Month: February 2020

Federal Office of Rural Health Policy Updates Announcements

February 20, 2020

What’s New

JAMA: Quantifying Neighborhood-Level Social Determinants of Health.  In a free-access article, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) presents findings from a cross-sectional study of 71,901 Census tracts.  Researchers sought to examine the association between social/neighborhood characteristics and health outcomes and create indices with multiple variations for different types of rural, urban and suburban neighborhoods.

ERS:  Rural Poverty and Well-Being.  The Economic Research Service (ERS) at the U.S. Department of Agriculture updated their topic page on the factors that affect the poverty status of rural residents.  The ERS uses Census data to track poverty over time, analyze the severity and persistence of poverty over decades, and provide a rural/urban breakdown by race, family structure and age.

CMS Hospital CoPs and State Licensure Regulation Update for Acute and Critical Access Hospitals

March 17-19, 2020 – Lake Ozark, MO

Camden on the Lake

Every hospital that accepts payment for Medicare and Medicaid patients must comply with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ CoPs and the Missouri hospital licensure statutes and regulations. CMS’ CoPs and interpretive guidelines for hospitals provide surveyors with a tool to assess a hospital’s compliance with applicable federal regulations. Understanding the CoPs will allow a hospital to maintain a constant level of survey readiness.

Participants will gain an understanding of the survey process. Faculty will discuss case examples of the top CoPs and how to write an acceptable plan of correction, as well as how to handle problems with surveyors and disagreements about survey findings. Learn more.

Pre-Conference: Understanding Federal and State Hospital Regulations 101

Also new this year is a preconference for staff who are new to their role or who want a refresher on regulations. This session will take place on Tuesday evening from 4 to 7 p.m.

The preconference session provides the audience with an overview of the regulatory and survey environment for state hospital licensure and CMS certification. The session will provide an overview of the survey process, considerations in writing a plan of correction, as well as regulatory and survey resources available to hospitals. Learn more.

Click here to register.

Funding Opportunity: SelfMade Health Network (SMHN) Rural Health Tobacco Use Cessation Initiative

Application due: March 6, 2020

Increasing the Delivery of Evidence-based Tobacco Cessation Interventions to Reduce Tobacco-related Cancers in Rural Health Clinics.

Eligible States:
Alabama

Arkansas

Indiana

Kentucky

Louisiana

Michigan

Mississippi

 

 Missouri

Ohio

Oklahoma

Pennsylvania

South Carolina

Tennessee

West Virginia

 

Period of Performance:

1st Period of Performance:  April 2020-September 2020

2nd Period of Performance: October 2020-September 2021

3rd Period of Performance: October 2021-September 2022

4th Period of Performance: October 2022-September 2023

See full finding opportunity information here: SMHN Rural Health Clinic Tobacco Cessation RFP FinalV2

Funding Opportunity: Rural Communities Opioid Response Program (RCORP)-Implementation

Application due: April 24, 2020

Successful RCORP-Implementation award recipients will receive $1 million for a three-year period of performance to enhance and expand substance use disorder (SUD), including opioid use disorder (OUD), service delivery in high-risk rural communities.  Award recipients will implement a set of core SUD/OUD prevention, treatment, and recovery activities that align with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Five-Point Strategy to Combat the Opioid Crisis.

Award recipients are encouraged to leverage workforce recruitment and retention programs like the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) and learn more about how to become an NHSC site and NHSC site benefits.  NHSC-approved sites provide outpatient, primary healthcare services to people in health professional shortage areas.

Eligible Applicants:

All domestic public and private entities, nonprofit and for-profit, are eligible to apply and all services must be provided in HRSA-designated rural areas (as defined by the Rural Health Grants Eligibility Analyzer).  Applicants do not need to be current or former RCORP-Planning award recipients to apply for this funding opportunity.

Click to see full funding opportunity information

 

Funding Opportunity: Telehealth Focused Rural Health Research Center Program

Application due: May 1, 2020

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) will make two awards from total funding of $1.9 million.  The purpose of the program is to conduct and maintain a comprehensive evaluation of nationwide telehealth investments in rural areas and populations.

Eligible applicants are domestic public or private, non-profit entities, including faith-based and tribal organizations.

Click here to view full funding announcement.

2020 Missouri Preceptor Academy

March 11, 2020 – Kansas City, MO

This educational activity is jointly provided by AXIS Medical Education and MHA Health Institute.
AxisLogo_4ColorProcess MHA Health Institute Logo

The Missouri Preceptor Academy is a training program for hospital or health care employees serving as preceptors to guide new employees, new graduates and students through the onboarding and competence validation process of unique clinical environments. This interactive program provides information and practical tools to improve preceptor abilities. As a preceptor, you can make the difference in how a new employee adjusts to your hospital.

Click here for Academy information.

Click here to register.