VRHA News
>>VRHA Quoted on President's Budget
>>Members in the News

Virginia Rural Health News
>>Legislative Updates

National Rural Health News
>>President Cuts Nearly $200B in Medicare, Medicaid
>>CMS to Allows CAHs to Participate in Reporting
>>Latino Population in Rural America is Growing

VRHA Executive Director Beth O'Connor and member James Tyler are both quoted in a recent press release from Senator Webb's office.

Webb issued a blistering 2-page commentary on the President's proposed FY 2009 budget and what the proposed cuts, including elimination of future funding for Rural Health Outreach & Network Grants and elimination of Rural Health Flexibility Grants, would mean for people in rural Virginia.

"At a time when President Bush is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to build hospitals and related facilities in Iraq, it is inconceivable that he would slash the very same programs here in America," said Webb. "Our people deserve better."

The administration’s budget proposal also cuts $105 billion over five years to Medicare and Medicaid, threatening Virginia’s 906,000 Medicare and 637,000 Medicaid recipients - a disproportionate amount of whom live in rural communities in Virginia.

"The President’s substantial cuts to Medicaid and Medicare undermine the significant progress we have made through quality rural health programs," said Webb.

Click here to read the full press release.

Members in the News

Legislative Updates

President Bush proposed more than $182 billion in cuts to the Medicare program over five years, $64 billion of which would come from the hospital inpatient update. His fiscal year 2009 Department of Health and Human Services budget proposal would freeze Medicare updates for inpatient and outpatient services, inpatient rehab facilities and long-term care hospitals from 2009-2011, with updates of market-basket minus 0.65% each year thereafter.

Other Medicare reductions would include substantial cuts to indirect medical education and hospital capital and disproportionate share payments, and an overall cut to hospitals through the establishment of a value-based purchasing program. The Medicaid program would be cut by more than $17 billion over five years.

In addition to those made by Virginia's Senator Webb, comments about the budget include:
AHA President and CEO Rich Umbdenstock - "Today’s budget blueprint would have a disastrous impact on the health care that millions of patients and families depend on. Plain and simple: this plan slashes vital health programs for the elderly and children and must be rejected."
U.S. Rep. Fortney Pete Stark (D-CA) - "If press reports are accurate, President Bush's budget would endanger the health care of America's seniors, people with disabilities, and low-income children. We've known for years that his 'compassionate conservatism' was simply a slogan. These proposed cuts show his single-minded focus on starving popular and effective public programs, while protecting fat cat insurance companies that are overpaid with taxpayer dollars."
Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) - "You’ve asked for huge draconian cuts, which this Congress is not going to enact."
Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS) - "I certainly do not want to be in the business of tying the hands of our health care providers, especially those in our rural areas, and ultimately harming our seniors and low-income populations by restricting their access to care."

Despite their traditional residence in U.S. urban areas, Latinos represent a large and growing segment of America's rural population, a new fact sheet from the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire finds. Using recent data from the Census Bureau's 2006 American Community Survey (ACS), the fact sheet by Carsey Institute rural fellow Rogelio Saenz presents a profile of the Latino population in the non-metropolitan United States.

The fact sheet, A Profile of Latinos in Rural America, finds that nearly 3.2 million Latinos live in rural areas of the country, comprising 6.3 percent of the nation's non-metro inhabitants. In addition, the fact sheet finds the Latino population in the United States is young (three in ten Latinos in non-metro areas are younger than age 15) and is giving birth at a higher rate than other groups.

"The rural Latino population is growing and is spreading beyond the traditional Southwest, where they have been clustered in the past," said Saenz, who is a rural fellow at the Carsey Institute as well as a professor in the department of sociology at Texas A&M University. "This population is also young and faces the challenges associated with low levels of education and high rates of poverty. Rural policymakers and community leaders should consider these factors to ensure that Latinos prosper in their communities."

Click here for a copy of the fact sheet.

Mark your calendar

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

March 24-28: 24th Annual HPR III Training Institute - Roanoke
March 28-30: Women's Health 2008: The 16th Annual Congress - Williamsburg
April 27-29: 12th Annual Virginia Faith Community Health Ministry Retreat - Toano
May 7-10: NHRA's Annual Conference - New Orleans, LA

Job Announcements

For more information about this and other positions, visit http://www.vrha.org/index/jobs.html

Position Description
The Department of Biological Systems Engineering at Virginia Tech is seeking a
graduate student to join a team of professionals working on a Virginia AgrAbility project.
The primary goal of this project is to rehabilitate disabled farmers in Virginia and allow
them to continue their farming responsibilities without risking secondary injuries.

While the incumbent may participate in all aspects of the project, the research focus will be on
the application of assistive technologies for bringing the disabled farmers back to the
work force. He/She will be responsible for either adapting existing or developing new
assistive technologies to help the disabled farmers in Virginia while pursuing a Masters
Degree program in Biological Systems Engineering.

Click here for additional information.

Funding Opportunities

Small Health Care Provider Quality Improvement Grant Applications Available

Applications are available through HRSA's Small Health Care Provider Quality Improvement (Rural Quality-not the SHIP grant) grant program to fund as many 60 rural public, non-profit, or private healthcare providers, such as a critical access hospital or rural health clinic,  totaling $4.5 million in FY 08 awards. 

Rural Quality funding helps improve patient care and chronic disease outcomes for patients with diabetes and CVD by assisting rural primary care providers with the implementation of quality improvement strategies.  Improving the quality of chronic disease management in primary care settings can improve health indicators and decrease emergency room visits or admissions to hospitals.  

Applications will be due March 20, and awards are expected to be made by September 1.  Please check the HRSA website for information on a TA conference call Wednesday, February 13, 2008 at 2:00 PM EST.