The second Task Force, the NCHN Evidence-Based Outcome Measures & Evaluation for Health Networks Task Force will explore the development of outcome measures for evaluating health networks. . If you are interested in serving on either Task Force, please let Rebecca know. They both will start meeting in mid-November and will meet as long and as often as needed. Thanks in advance for your interest and support of NCHN by volunteering to serve on one of these new Task Forces.
The 2012 Leadership Summit Committee recommended to the Board of Directors and they approved the recommendation for the 2013 NCHN Leadership Summit to be held October 1-2, 2013 in Austin, TX. Once again, NCHN will co-locate and coordinate with the NRHA Critical Access Rural Health Conference, which will be held October 2-4, 2013. The 2013 Leadership Summit Committee will be forming and is in need of NCHN members to serve.
If you are interested, please let Rebecca know. The committee will start meeting in early December.
Coffee/Tea Chat with Dr. Chess
Welcome to a new season (fall) and, new perspectives! We look forward to having you join us for the next NCHN Coffee and Tea Chat:
Wednesday, October 17th at 12:00 PM ET
Call in details were recently distributed through a Save the Date Notice.
Come prepared with questions for your colleagues and these questions might include: most effective meeting times, marketing to new (associate) members, creating the ROI on a new potential business line or, leading in complex times while maintaining a sense of curiosity and humor! Dr. Mary Kay Chess will be facilitating this call and we look forward to our conversation. Enjoy the beginning of this new season.
MEMBER NEWS
Rural Wisconsin Health Cooperative: Eye on Health,"Review & Commentary on Health Policy Issues for a Rural Perspective," is online (pdf)
PARTNER NEWS
Starting October 1st, rural hospitals experienced dramatic funding reductions (Oct. 1, 2012, NRHA)
NRHA is organizing a sign-on letter to the House Ways and Means Committee and Senate Finance Committee reminding them of the expiration and asking the committees to act quickly.
NATIONAL NEWS
Countdown to ICD-10 is On (Oct. 12, 2012, HealthLeaders Media)
The publication of the final rule officially announcing a change in the ICD-10 compliance date from October 1, 2013 to October 1, 2014, ends the uncertainty surrounding ICD-10 implementation that has plagued the healthcare industry.
Maybe the Medicare penalties won’t work (Oct. 11, 2012, The Washington Post)
The Obama administration recently rolled out two programs that will penalize hospitals that provide low-quality care. The whole idea is to give health care providers a financial incentive to deliver excellent care.
AHRQ Aims To Create Health Information Rating System for EHRs
(Oct. 5, 2012, iHealthBeat)
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has published a notice in the Federal Register indicating that the agency is in the early stages of developing a health information rating system, or HIRS, to measure how well electronic health record systems support patient education...
Bottom Line: Family Medicine Workforce is Growing Too Slowly (Oct. 13, 2012, AAFP)
Authors of a recent article in the October 2012 Family Medicine summed up their opinion of patient access to primary care in America in their opening paragraph: "A crisis in access to first-contact, comprehensive and coordinated medical care is occurring in the United States," wrote the authors. Bottom line, the family medicine workforce is not growing at a rate sufficient to meet the country's needs.
Safety-Net Hospitals Brace For Cut To Federal Subsidies (Oct. 14, 2012, Kaiser Health News)
For more than 20 years, hospitals have relied on subsidies provided by the federal government to help defray those costs. But that funding is set to decline starting in 2014 with the full implementation of the federal health law.
UPCOMING EVENTS
HIT Standards Committee Advisory Meeting (Oct. 17, 2012 | Washington, DC, HHS)
If I Knew Then What I Know Now... Building a Telehealth Network From The Group Up (October 18, 2012 | 4:00 PM EST, Telehealth Resource Centers)
Hospitals 2013: 10 Key Issues; Physician Alignment; The Changing Financial Situation; Can Hospitals Remain Independent and More (October 18, 2012 | 1:15 PM - 2:15 PM CDT, Becker's Hospital Review)
Wisconsin AgriSafeR Training (October 25 - 27, 2012 | Marshfield, WI, AgriSafe)
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