Category: Current Affairs

Equum Medical Launches the Lighthouse Series: Inspiring Success Stories in Telehealth and Healthcare Transformation

August 25, 2023

Equum Medical Launches the Lighthouse Series: Inspiring Success Stories in Telehealth and Healthcare Transformation

Equum Medical’s Lighthouse Series™ demonstrates telehealth’s positive impact on hospitals, enhancing staffing, patient safety, and revenue. These success stories showcase acute care telehealth services, aiding hospital staff, providing expertise, and efficiently transferring patients.

Telehealth addresses critical challenges like ED capacity, ICU mortality, and clinician burnout, offering accessible care and cost reduction. Dr. Scurlock, Equum’s CEO, highlights the need to share these stories for broader adoption.

The series offers insights and strategies for implementing telehealth, emphasizing its potential for positive healthcare change. It’s a resource for professionals to grasp telehealth’s applications and impact on outcomes.

Karsten Russell-Wood, CMO, envisions the series as evidence of telehealth’s effectiveness during industry transformation. Equum Medical’s active involvement in industry associations furthers access to telehealth insights for hospitals.

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Updated Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Leadership Competencies

August 25, 2023

Updated Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Leadership Competencies

The Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) Division of Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Workforce Development released updates to the Maternal and Child Health Leadership Competencies. The MCH Leadership Competencies support current and future MCH leaders by defining the knowledge and skills necessary to lead in this field.

The MCH Leadership Competencies describe the necessary knowledge, skills (foundational and advanced), and values within a framework designed to support and promote MCH leadership. Therefore, the Competencies can be used in a variety of ways, including:

  • As a framework for training objectives for MCH training programs. It is the responsibility of MCH training programs to ensure that graduates have the foundation necessary to work within a variety of professional settings to contribute to the health and well-being of mothers, children, and families – and to inspire others to do likewise.
  • To measure and evaluate MCH leadership training. The MCH Leadership Competencies can be used to guide measurement and evaluation of the impact of leadership training.
  • To cultivate, sustain, grow, and measure leadership within the current MCH workforce. The MCH Leadership Competencies can be used as a tool to strengthen the leadership abilities of current MCH professionals in national, state, and local health agencies, academia, and other MCH organizations. In particular, the framework can assist in orienting those new to the field to the goals and methods of MCH, assess and promote leadership capacity, and guide continuing education efforts.

Also important is the understanding that leadership (1) can be developed through learning and experience; (2) can be exerted at various levels within an organization and at the national, state, or local levels; and (3) opportunities change over time.

The document is intended to be a resource for MCH interdisciplinary training programs, national, state, and local health agencies, and other MCH organizations.

Click Here to Learn More

Extreme Weather, Finances Threaten Farmer Mental Health

August 25, 2023

Extreme Weather, Finances Threaten Farmer Mental Health

The drought sweeping through the Midwest has forced many farmers to make tough operational decisions, which can lead to mental health concerns. Stressors including extreme weather, financing, and familial struggles are associated with farmer anxiety and depression.

According to NRHA, the suicide rate among farmers is three-and-a-half times higher than the general population. A recent KFF report looks at suicide data and change over the last decade, with 20ss showing the highest number of deaths on record.

Join the discussion on strategies for behavioral health integration for RHCs and FQHCs with the experts at NRHA’s Rural Health Clinic Conference, September 26-27 in Kansas City.

Read Article on Suicide rate among farmers

KFF report

Register for NRHA Rural Health Clinic Conference

 

 

Life in Ambulance Desert: Sometimes Help Isn’t on the Way!

August 25, 2023

Life in Ambulance Desert: Sometimes Help Isn’t on the Way!

In rural areas where hospitals have shuttered, the nearest surviving facilities are long drives away, ambulance coverage is sparse, and residents experiencing medical emergencies often find their situations even more precarious. “Of all the poorly designed aspects of our health care system,” says NRHA CEO Alan Morgan, “EMS is tops.” Additionally, a new study from Maine Rural Health Research Center, an NRHA member, estimates startup and annual service costs for rural ambulance agencies, and EMS groups talk rural ambulance solutions. We’ll discuss key considerations for the REH designation with the experts at NRHA’s 22nd Critical Access Hospital Conference Sept. 27-29 in Kansas City.

Read Estimates Study

EMS Organizations Discuss Solutions for Rural Ambulance Struggles

Register for NRHA’s Critical Access Hospital Conference

Maternal and Infant Health Engagement Survey for MO HealthNet Providers

August 22, 2023

Maternal and Infant Health Engagement Survey for MO HealthNet Providers

The MO HealthNet Division (MHD) and the managed care health plans are collaborating on a project to educate and inform providers and participants/members on benefits and opportunities available to them during and after their pregnancy.

Please take a quick five minute Maternal and Infant Health Engagement Survey to help us collect data to improve policies, payment methodologies and most importantly outcomes for pregnant and postpartum women and infants.

