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VCOM Faculty Recognized for Best Bedside Manner

The Edward Via Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM) is proud to announce that 78 physician faculty members were recognized in Ourhealth Magazine’s “Annual Best Bedside Manner Awards for Southwest Virginia.”  With over 21,000 votes cast, these VCOM physicians were recognized for “best bedside manner” based on three criteria: personal attention, time spent during a patient visit and overall compassion and understanding.  Fifty five of the 78 were noted as 1st, 2nd or 3rd place winners and 23 were given Honorable Mentions.  Honorable Mentions include those physicians that received 50 or more votes. 
 
As part of VCOM’s mission to provide community-focused and compassionate physicians, VCOM faculty members are integral in teaching and mentoring VCOM students to become the next generation of healthcare leaders in Southwest Virginia, and throughout the world.  Sheena Gamble, VCOM Student Government President and second year medical student, was pleased to see the award results. “On behalf of the VCOM student body we are thrilled that so many of our faculty members were awarded for their compassion, integrity and altruism.  We are honored that the values and skills that they teach us everyday are also apparent to their patients throughout Southwest Virginia.”

Read the full press release.

The Virginia Board of Health Professions is conducting a sunrise  review of Community Health Workers. Approximately 4,000 CHWs had been identified through a survey of state agencies who utilize them. CHWs are known by a variety of titles and roles and serve as a bridge between diverse cultural and language communities promoting better health.

The Board will be reviewing information responsive to the standard evaluative criteria used to assess the need to regulate any health care occupation or professions in Virginia (i.e. "the Criteria"):

1. The risk of harm posed by the unregulated practice of the profession must be identifiable;
2. Specialized skills and training are needed which require assurance of initial and continued competency;
3. Autonomous practice exists for the occupation which requires independent judgment and functioning;
4. The scope of practice is distinguishable from other regulated  professions, despite possible overlapping professional duties, methods of examination, instrumentation, or therapeutic modality;
5. The economic cost to the public of restricting the supply of practitioners and cost of board and agency operations to regulate the occupation are outweighed by the benefit to the public;
6. There are no alternatives to regulation which adequately protect the public; and
7. If regulations are required, the least burdensome level of regulation which will protect the public will be recommended.

Written comments will be accepted until until 1/29/2010 at 5 pm. Comments should be framed so as to respond to the issues described in the Criteria.  The Emerging Professions Workplan, the Criteria, and general information describing each occupation are available for reference on the Board's website.  Comments should be framed so as to respond to the issues described in the Criteria

Comments can be addressed to:

Elizabeth A. Carter, Ph.D.
Virginia Board of Health Professions
9960 Mayland Drive, Suite 300
Richmond, VA  23233-1463
Fax: (804) 527-4466

Additional information:

Reports to Virginia General Assembly -
Interim Report on the Status, Impact, and Utilization of Community Health Workers
Final Report on the Status, Impact, and Utilization of Community Health Workers

National Community Health worker Workforce Study
Massachusetts information
Minnesota Community Health Worker Project

Invested in Farmville

By Ken Woodley - The Farmville Herald         

Patient volume and quality of care have both increased since the 2006 affiliation with Centra Health, Centra Southside Community Hospital President and CEO, Dr. Gwen Eddleman, told Town Council last month.
"I think I have some good news to share with you," she told council members during a reconvened meeting in late December.  Overall admissions have grown by almost 16 percent "and we’re budgeting for an additional almost 7.5 percent in admissions for 2010."

Outpatient volumes, meanwhile, grew by 15 percent from 2006 to 2009, with further increases expected this year.  Admissions to the emergency room have grown from just over 17,000 when Dr. Eddleman arrived in 2003 to just over 28,000 last year.

The hospital, meanwhile, is outperforming the state and national average among hospitals in heart attack care and congestive heart failure care.

Read the full article.

Virginia Department of Health (VDH) will recognize National Influenza Vaccination Week, January 10-16, 2010. Since the H1N1 vaccination is now available to all Virginians, this is an opportunity to highlight the importance of continuing influenza vaccination. More than 3 million doses of H1N1 vaccine have been sent to Virginia and more than 3000 physician offices, pharmacies, big box stores, clinics and health departments are registered in the state as H1N1 vaccinators. To find vaccination sites serving the public, use the Google based Flu Vaccine Locator tool on the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) Web site.

