Month: September 2021

Healthy Aging Symposium Sessions Now Available on Demand!

Healthy Aging Symposium Sessions Now Available on Demand!

On September 8 and 9, the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP) and Trust for America’s Health hosted the free virtual 2021 Healthy Aging Symposium to focus national attention on the health and well-being of older adults.

If you didn’t attend the symposium and want to see what you missed — or you attended and want to rewatch a session — you can! That’s because all the Healthy Aging Symposium sessions, trainings, and resources are available for free on demand.

 

Rural Hospital Leadership

There has never been a more crucial time to invest in rural health leaders!

With the ongoing challenges of the past year, the importance of strong leadership in rural hospitals has become clear. The NRHA Rural Hospital CEO and CNO Certification Programs are here to help tackle this need!

These programs were designed by successful rural hospital CEOs and CNOs for rural hospital CEOs and CNOs. Here are just a few of the benefits:

  • Strengthen confidence and leadership skills
  • Create a nationwide network of rural health leaders
  • Learn from leading industry and subject matter experts
  • Share knowledge, experiences, and best practices

Take the next step in fighting the tremendous challenges rural hospitals face– invest in your rural hospital leaders today! The application periods for the October 2021 CEO Cohort and October 2021 CNO Cohort are open, and participants are currently enrolling.

If you would like to learn more about any or all of these programs, NRHA welcomes the opportunity to schedule a call with you to discuss. NRHA can also share with you how other State Offices have sponsored leaders from their respective state. If you would like to schedule a call, contact Bill Auxier, Program Director, NRHA Rural Hospital CEO Certificate Program.

For more information, check out the website: www.crhleadership.com

Extended Deadline! 2021-2022 RHPTP Application Submission

RHPTP Application Deadline Extended through October 01, 2021

New Project Year begins in January 2022

The Rural Healthcare Provider Transition Project (RHPTP) team would like to acknowledge the difficult conditions that healthcare organizations across the country are currently operating under, as well as understand the overwhelming notion that completing one more task right now may feel unobtainable. With that in mind, the RHPTP application deadline has been extended to 11:59 PM CST on Friday, October 01, 2021.

Technical Assistance provided by the RHPTP consultants provides a deeper dive into quality improvement and financial risk assessments providing your organization with tools to continue to support efforts in moving forward during challenging times.

Although the application deadline is October 1st, the technical assistance for this project will not begin until January 2022, therefore, if selected, project participation will not be time-intensive until after the first of the year.

RHPTP also understands that if selected, there may circumstances during the project year that are out of your control, i.e. pandemic surges, staff illness, and turnover, etc. With that in mind, it is RHPTP’s commitment to meet each participating rural health clinic and small rural hospital where they are at throughout the length of the project in order to help position your organization to be effective participants in a future health system focused on value.

Please reach out to RHPTP with any questions regarding the RHPTP project, eligibility, expectations, and/or application process.

Please contact the RHPTP Team at rhptp@ruralcenter.org with any questions.

APPLY HERE!

Rural Healthcare Provider Transition Project is designed to help strengthen value-based care (VBC) for health care organizations by building the recipient’s foundation for VBC in efficiency, quality, patient experience, and safety of care. The support of the project is available at no cost to you. Please view the 3-minute video below for a quick overview of this project.

Looking for more information?

RHPTP encourages you to visit the RHPTP website for additional project information, RHPTP eligibility requirements and application process, upcoming TA opportunities, HELP webinar playbacks, FAQs, and more!

Visit RHPTP Website

Keep up to date with educational articles, access to upcoming HELP webinars, informational podcasts, hospital and clinic spotlights, case studies, grant opportunities, information on how your organization can apply for RHPTP, and more!

Subscribe to RHPTP e-Newsletter

NHSC Site Re-Cert Extension

The Bureau of Health Workforce has extended the National Health Service Corp (NHSC) site re-certification cycle deadline to Tuesday, October 19, 2021 @ 11:59 p.m. ET.  

Messaging will be going out to applicable site points of contact alerting them of the extension, and adjustments will be made on the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) website. 

Thank you for your ongoing support of the NHSC site-recertification cycle!

Webinar: HIPAA Essentials for Healthcare Providers

Date: October 7, 2021

Time: 1:00PM EST

REGISTER

Please join The Compliance Team for a complimentary webinar! Guest speaker, Sarah Badahman, from HIPAA Trek, will be addressing HIPAA essentials and the challenges facing today’s healthcare providers.   

