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>>Health Tracking Poll: Election 2008
>>Telemedicine Wins Over Rural Patients

Act this Week to Protect Funding to the Rural Health Safety Net       
Ask Your Senators to Sign Letters Supporting Rural Health Funding          
 

As you know, for the fifth year in a row the President has proposed massive cuts to the 'rural health safety net,' which funds many of the programs that our association cares about. These programs include such vital programs as the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy, the Medicare Flexibility Grants, State Offices of Rural Health, Title VII Training Programs and Community Health Centers. Click here to view the chart of the National Rural Health Association's funding request.

In response the Senate Rural Health Caucus will be sending letters to the Senate Appropriation Committee asking for full funding of these vital programs. We need your help to assure that our Senators sign on the letters.

Click here to ask Senator Warner and Senator Webb to sign onto the letter.
Act now - the letter closes April 2nd.

The Health Resources and Services Administration ( HRSA ) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) proposed a new rule that will improve the way underserved areas and populations are designated and target federal resources to the people and communities who need them most. The notice, Designation of Medically Underserved Populations and Health Professional Shortage Areas; Proposed Rule, consolidates the criteria for designating medically underserved populations (MUPs) and health professional shortage areas (HPSAs) into a single new methodology called the Index of Primary Care Underservice. The proposed rule meets goals of the revision, which were to:

• create a simpler system for those who seek designation by consolidating the two existing procedures and their sets of criteria;
• incorporate better measures of health status and access;
• improve identification of new, currently undesignated areas of need and currently designated areas no longer in need; and
• minimize unnecessary disruption.

“The new methodology offers a significant improvement in the identification of communities experiencing limited access to primary care services,” HRSA Administrator Elizabeth Duke said. “The revisions will help the Department target resources more effectively to areas of greater relative need.” The MUP and HPSA designations currently are used in a number of HHS programs. The major use of MUP designations is to determine health centers' eligibility to receive federal grants, since health centers are required to serve medically underserved populations. The major use of HPSA designations is by the National Health Service Corps; the NHSC relies on HPSA designations to assign clinicians, who must serve in areas with shortages of health professionals. HHS' Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services uses geographic and population-based HPSA designations among the criteria to determine if an entity qualifies as a Rural Health Clinic, a status that results in special methods of determining Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement . The Index of Primary Care Underservice will provide CMS and HRSA with a single measurement for identifying underserved areas and populations.

Additionally, federal government agencies and state health departments can recommend waiver of the return-home requirements for an International Medical Graduate physician who came to the United States on a J-1 visa in return for three years of service by that physician in a particular HPSA. A 60-day public comment period commenced February 29, 2008. Information on submitting comments is included in the notice.

Growing economic worries have led to a sharp rise in the economy as a campaign issue, eclipsing both health and Iraq on voters’ priority list. The March Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: Election 2008 looks at where health care will fit in the ongoing presidential campaign now that economic concerns are rising. It finds that health care plays a role in two ways: as an independent issue, and as part of the voters’ growing concerns about the economy.

Among registered voters, health care ranks third as an issue that they want presidential candidates to discuss during the campaign – named by 28 percent of voters, behind the economy (45 percent, double the level in December) and Iraq (32 percent). When asked about the most important economic concern facing their families, one in four voters cited the general issue of rising prices. Behind this general concern, the cost of health care is one of a number of more specific economic worries cited by similar shares of votes: high taxes (13 percent), the price of gasoline (11 percent), the cost of health care (10 percent), and problems with getting a good-paying job or a raise in pay (9 percent).

The March survey -- the sixth in a series -- also takes a closer look at political independents and those who name health care as one of the most important issues in their vote for president.

Read the full article.

A recently completed evaluation of the Newfoundland Labrador Teleoncology Program in Newfoundland, Canada has shown that the use of telemedicine makes life easier for hundreds of patients with cancer, particularly those who live more than an hour or two from core cancer services in urban areas.

Ninety percent of the program's 120 cancer patients are satisfied with the services, which focus on diabetes, kidney disease, mental health and neurology. Meanwhile, participating physicians note that the teleoncology program has cut down their travel time and allowed them to see patients more often. Oncology patients in 25 communities will be able to take part in the program's telehealth services and receive care closer to home.

Read the full article.

Mark your calendar

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

March 28-30: Women's Health 2008: The 16th Annual Congress - Williamsburg
April 3-4: 2nd Annual Palliative Care Conference - Wythville
April 27-29: 12th Annual Virginia Faith Community Health Ministry Retreat - Toano
May 7-10: NHRA's Annual Conference - New Orleans, LA
June 5-6: Medication Access, Use and Safety in Rural America - Minneapolis
June 25: Retention in Times of Exponential Change - Web conference
August 4-5: Cervical Cancer Conference - Durham, NC
September 15-16: Virgina's 2008 Rural Summit - Lynchburg

Job Announcements

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

The Free Clinic of the New River Valley seeks part-time (up to 20-hour/wk) licensed dentist to provide oral health care to uninsured, low-income adults.  Competitive pay and flexible work hours. 4-chair facility and support staff. 

Send cover letter and resume to: Dentist Search, Free Clinic of the New River Valley, 215 Roanoke Street, Christiansburg, VA  24073; www.nrvfreeclinic.org

Funding Opportunities

GE Healthcare Charitable Giving Program

The GE Healthcare Charitable Giving Program provides support to nonprofit organizations in the United States that focus on youth education and/or promote healthy lives. For the Youth Education grant category, the focus is on underserved communities with low graduation rates; core competencies (math, science, reading, writing); arts in education; and early childhood development programs. For the Healthy Lives grant category, the focus is on childhood obesity; women’s healthcare; and cancer, heart disease, and diabetes prevention and education programs.

Online applications are due quarterly (February 1, May 1, August 1, and November 1).