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Winter 2010 Issue of the
Rural Monitor is now available

The lineup for the March 18th Telehealth Summit keeps getting better. New to the agenda is Greg T. Billings, a senior government relations director in the Government and Regulatory Affairs Practice Group of the law firm DrinkerBiddle. Mr. Billings works primarily with the health care arena, representing and advising telehealth and remote monitoring providers, medical simulation training organizations, and nonprofit health systems. 

Mr. Billings will be the speaker for the Reimbursement/Coding Specifics & Legal/Regulatory Issues session at 3:30pm and true to the spirit of the Telehealth Summit, he will be addressing the group via videoconference.

Click the logo below to learn more about the Telehealth Summit, as well as the preceeding Workforce Summit and Annual Summit.

Governor McDonnell and the General Assembly have begun work on the proposed budgets for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Various groups in Virginia are objecting to many of the proposed cuts to Health and Human Resources. Click the name of group listed to read more:

Voices for Virginia's Children
Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association
Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy
Virginia Organizing Project

Additionally, the Healthcare for All Virginians Coalition will be holding a press conference Thursday, February 25 at 3:30pm in Senate Room 1.

Links for the budget proposals:

• Governor (Health and Human Resources begins on page 9)
• Senate Finance (Subcommittee on Health and Human Resources)
• House Appropriations (Health and Human Resources begins on slide 26)
  

The Virginia Rural Healthcare Workforce Awards will recognize and thank individuals and/or organizations for making significant contributions to rural communities through education, recruitment and retention initiatives designed to address Virginia’s healthcare workforce shortage. The awards will be presented at the 2010 Health Workforce Summit, March 16, 2010.

Nominations Must Be Submitted by February 25. There are two award categories:

Rural Healthcare Workforce Individual Award for Distinguished Service
This award will acknowledge individuals that are actively involved in successful initiatives addressing healthcare workforce shortages in rural areas of Virginia. The individual must have played an important role in the design and implementation of programs and been instrumental in carrying out the program successfully.

Rural Healthcare Workforce Organization Award for Outstanding Contribution
This award will recognize organization’s innovation and excellent performance in their efforts designed to address and enhance health care workforce shortage initiatives in rural areas.

Click here for additional information and the nomination packet.

Close to Home

Join your colleagues for more than 50 innovative, practical and cost-saving sessions at NRHA’s 33rd Annual Rural Health Conference May 19-21 in Savannah, Ga. Check out exclusive tracks for:

• Rural health policy
• HIT and hospitals
• Clinic management
• Education and research
• Rural community
• Leadership development
• State health resources

Come early for the Rural Medical Educators Conference May 18.
Visit www.RuralHealthWeb.org/annual to save with early registration rates.

The next issue of the Rural Monitor will be on rural nurses. For this issue, the Rural Assistance Center is especially interested in the following subjects:

• nurses in rural clinics and other rural settings who are taking charge of quality initiatives, e.g., to reduce medication errors, etc.
• any programs that are geared to train or acclimate new nurses to work in rural areas. (Are there particular situations in rural that require different expertise, training or knowledge than would be required in urban settings?)
• traveling nurses — we are looking for any locum tenens nursing projects or companies that are specific to rural, especially any sponsored or funded by rural health organizations or offices.

Please contact RAC if your office or organization sponsors any of the above, or if you know of any such programs. Contact information:

Beth Blevins, Editor
The Rural Monitor
301-260-0556

December 2009: Rural Medicare Advantage Enrollment Grows 15% in 2009
Rural enrollment in Medicare Advantage (MA) and other prepaid plans grew by 15% from December 2008 to December 2009, faster than the 10% national growth rate. Preferred provider organization plans drove the increased enrollment in MA plans in rural areas in 2009, while private fee-for-service (PFFS) plans continued to dominate the market with over 50% of enrollment. This landscape could change in 2010 as rural Medicare beneficiaries will experience a decline in PFFS availability, as some insurers have announced plans to pull their PFFS plans from the market.

North Carolina AHEC Program: 2010 Progress Report
The report highlights the accomplishments of AHEC over the past year, and provides a snapshot of some of the ways AHEC works with the community and university colleagues to address the health and health workforce needs of North Carolina.

Pollution Sources and Mortality Rates across Rural-Urban Areas in the United States (Final Report)
Pollution Sources and Mortality Rates across Rural-Urban Areas in the United States (Policy Brief)
Rural counties contain more than 65,000 EPA-recognized point pollution sources.  A greater density of water and air pollution sources in rural counties is associated with higher cancer mortality rates adjusting for other risks.  Rural areas also experience mortality risks in association with coal mining activity.

