizations and youth-led projects from around the world are eligible to apply. The application deadline is May 1, 2010. Funding guidelines and forms are available on the Tides Foundation website.

The RGK Foundation
The medicine/health grant program will support programs that promote the health and well-being of children, access to health services and foundation-initiated programs. Education funding will be given to programs that focus on integrating technology into K-12 education. The foundation will support community programs that improve children and family services, early childhood development and parenting education.

Grants range from several thousand to $150,000; the average foundation grant is $25,000. Eligible applicants include nonprofit organizations such as hospitals, educational institutions and governmental institutions with 501 (c)(3) status. All applicants first must submit a letter of inquiry completed online.
Please note the Grants Committee meeting dates for 2010: June 4, Sept. 17 and Dec. 3.

Y Street
Since 2004 VTSF has coordinated an advocacy group called Y Street, which has grown to be Virginia’s largest youth-led activist initiative in the state, containing more than 4,000 trained high school aged members.  Y Street provides $2,000 Mini Grants to selected organizations across the state, and in return those organizations complete community based-projects.  VTSF has a strong working relationship with Virginia DECA and Virginia FCCLA, and we are hoping to provide the opportunity to your organization as well.  You can learn more about Y Street at www.ystreet.org.

There is no cost for Y Street to your club, its chapters, or your youth.  The $2,000 Mini Grant is earned with no strings, and the youth receive individual awards on top of the grant money.  VSTF will provide the official Y Street training for 25 selected youth, the materials for youth to complete projects, and the backend support throughout the year for free.