Sarah Badahman, is the CEO and Founder of HIPAA Trek, and has spent over a decade in the Healthcare Administration field and particularly, the past eight years mastering the field of HIPAA Compliance and Risk Management. She holds a Bachelors in Applied Mathematics and a Masters of Public Health in Epidemiology and Policy. As an expert in HIPAA compliance,  Sarah has developed and administered HIPAA compliance training programs for numerous health care organizations including hospitals, physician groups, rural health clinics and urgent care facilities. 

The Compliance Team looks forward to having you there!

A recording of this session will be available the following day.

National Rural Health Association: Time is running out to help lead NRHA

NRHA’s strength and success is largely the result of leaders, members and staff working together with a common purpose to ensure the broadest range and highest quality of health care services for rural America.

Act by 11:59 p.m. CDT Sept. 24 to nominate NRHA member volunteers for leadership positions within its Board of Trustees and Rural Health Congress in 2021 and beyond.

All nomination forms must be submitted by the Sept. 24 deadline. The election will take place in November and positions begin Jan. 1.

All nominees must be NRHA members, so spread the word and become an NRHA member today.

NRHA encourages you to take the time to nominate colleagues, or yourself, to help ensure NRHA’s governance remains strong.

HRSA Reorganization: HRSA Office of Intergovernmental & External Affairs and New Telehealth Collaborative Opportunity

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Office of Regional Operations is now the HRSA Office of Intergovernmental and External Affairs (OIEA), as part of a reorganization effective August 25, 2021. HRSA IEA serves as the principal agency lead on intergovernmental and external affairs, regional operations, and tribal partnerships. This transition leverages both national and regional engagement to meet the needs of communities across the nation.

In addition to this news about the transition, your attention is called to the Heartland Telehealth Resource Center’s new Telehealth Collaborative for FQHCs, Tribal Health Organizations, Rural Health Clinics and Rural Health Practices. Organizations must be located in Kansas, Missouri or Oklahoma. Organization staff will participate by attending Missouri Telehealth Network/ HTRC Telemedicine ECHO sessions (starting monthly on October 12) and learn from telehealth experts and alongside a cohort of organizations. ECHO topics include assessment, technology, billing, community engagement and more.

Organizations will also receive 2 hours of individualized technical assistance and a stipend to assist with costs related to implementation of your telehealth program. Please contact htrc@kumc.edu for additional information. Registration is limited to 15 organizations total, so sign up today!

Federal Office of Rural Health Policy Announcements

Date: September 23, 2021

HHS and USDA Launch Resource Guide for Child Care in Rural Areas. The U.S Departments of Agriculture (USDA) and Health & Human Services (HHS) released a new federal guide to strengthen and expand child care facilities in rural communities. The USDA-RD HHS-ACF Joint Facilities Resource Guide (pdf) includes best practices, innovative approaches, success stories and a list of federal resources available.  The Administration of Children and Families (ACF) is the HHS agency administering federal programs for child care; Rural Development (RD) at the USDA focuses on improving the economy and quality of life in rural America. 

Open Enrollment for Healthcare.gov Extended. Usually, the annual period for buying or changing health insurance plans for the next calendar year begins in November and runs until December 15. Starting this year, the federal government is extending the open enrollment period to January 15 for states that use Healthcare.gov, the federal website for health insurance. State Marketplaces not using the federal eligibility and enrollment platform (Healthcare.gov) can decide their own end date, provided that it is no earlier than December 15. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services made this and other changes to the Health Insurance Marketplace in the final rule for Benefits and Payment Parameters (pdf), further detailed in the Policy Updates section below. It is estimated that 65 percent of uninsured rural adults could have access to a health plan with a $0 premium on Healthcare.gov. 

HRSA Releases New Projections for the Health Workforce. According to data collected by the National Center for Health Workforce Analysis (NCHWA), the supply of primary care physicians in the U.S. will see a shortage by the year 2030; a surplus of nurse practitioners and physician assistants is projected for the same time span. The forecast shows the largest shortages in Nevada, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Arizona. The NCHWA is part of the Bureau of Health Workforce (BHW) at the Health Resources and Services Administration. Last week, BHW announced funding for a new federal program to increase the number of physician assistants in rural areas. Accredited training programs that can demonstrate a high rate of rural placement for graduates may apply for the HRSA Physician Assistant Rural Training Program through December 9. 

CDC: Overdose Deaths Up by a Third. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released the latest data on reported deaths due to overdose within the 50 states and the District of Columbia. While final counts are not yet complete, 90,133 deaths occurred between February 2020 and February 2021, an increase of more than 30 percent over the previous year.