There are atlases with state data for three environmental indicators: water pollution sites, Toxic Releases Inventory (TRI) sites, and coal mining activity.  Water pollution and TRI data are available for all 48 continental states, and coal mining data is available for all states with mining activity.

Mark your calendar

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

February 23: Connecting Safe Routes to School with Health - webinar
March 16: Rural Health Workforce Summit - Danville
March 17: Annual Rural Health Summit - Danville
March 18: Telehealth Summit - Danville
April 13 & 14: Virginia Small Rural Hospital Conference - Williamsburg
May 17 & 18: Statewide Summit on Childhood Obesity - Richmond
May 19 & 20: NRHA's Annual Rural Health Conference - Savannah, GA

Resources

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Conference Call
Have you heard about HITECH and Meaningful Use? Do you want to learn more about the upcoming Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) incentive programs?

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) invites you to join them for a teleconference on Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentives NPRM - Implementing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act)

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) for the Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive programs established by the Recovery Act.   The HITECH provisions are a subset of the Recovery Act.  The rule, sometimes called the “meaningful use NPRM,” proposes a definition for the meaningful use of certified EHR technology as well as many other policy proposals.   Join us to learn the basics of the rule from the CMS experts.

Learn about:

• CMS’ proposed rule for the EHR incentive programs including:
• Who is eligible
• What constitutes meaningful use
• How to demonstrate meaningful use
• What incentives are available under Medicare and Medicaid
• How to make comments
• Where to find additional resources

Hear first hand from the CMS Experts
When: Tuesday, February 23rd
Time: 1:30-2:30 pm EST

We suggest you call in early as lines are limited.
To join the meeting, dial 1-866-501-5502
The conference ID is 58353012
Materials will be available on the morning of the call

Analyzing Proposed Health Care Legislation - Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
New Reports Examine Effects Of The House and Senate Bill
With prospects for health care reform uncertain, intense scrutiny is being applied to proposed legislation passed by the House and Senate. New reports from the Urban Institute address two much-discussed issues.

In How Would States Be Affected by Health Reform?, researchers look at the effect of health reform on people in individual states. Because coverage levels vary dramatically from state to state, any significant reforms would affect states differently. Researchers use the recent Senate bill as a starting point to examine this variation and provide detailed state and regional data.
Analyzing Proposed Health Care Legislation addresses how health care spending would be affected by reform. In proposed health care reform legislation, the annual cost of uncompensated health care for the uninsured would decrease from $61 billion to $25 billion. Because about three-quarters of uncompensated care is financed by federal, state, and local governments, researchers say up to $27 billion a year could be used to offset the expansion of Medicaid and subsidies to employers and individuals. Researchers also find that while the overall change in employers’ net costs would be a modest 2.9 percent increase over the current system—small employers’ net costs would decrease 8.2 percent, due to employer subsidies, the expansion of Medicaid, exemptions from penalties for not offering health insurance, and other factors.

• Read How Would States Be Affected by Health Reform?.
• Read Analyzing Proposed Health Care Legislation.
  

Funding Opportunities

Walmart Foundation State Giving Program
The Walmart Foundation State Giving Program awards grants at the state and regional level for programs that give individuals access to a better life. State Advisory Councils in each state, as well as Washington, DC and Puerto Rico, determine how best to distribute State Giving Program funds. The program provides grants of $25,000 and up in the following categories: Education grants support programs that address the educational needs of underserved young people, ages 12-30. Job Skills Training grants promote professional training, counseling, and support services to help people improve their work-related skills. Health grants strive to improve access to healthcare and promote healthy lifestyles. Environmental Sustainability grants support programs that are designed to help people become more sustainable as well as programs that enhance the environment. Applications may be submitted between February 1 and August 20, 2010. Visit the Foundation’s website to submit an online application.

BJ’s Charitable Foundation
BJ’s Charitable Foundation was established with the goal of creating a positive, long-lasting impact on the communities the company serves. The mission of the Foundation is to enhance community programs that benefit children and families in the locations served by BJ’s Clubs in Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Virginia. The Foundation contributes the majority of its funding to nonprofit organizations that provide services to those in need in the form of hunger prevention, self-sufficiency, health care, and education. Requests are reviewed quarterly; the upcoming application deadline is April 9, 2010. Details about the Foundation’s giving guidelines and application criteria are available on the company’s website.