Rural Spotlight

2023 NRHA Rural Health Award nominations now open!

December 2, 2022

2023 NRHA Rural Health Award nominations now open!

Nominations are now open for NRHA’s 2023 Rural Health Awards. Each year NRHA honors outstanding individuals and organizations in the field of rural health who have dedicated their time and talents to improving the health and well-being of others. Previous Rural Health Award recipients have stretched the boundaries of possibility by forging innovative programs and services, making rural life healthier and more compassionate. Nominate your favorite rural health individual, organization, program, or student for these prestigious awards soon for consideration. Winners will be honored during a special ceremony during NRHA’s Annual Rural Health Conference in San Diego next spring.

Learn About NRHA’s Rural Hospital CEO Certification Program

December 1, 2022

Learn About NRHA’s Rural Hospital CEO Certification Program

Are you an NRHA Rural Hospital Certified Executive? Want to learn how you can join the 200+ rural hospital leaders who are?

Join us for a webinar about NRHA’s Rural Hospital CEO Certification Programs! Get more information on this one-of-a-kind program created by rural hospital executives for rural hospital executives. See the results that the Program is having, hear from Graduates, and ask us questions!

 To register, see the information below:

  • CEO Certification Program Webinar on December 22nd at 1pm EST – register here!

Enrollment is open for all Certification Programs for 2023 Cohorts – visit our website for details and application information at www.crhleadership.com

Learn About NRHA’s Rural Hospital CNO Certification Program

December 1, 2022

Learn About NRHA’s Rural Hospital CNO Certification Program

Are you an NRHA Rural Hospital Certified Executive? Want to learn how you can join the 200+ rural hospital leaders who are?

Join us for a webinar about NRHA’s Rural Hospital CNO Certification Programs! Get more information on this one-of-a-kind program created by rural hospital executives for rural hospital executives. See the results that the Program is having, hear from Graduates, and ask us questions!

To register, see the information below:

  • CNO Certification Program Webinar on December 20th at 1pm EST – register here!

Enrollment is open for all Certification Programs for 2023 Cohorts – visit our website for details and application information at www.crhleadership.com

CDC Adopts “mpox” Name Change

December 1, 2022

CDC Adopts “mpox” Name Change

In support of the November 28, 2022 recommendation by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Health and Human Services (HHS), CDC will adopt “mpox” as the term used to refer to monkeypox disease.

Human monkeypox was given its name in 1958, before the publication of WHO’s best practices in naming diseases was published in 2015. According to the WHO’s best practices, new disease names should be given with the aim to minimize unnecessary negative impact of names on trade, travel, tourism, or animal welfare, and avoid causing offense to any cultural, social, national, regional, professional, or ethnic groups.

U.S. leaders have been engaging with stakeholders on a regular basis regarding our shared concerns about this disease’s terminology and the urgent need for a change to a more appropriate name.

Moving forward, U.S. federal public health agencies, including CDC, will adopt the mpox name in correspondence with the medical community and the public. This change from the WHO will enhance the U.S. response to mpox by using a less stigmatizing term.

CDC encourages all partners to use the term mpox in all documents, public facing communications, and correspondence.

Webinar – Digitizing Records on a Budget

December 1, 2022

Webinar – Dekalb County Health Department’s Secrets to Digitizing Records on a Budget

Webinar Tuesday, December 6th 2022 – 2 pm EST

GUEST SPEAKER: Dianne McWethy, Director, Dekalb County Board of Health

Dekalb County Board of Health (GA) stored records in a large warehouse in need of a new roof. Dianne McWethy, director of administration, knew the roof replacement would wipe out their budget. The agency had a decision to make – new roof or digitize documents.

In partnership with Secure Records Solutions, we invite you to attend an online event, on Tuesday, December 6th, at 2pm Eastern, when Dianne will share her secrets to digitizing 30,000 square feet and four health centers full of medical records. These secrets made digitizing documents on a budget a reality.

  • How many documents are in a box
  • The scan, store, destroy method
  • Spotlight: Dekalb County Board of Health (GA)

Your digital journey awaits! Join us as we take a deep dive into the first step of the journey to electronic document management.

Save Your Virtual Spot

HHS Announces New $350 Million Initiative to Increase COVID-19 Vaccinations

November 30, 2022

COVID-19 Vaccine Update

HHS Announces New $350 Million Initiative to Increase COVID-19 Vaccinations: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), announced a new $350 million initiative for HRSA-supported health centers to increase COVID-19 vaccines in their communities, with a specific focus on underserved populations. This funding supports health centers administering updated COVID-19 vaccines through mobile, drive-up, walk-up, or community-based vaccination events, including working with community-based organizations, and other efforts to increase the administration of COVID-19 vaccines.

Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO)- Rural Residency Planning & Development HRSA-23-037

November 29, 2022

Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) HRSA-23-037 Rural Residency Planning & Development

The FY23 Rural Residency Planning & Development (RRPD) Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) (HRSA-23-037) released on October 5, 2022 at grants.gov. This grant will provide funding for expanding physician workforce capacity and residency training.