ONC: Challenges to Interoperability. The ability to exchange electronic health data between facilities, known as interoperability, is essential to the long-term goals of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC). This report examines the challenges for acute care hospitals – including rural hospitals and Critical Access Hospitals – exchanging electronic health information with public health agencies. The report uses data collected in 2019 and identifies ongoing barriers that may have been exacerbated by the pandemic. 

RAND Weighs in on Vaccine Hesitancy. The RAND Corporation is a non-partisan, nonprofit organization that researches and analyzes public policy. Their recommendations promote the World Health Organization’s “three Cs” model: 1) boosting confidence in the safety and effectiveness of vaccines, 2) combating complacency about the pandemic, and 3) increasing the convenience of getting vaccinated. Earlier this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cited data showing lower COVID-19 vaccination coverage in rural areas.

Household Food Security in the U.S. Last Year. The Economic Research Service (ERS) at the U.S. Department of Agriculture released its annual report on access to adequate food for households in the U.S.  The survey data collected in December 2020 showed an estimated 89.5 percent of households had food access throughout the year, a number not significantly different from the same survey taken at the end of 2019. The prevalence of very low food security for rural areas, 4.5 percent, was slightly higher than the national average of 3.9 percent.

Extended Deadline! 2021-2022 RHPTP Application Submission

The RHPTP team would like to acknowledge the difficult conditions that healthcare organizations across the country are currently operating under, as well as understand the overwhelming notion that completing one more task right now may feel unobtainable. With that in mind, we have extended the RHPTP application deadline to 11:59 PM CST on Friday, October 01, 2021.

Technical Assistance provided by the RHPTP consultants provides a deeper dive into quality improvement and financial risk assessments providing your organization with tools to continue to support efforts in moving forward during challenging times.

Although the application deadline is October 1st, the technical assistance for this project will not begin until January 2022, therefore, if selected, project participation will not be time-intensive until after the first of the year.

The RHPTP team also understands that if selected, there may circumstances during the project year that are out of your control, i.e. pandemic surges, staff illness, and turnover, etc. With that in mind, it is the RHPTP team’s commitment to meet each participating rural health clinic and small rural hospital where they are at throughout the length of the project in order to help position your organization to be effective participants in a future health system focused on value.

Please reach out to the RHPTP team with any questions regarding the RHPTP project, eligibility, expectations, and/or application process.

Please contact the RHPTP Team at rhptp@ruralcenter.org with any questions.

APPLY HERE!

Rural Healthcare Provider Transition Project is designed to help strengthen value-based care (VBC) for health care organizations by building the recipient’s foundation for VBC in efficiency, quality, patient experience, and safety of care. The support of the project is available at no cost to you. Please view the 3-minute video below for a quick overview of this project.

Looking for more information?

The RHPTP team encourages you to visit the RHPTP website for additional project information, RHPTP eligibility requirements and application process, upcoming TA opportunities, HELP webinar playbacks, FAQs, and more!

Visit RHPTP Website

 

3RNET Academy: Free 6-Part Retention and Regeneration Webinar Series

MHPPS and the Missouri Office of Rural Health and Primary Care have partnered to offer this at no charge!

Benefits

  • Access to six live 90 minute webinars featuring national experts on rural/underserved retention
  • Password protected portal to gain access to the webinar recordings, session materials, & more
  • Ability to ask questions to other Academy attendees and 3RNET members via the Academy listserv
  • A certificate of completion
  • Supporting 3RNET’s mission to ensure quality healthcare access to the nation’s rural & undeserved communities

Agenda

  • October 5
    • Setting the Foundation of Retention through Recruitment
    • What’s the Data Say? 30 Years of Retention Data
  • October 19
    • Embedding Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to Recruitment and Retention Practices
    • Special session put on by 3RNET partner Integrated Work (two hour session 1pm-3pm)
  • November 2
    • Starting Retention through Behavioral Interviewing and Other Successful Hiring Practices
    • What’s the Data Say? From Obligation to Retention
  • November 16
    • On boarding, Stay interviews, Administrative Structures
    • What’s the Data Say? Strong Leaders, Strong Retention
  • November 30
    • Strengthening Employee Engagement through Ongoing Performance Management, Coaching and Accountability
    • What’s the Data Say? Techniques for Implementing a Successful (and Affordable) Employee Satisfaction Survey
  • December 14
    • Clinician Well Being and Resilience
    • What’s the Data Say? Compensation Strategies and Retention Hot Topics

Register Now To Attend
Enter coupon code: MO3RNET21

Questions?

Joni Adamson
573-636-4222
jadamson@mo-pca.org

info@3RNet.org
800-787-2512