The Missouri Rural Health Association (MRHA) is a non-profit, grass-roots, member-driven organization whose mission is to safeguard and improve the health of rural Missourians. MRHA accomplishes its mission by engaging in partnerships and providing leadership on rural issues through advocacy, communication, education, and research.
Share your thoughts!
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services is in the process of developing a new Rural Health Plan. You are invited to take a few minutes to share your ideas and suggestions for improving rural health by completing a survey. Your input is needed in order to create a Rural Health Plan that will be based on your health concerns, your ideas for improving the health of rural Missourians, and your suggestions for increasing access to care for those in rural areas. Please share this link with others in your community so that your voices can be heard!
Click HERE to complete the survey.
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December Newsletter Available - Check the Members Section!
From the Columbia Missourian: Physicians in short supply in rural Missouri areas:
Gravel roads, small towns and rows of corn that go on for miles — these are images of rural Missouri. More often than not, doctors are missing from that picture. Eighty percent of Missouri's counties don't have enough physicians. Many of those counties are rural, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. (click to read article.)
Rural Spotlight is a resource aimed at supporting rural healthcare providers by showcasing current information available for assistance. It is sponsored by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, Office of Primary Care and Rural Health.
http://www.ruralspotlight.com/
Letter to Secretary Sebelius regarding CAHs and H1N1 and 1135 Waiver - Click to view documents.
DECREASE THE INCREASE IN CHRONIC KIDNEY DISEASE WEBINAR – October 28, November 5, and November 17
Mark your calendars for the upcoming “Decrease the Increase in Chronic Kidney Disease” free educational webinar jointly provided by the Missouri Nurses Association and Primaris. It will be offered on three dates for you to choose from:
Wednesday, October 28 from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Thursday, November 5 from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
Tuesday, November 17 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
See the attached flyer for more details. To register for the webinar, please visit: http://tiny.cc/registration844. Participants can receive a maximum of 1.0 contact hour for attending this activity. For questions, contact Jennifer Reed, 573-817-8300, extension 182 or by e-mail at: jreed@primaris.org.
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. You may qualify for free screenings. Click on the website link for more information. From there, you can find a listing of providers and a Missouri map that you can click on your county to locate participating providers. http://www.dhss.mo.gov/BreastCervCancer/
Annie E. Casey Foundation Releases 2009 KIDS COUNT Data Book
According to the twentieth-annual KIDS COUNT Data Book, key indicators of child well-being show slight improvements in six areas since 2000, but 2007 data suggest that conditions have worsened since the beginning of the recession.... More»
Rural Nonprofits Face Funding Gap, Report Finds
The report from the Bridgespan Group found that rural nonprofits are lagging their urban counterparts in funding from federal government, private foundations, and corporations.... More»
Without Federal Reform, Number of Uninsured Could Expand Sharply Over Next Decade, Report Finds
The report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that if substantive healthcare reform is not enacted, the number of uninsured Americans could reach 65.7 million by 2019, with middle-income families hit hardest.... More»
ADOLESCENT SHORTS NEWSLETTER AVAILABLE THROUGH DHSS WEBSITE
The Adolescent Shorts Newsletter, along with other adolescent health related publications, is available through the Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) website at http://www.dhss.mo.gov/AdolescentHealth/Publications.html. The latest issue is titled “Transitioning Youth with Special Health Care Needs to Adult Health Care Services, Part 2”. Adolescent Shorts is a bi-monthly newsletter co-published by the DHSS Adolescent Health Program and The Children’s Mercy Hospital. The newsletter addresses current issues and promotes best practices in adolescent health care. For more information on Adolescent Shorts, contact Patti Van Tuinen, at 573-751-6188, or e-mail Patti.VanTuinen@dhss.mo.gov.
America's Health Literacy: Why We Need Accessible Information
This new Issue Brief summarizing health literacy findings from the National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) has just been published by the Department of Health and Human Services. A collaboration of the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP), the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), this eight page Issue Brief is crafted for a policy audience, and includes policy implications of the findings. “America's Health Literacy: Why We Need Accessible Information” can be found on the ODPHP's Health Literacy Improvement Website: http://www.health.gov/communication/literacy/default.htm
Task Force recommends screening adolescents for clinical depression
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force now recommends screening adolescents 12-18 years of age for clinical depression only when systems are in place to ensure accurate diagnosis, treatment and follow-up. (B recommendation) The Task Force found insufficient evidence to assess the balance of benefits and harms of screening children 7-11 years of age for clinical depression. (I statement) The Task Force reviewed new evidence on the benefits and harms of screening children and adolescents for clinical depression, the accuracy of screening tests administered in the primary care setting and the benefits and risks of treating clinical depression using psychotherapy and/or medications in patients 7 and 18 years of age.