HRSA’s Federal Office of Rural Health Policy is pleased to announce the FY23 Rural Residency Planning & Development (RRPD) Program (HRSA-23-037) Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) released on grants.gov and will be accepting applications through January 27, 2023.  The RRPD program is a multi-year HRSA initiative to develop new, accredited and sustainable rural residency programs or rural track programs (RTP) in family medicine, internal medicine, psychiatry, general surgery, preventive medicine, or obstetrics and  gynecology, to support the expansion of the physician workforce and increase opportunities for residents to train in rural communities.  There are two pathways for this program: General Primary Care and High Need Specialty Pathway and Maternal Health and Obstetrics Pathway.

Contingent on FY23 appropriations, HRSA will award approximately 15 grants up to $750,000 each to support the start-up costs of creating new rural residency programs (e.g., accreditation, faculty development, resident recruitment, etc.). Throughout the three-year period of performance, award recipients are required to collaborate with the RRPD Technical Assistance (RRPD-TA) Center. The HRSA funded RRPD-TA Center provides technical assistance to RRPD recipients in all aspects of rural residency development, including accreditation, financing, recruitment, and training. Additionally, the RRPD-TA center may provide assistance to RRPD applicants during the funding opportunity application period.  For this funding cycle, there are two funding priorities: (1) Geographic Distribution and (2) Maternal Health (refer to pages 42-44).

For questions regarding this funding opportunity, please contact the HRSA Rural Residency Team at RuralResidency@hrsa.gov.

National Center for Healthy Housing – Survey Request

November 30, 2022

National Center for Healthy Housing – Survey Request

The National Center for Healthy Housing (NCHH) and the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA) invite you to take the Identifying Needs of Rural Healthy Housing Organizations questionnaire.  This questionnaire is meant for any organization serving rural communities on issues related to health, housing, and/or healthy housing. Please note that the host organizations are not using any formal definition of “rural.” For the purposes of this questionnaire, respondents may be any organization that considers itself to serve rural areas or rural populations.  

 

This questionnaire will give organizations the opportunity to capture both the unique challenges and opportunities of serving residents in rural service areas. This questionnaire will also assist the host organizations to develop relevant resources and tools over the next year. It should take 12 minutes or less to complete as the host organizations are interested in your initial reactions without needing to prepare or collect additional information. Take the questionnaire here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MQLG7MZ.

For Questions Please Contact: Anna Plankey

National Rural Health Association – Optimize patient outcomes, value, and financial stability with A Transitional Care Program in Your Rural Post-Acute Care- Upcoming Webinars

November 29, 2022

Optimize patient outcomes, value, and financial stability with A Transitional Care Program in Your Rural Post-Acute Care

National Rural Health Association (NRHA) Webinar – Thursday, Jan 19, 1:00 – 2:00 pm CST

Utilize swing beds at your facility to increase access for a broader patient group. Improving post-acute care in rural areas can reduce rural-urban disparities in patient outcomes after hospitalization and improve the financial stability of CAHs. Allevant Solutions focuses on a transitional care model that involves the patient and family, makes available the full resources of the Critical Access Hospital, and focuses on measured outcomes and evidence-based processes to ensure patients get the best care possible. The Transitional Care Program is centered on teamwork, communication, and collaboration. We will cover the Transitional Care model as well as the business benefits of utilizing and marketing your swing bed program, discuss staff training and education, and review process improvement methodologies that can be used to grow your swing bed volume.

What you will learn:

  • Participants will be able to understand the value of developing high-quality Post-Acute Transitional Care in Critical Access Hospitals in response to a growing patient population and demands and challenges in acute care hospitals.
  • Participants will be able to begin to quantify the opportunity and understand the key steps to initiate, implement and track progress in developing high-quality Post-Acute Transitional Care.
  • Participants will learn how Transitional Care is an effective way to incorporate population health, chronic disease management, and wellness.

 

Register Now

Missouri Immunization Coalition Survey: Due December 9, 2022

November 29, 2022

Missouri Immunization Coalition

The Missouri Immunization Coalition (MIC) is a statewide 501(c)(3) nonprofit existing to reduce the spread of vaccine-preventable diseases through immunization education, advocacy, promotion, and statewide collaborative partnerships. We also seek to coordinate with partners across the state that share our vision of better health for all, including our public health and healthcare workforce.

The economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to reveal itself. The purpose of this 5–10 minute survey is to understand the financial realities Missouri healthcare institutions and organizations have faced responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Your answers will allow MIC to serve as a voice in reporting your experiences navigating pandemic aid programs, managing aid dollars, and adapting programmatic priorities due to increased funding demands of the COVID-19 pandemic to local, state, and federal-level policy and funding allocation decision makers. Your responses are greatly appreciated!

Please submit this survey by December 9, 2022.  

For questions please contact Nicole Williams