To aid in communication across a variety of languages and cultures, there are now free flu resources available in Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Korean, Russian, and Vietnamese. They may be printed on a standard office printer, or a commercial printer. The flyers, brochures and posters can be downloaded from: http://www.flu.gov/outreach/h1n1.html Information for the public is also available from the Virginia Department of Health Inquiry Center toll free weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at 1-877-ASK-VDH3.

Virginia is still experiencing regional influenza disease activity with more people seeking treatment for flu-like symptoms than is usual for this time of year. The H1N1 strain of flu virus is responsible now for essentially all flu infections found in Virginia at this time. With several months left in our typical flu season, vaccination remains the number one means of protection against this disease.

The National Rural Health Association is still in conversation with our champions on the Hill to try to ensure the best possible rural package.  Now is a great time to call and email your Members of Congress to remind them of the great rural provisions in both the House and Senate bills that are vital components of a final bill.  Even though there is not a formal conference, it is still necessary to remind Members of the importance of rural and keep a high profile for rural on the Hill. 

In addition to preserving the good rural provisions in the House and Senate bills, NRHA is also working to include some outstanding provisions in the bill.  These include the “necessary provider” language and bed flexibility for CAHs, increasing the payment cap for RHCs, and strengthening State Office of Rural Health authorization language, among others.  However, as these provisions were not in either bill and because there is not a formal conference, we should plan for the worst and expect that these provisions will not be included in the final bill.  While we are still supporting them, we are also looking for other legislation coming down the pike that might be appropriate vehicles. 

We also encourage everyone to join us in Washington January 25-27 for the 21st Annual Rural Health Policy Institute.  The timing should be right around the tail end of the reform process (maybe a signing ceremony while you are in town!).  Visit your Members and Congressional staff in their office to a) thank them for their hard work for rural and talk about priorities for implementation and improvements, b) urge them to work harder for rural next time, or c) keep on going if they haven’t finished yet!

Click here for a summary of the rural provisions in the Senate bill.

Click here for an analysis of the House bill.

The National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health is collecting success stories of rural communities at work to improve rural health.  This is in collaboration with the National Rural Health Association and NRHA President Denny Berens' vision to focus on communities “where all health care delivery” really happens. 

VRHA encourages you to share stories about your community. Please include information on the name of community and a little narrative about the project or the success of the community that will help us know what we might be able to feature. It will be interesting to hear about workforce initiatives, initiatives to increase access to health services or promote health – or any other success story you can share, and of course any involvement that your State Office of Rural Health had in the project. 

Information should be forwarded to:

Teryl Eisinger, MA
Director
National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health
586-739-9940

The National Rural Health Association invites individuals with an interest in rural health research, evaluation of education programs or significant educational innovation to submit abstracts for presentation during NRHA's 33rd Annual Rural Health Conference May 19-21 in Savannah, Ga.

The deadline for submissions is Jan. 8. Click here for more information or to submit an abstract.

Contact Gabriela Boscan at 202-639-0550 with questions.

Mark your calendar

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

January 25-27: NRHA's Policy Institute - Washington, DC
February 7 – 10: Annual Rural Health Care Leadership Conference - Phoenix, AZ
March 16: Rural Workforce Summit - Danville
March 17: Annual Rural Health Summit - Danville
March 18: Telehealth Summit - Danville

Resources

Special Offer for Nonprofits throughout the U.S.

GrantStation and TechSoup are pleased to present a special offer to the nonprofit community beginning January 20 at 8 a.m. Pacific Time and ending January 21 at 5 p.m. Pacific Time. During this limited-time offer, specially discounted GrantStation Memberships will be available to eligible nonprofits for only $99. Learn more about this special offer.

Please click here if you'd like to take an automated tour of GrantStation. Send your questions to: info@grantstation.com.

Funding Opportunities

American Academy of Pediatrics: Community Access to Child Health Program
The Community Access to Child Health (CATCH) Program, a national initiative of the American Academy of Pediatrics, is designed to improve access to health care by supporting pediatricians and communities that are involved in efforts for children. The CATCH Implementation Funds program provides grants of up to $12,000 to pediatricians in the initial and/or pilot stage of developing and implementing a community-based child health initiative. Implementation activities may include service delivery, community meetings, focus groups, and development of grant proposals in the context of a pilot project. The application deadline is January 29, 2010. Online application instructions are available on the American Academy of Pediatrics’ website.