Recommended Adult Immunization Schedule --- United States, 2009
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) annually reviews the recommended Adult Immunization Schedule to ensure that the schedule reflects current recommendations for the licensed vaccines. No new vaccines were added to the schedule. However, several indications were added to the pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine footnote; clarifications were made to the footnotes for human papillomavirus, varicella, and meningococcal vaccines; and schedule information was added to the hepatitis A and hepatitis B vaccine footnotes.
The Path to a High Performance U.S. Health System: A 2020 Vision and the Policies to Pave the Way
Commonwealth Fund; Published: February 2009
Proposes establishing a national insurance exchange with a choice of private plans and a new public plan, combined with payment and system reforms, in order to realize affordable coverage for all, improve health outcomes, and slow health spending growth.
Funder(s): Commonwealth Fund
Subject(s): Health; Health, Health Insurance/Coverage; Health, Healthcare Access/Reform
Publication Type: Research Report
PubHub Link (122 pages; 710KB; PDF)
National Diabetes Education Program
The NRHA has partnered with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health and other national organizations to promote the National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP). The NDEP develops and disseminates educational information on diabetes in minority communities. http://www.ndep.nih.gov/
AHRQ Releases New Survey to Assess Medical Office Safety Culture
The Medical Office Survey on Patient Safety Culture,a new evidence-based tool from AHRQ, can help you assess how your staff views different areas of patient safety. You can use the results to target areas for improvement and build a stronger patient safety culture within your organization. The survey captures opinions from all levels of staff on important dimensions that relate to patient safety and quality issues, communication about error, communication openness, information exchange with other settings, office processes and standardization, organizational learning, staff training, teamwork, and work pressure and pace.
The survey toolkit is free and available on AHRQ’s Web site. It includes survey forms and a user’s guide that explains the survey process, discussing such topics as overall project planning, data collection procedures and analysis and report creation.
The new survey is an expansion of AHRQ’s successful Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture.
Safe Practices 2009 - National Quality Forum; Washington DC
The National Quality Forum's Safe Practices for Better Healthcare provides a blueprint for organizations to improve the quality and safety of patient care. The practices are organized into seven content areas: establishing leadership structures and systems, improving safety culture, honoring patient's wishes for informed consent and error disclosure, matching health care needs with delivery capacity, facilitating information transfer and clear communication between providers, managing medications safely, preventing health care–associated infections, and implementing safe practices for specific clinical conditions and sites of care. Since the last update in 2006, seven new practices have been added and others retired. The practices are defined so that organizations can measure the relationship between implementation of the practices and patient safety outcomes.
HCUP
The Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP, pronounced "H-Cup") is a family of health care databases and related software tools and products developed through a Federal-State-Industry partnership and sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). HCUP databases bring together the data collection efforts of State data organizations, hospital associations, private data organizations, and the Federal government to create a national information resource of patient-level health care data (HCUP Partners). HCUP includes the largest collection of longitudinal hospital care data in the United States, with all-payer, encounter-level information beginning in 1988. These databases enable research on a broad range of health policy issues, including cost and quality of health services, medical practice patterns, access to health care programs, and outcomes of treatments at the national, State, and local market levels.
Obama's vision for Integrated Medical Records - One element of the Obama vision for the reform of the US health care system is to overhaul the record keeping system, making the data consistent and using technology to keep the records and distribute the information. $19 billion has been set aside in the stimulus package to kick start information technology companies and health care providers into the process of making this happen. http://www.opexsg.com/images/stories/content/PDF/electronic%20medical%20benefits.pdf
The Missouri Foundation for Health has released the 2009 edition of Medicaid Basics. This publication provides an overview of Medicaid and an overview of the state’s Medicaid program called MO HealthNet. Click to view the report.
Hospitals see increase in uninsured, underinsured emergency room patients - Click to read the report
Beyond Health Care: The Economic Contribution of Hospitals – Health care is too often viewed as an economic drain when, in fact, it is an economic driver. Hospitals not only provide vital health care services to millions of people, they also play a critical role in supporting a strong and stable economy, a role that is not widely understood. To learn more about the economic contribution of hospitals, the American Hospital Association as produced the TrendWatch Report [click here to read the report, or click here to read a letter from the AHA President and CEO].
Recent updates from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)
TRANSMITTAL(S) RELEASED
Transmittal 1695, entitled “Providers Submitting Information on Beneficiaries Entitled to MA for FY 2006 & for SSI Fraction,” was published. This regulation affects Hospitals.
View the complete text of Transmittal 1695: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/transmittals/downloads/R1695CP.pdf
TRANSMITTAL(S) RELEASED - CORRECTION
Transmittal 58, entitled “Disclosure of Physician Ownership in Hospitals,” was published. This regulation affects Hospitals and Physicians.
View the complete text of Transmittal 58: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/transmittals/downloads/R58GI.pdf
TRANSMITTAL(S) RELEASED - CLARIFICATION
Transmittal 454, entitled “Influenza Pandemic Emergency Preparedness - Waiver of Certain Medicare Requirements,” was published. This regulation affects ALL Providers.
View the complete text of Transmittal 454: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/transmittals/downloads/R454OTN.pdf
