Telehealth Network Grantees Announced
September 4, 2012 - HRSA has announced the 2012 Telehealth Network Grant Program Awards today. Click here to download the list (pdf) or use the search tool below.
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HHS Releases Updated List of Health Professional Shortage Areas
August 28, 2012 (AACOM Information Alert email) - The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced its updated list of designated primary medical care, mental health, and dental health professional shortage areas (HPSAs) as of April 2012.
As a substantial number of designation and withdrawal requests come from the Primary Care Office (PCO) in state health departments and are reviewed and updated as necessary annually by HHS’ Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the list highlights provider shortages by demography, geography, and institution, identifying areas in which National Health Service Corps (NHSC) professionals may serve and entities that include clinical training sites in HPSAs may receive priority for HRSA residency training program grants.
Please note that HPSAs added to the designation list since April 2012 are currently excluded from the current HPSA publication, but are included on the HRSA website.
CMS Final Rule: Medicare Program; Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems for Acute Care Hospitals and the Long-Term Care Hospital Prospective Payment System and Fiscal Year 2013 Rates; Hospitals' Resident Caps for Graduate Medical Education Payment Purposes; Quality Reporting Requirements for Specific Providers and for Ambulatory Surgical Centers
August 31, 2012 (The Federal Register) - We are revising the Medicare hospital inpatient prospective payment systems (IPPS) for operating and capital-related costs of acute care hospitals to implement changes arising from our continuing experience with these systems. Some of the changes implement certain statutory provisions contained in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (collectively known as the Affordable Care Act) and other legislation. These changes will be applicable to discharges occurring on or after October 1, 2012, unless otherwise specified in this final rule. We also are updating the rate-of-increase limits for certain hospitals excluded from the IPPS that are paid on a reasonable cost basis subject to these limits. The updated rate-of-increase limits will be effective for cost reporting periods beginning on or after October 1, 2012.
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VA, DoD to expand health information exchanges
by Nicole Blake Johnson
August 29, 2012 (Federal Times) - The Veterans Affairs and Defense departments are ready to expand 16 pilot programs and offer veterans’ health information exchanges nationwide.
The new exchanges will build on the success of the pilots, where VA and DoD physicians in Indianapolis, Richmond, Va., San Diego and other cities share veterans’ health data with each other and the private sector.
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Doctor Shortage May Swell to 130,000 With Cap
by Alex Wayne
August 29, 2012 (BloombergBusinessweek) - With a shortage of doctors in the U.S. already and millions of new patients set to gain coverage under President Barack Obama’s health-care overhaul, American medical schools are struggling to close the gap.
One major reason: The residency programs to train new doctors are largely paid for by the federal government, and the number of students accepted into such programs has been capped at the same level for 15 years.
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Boomers retiring to rural areas won't find doctors
by Jeff Barnard
September 1, 2012 (heraldonline.com) - Nina Musselman had no trouble finding a family doctor when she retired to rural Oregon nine years ago to be closer to her children. But then that doctor moved away, leaving her to search for another who would take Medicare. After a year of going from doctor to doctor, she finally found one who stuck. As record numbers of baby boomers go into retirement, many are thinking about moving from the places they needed to live to make a living, and going someplace warmer, quieter or prettier.
If they choose small towns like Grants Pass, 250 miles south of Portland, they could well have a hard time finding a family doctor willing to take Medicare, even supplemental plans, rather than private insurance.
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Obama administration takes new action to improve public health
August 29, 2012 (HHS News Release) - Today, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced the next steps in the Obama administration’s work to help doctors and hospitals use electronic health records.
“The changes we’re announcing today will lead to more coordination of patient care, reduced medical errors, elimination of duplicate screenings and tests and greater patient engagement in their own care,” Secretary Sebelius said.
Under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, doctors, health care professionals and hospitals can qualify for Medicare and Medicaid incentive payments when they adopt and meaningfully use certified electronic health record (EHR) technology.
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HHS Announces Next Steps to Promote Use of Electronic Health Records
August 23, 2012 (HHS News Release) - Today, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced the next steps in the Obama administration’s work to help doctors and hospitals use electronic health records.
“The changes we’re announcing today will lead to more coordination of patient care, reduced medical errors, elimination of duplicate screenings and tests and greater patient engagement in their own care,” Secretary Sebelius said.
Under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, doctors, health care professionals and hospitals can qualify for Medicare and Medicaid incentive payments when they adopt and meaningfully use certified electronic health record (EHR) technology.
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Is the physician shortage a myth?
by Karen Cheung-Larivee
August 31, 2012 (Fierce Healthcare) - Even though medical school applications are at an all-time high, according to the Association of the American Medical Colleges (AAMC), the added doctors may not be able to meet demand in the coming years--that's according to many economists who fear health reform will be disastrous to the supply-and-demand of healthcare.
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Indiana: Telemedicine for rural youth
by Bill Stanczykiewicz
August 31, 2012 (Indystar.com) - While many kids use technology for digital music and video games, technology also is delivering digital diagnoses and video consultations to improve health care for rural youth.
Nearly one-fourth of Hoosier children live in rural communities, and rural communities have fewer doctors and hospitals. Nationally, only 9 percent of doctors serve in rural areas and, according to the Rural Health Research and Policy Center, "Rural hospitals have less access to physicians trained in emergency medicine, in pediatrics or in pediatric emergency medicine."
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OMG! You’re Not Using Text Messaging to Reach Constituents?
by John Hoffman
August 22, 2012 (NONPROFIT QUARTERLY) - When Jane Furuseth of the HOWA Family Center in rural Walker, Minn. was having trouble contacting the high school-age participants in her mentor program, she employed a highly unorthodox means of communicating with them: text messaging. Such a method was not unusual for the teens, who routinely text one another. Rather, it was uncommon for a small, community-based nonprofit to employ text messaging as a means of engaging program participants. But all that is changing quickly.
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Fact Sheet: President Obama Signs Executive Order to Improve Access to Mental Health Services for Veterans, Service Members, and Military Families
August 31, 2012 (White House Press Release) - oday, President Obama will sign an Executive Order directing key federal departments to expand suicide prevention strategies and take steps to meet the current and future demand for mental health and substance abuse treatment services for veterans, service members, and their families.
Ensuring that all veterans, Active, Guard, and Reserve service members and their families receive the support they deserve is a top priority for the Obama Administration. Since September 11, 2001, more than two million service members have deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan with unprecedented duration and frequency. Long deployments and intense combat conditions require optimal support for the emotional and mental health needs of our service members and their families. The Obama Administration has consistently expanded efforts to ensure our troops, veterans and their families receive the benefits they have earned and deserve, including providing timely mental health service. The Executive Order signed today builds on these efforts.
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HHS awards $58.7 million to bolster America’s health care workforce
August 30, 2012 (HRSA News Release) - Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today announced $58.7 million in grants to strengthen training for health professionals and increase the size of our health care workforce.
“These grants and the programs they support are vital to achieving a comprehensive and culturally competent health professions workforce capable of meeting future health care challenges,” Secretary Sebelius said.
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Rural Women Living Shorter Lives in 622 Counties
by Bill Bishop and Roberto Gallardo
August 29, 2012 (Daily Yonder) - American women were living 1.7 years longer in 2009 than they were in 1999. But that increase was realized in only a handful of rural and exurban counties.
The life expectancy of the average U.S. female increased 1.7 years from 1999 to 2009. In 1999, the average age of death for an American female was 79.6 years; by 2009, it had risen to 81.3.
But that solid gain in longevity was matched in only 168 rural or exurban counties, or 6.5 percent of all the counties outside the cities.
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