 The survey will close on September 8, 2023.

Take Action: Begin the NHSC Site Recertification Process

August 18, 2023

Take Action: Begin the NHSC Site Recertification Process

It’s time to recertify! National Health Service Corps (NHSC wants to remind you that sites must recertify in order to extend NHSC-approved site status beyond this calendar year.

As an approved site, your clinicians can apply for the NHSC Loan Repayment Programs, while you take advantage of recruitment benefits, such as the Health Workforce Connector and HRSA Virtual Job Fairs.

It is recommended that the recertification process is started early – the deadline is Thursday, October 12 at 11:59 p.m. E.T.

NHSC has a variety of helpful resources to ensure a seamless application process. From the Site Reference Guide to the Site Agreement, everything is right at your fingertips.

Save the Date: Site Recertification Webinar

When: Thursday, August 24, 12:00 – 1:30 p.m. ET

Join on Zoom

Contact Info for Questions/Problems

Division of Regional Operations State/Territorial Lead

Your State/Territorial Primary Care Office

Missouri Department of Health & Senior Services

Office of Primary Care and Rural Health (ORHPC)

Phone: (573) 751-6441

Fax: (573) 522-8146

Email: ORHPCinfo@health.mo.gov

You may also submit a question via the Customer Service Portal.

Problems logging into the Customer Service Portal:

Contact the Customer Care Center at 1-800-221-9393

Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. ET (excluding federal holidays)

 

 

HRSA Needs Rural Reviewers for Grant Applications

August 10, 2023

HRSA Needs Rural Reviewers for Grant Applications

The Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA) seeks rural reviewers for grant applications. If you have expertise in certain subjects, you may be able to evaluate grant applications.

How Reviewers are Chosen:

Reviewers are chosen based on their knowledge, education, and experience. They are also selected based on specific criteria in the HRSA Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO).

How to Become a Grant Reviewer:

If you work or have experience in health care, register via the Reviewer Recruitment Module (RRM).

HRSA looks for people with expertise in one of the following areas:

  • Behavioral health
  • Health workforce training
  • HIV/AIDS
  • Maternal and child health
  • Primary care delivery
  • Rural health
  • Working with or a member of underserved communities

Additional experience

  • Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA)
  • Lived experience
  • Health equity
  • Social determinants of health

HRSA is also interested in reviewers who have expertise in social, cultural, or health care issues of people in rural areas, migrants, or Native Americans.

What You Will Do:

  • Review eligible applications against published evaluation criteria
  • Input your scores and comments into an online portal, the Application Review Module (ARM)
  • Discuss your scores and evaluation with other reviewers

Compensation

Each non-federal participant is compensated

Quarterly Training Webinars:

Questions: Email HRSA for assistance at RRMTechAssistance@hrsa.gov

Learn More

Updates to Requirements for Buprenorphine Prescribing

August 10, 2023

Updates to Requirements for Buprenorphine Prescribing

As announced by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) in January 2023, clinicians no longer need a federal waiver to prescribe buprenorphine for treatment of opioid use disorder. Clinicians will still be required to register with the federal Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to prescribe controlled medications.

Beginning on June 27, the DEA registration will require applicants – both new and renewing – to affirm they have completed a new, one-time, eight-hour training. Exceptions for the new training requirement are practitioners who are board certified in addiction medicine or addiction psychiatry, and those who graduated from a medical, dental, physician assistant, or advanced practice nursing school in the U.S. within five years of June 27, 2023.

Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) still have the opportunity to apply for a $3,000 payment on behalf of each provider who trained between January 1, 2019 and December 29, 2022 (when Congress eliminated the waiver requirement). Approximately $889,000 in program funding remains available for RHCs and will be paid on a first-come, first-served basis until funds are exhausted.

New Training Requirements for All DEA-Registered Providers

Send questions to: DATA2000WaiverPayments@hrsa.gov

Partnership for Quality Management (PQM) Seeks Rural Health Experts for Committees

August 10, 2023

Partnership for Quality Management (PQM) Seeks Rural Health Experts for Committees

New committees are being formed by Battelle, as contracted by CMS, to make recommendations on health care quality measurement. Rural health experts are sought for all PQM committees.

It takes diverse voices to drive PQM’s mission. PQM uses a consensus based process involving a variety of experts – clinicians, patients, measure experts, and health information technology specialists – to ensure informed and thoughtful endorsement reviews of quality performance measures.

Interested in learning more about joining a committee? Click Here

Committee Nominations:

Battelle staff conduct a review of committee member appointments annually, which includes internal re-calibration of membership, a call for nominations, and targeted outreach.

Any interested party may nominate themselves or another individual to a committee of interest once the nominations period is open.

Click Here to nominate yourself or another person

NRHA Webinars on Patient Surges, Utilizing Swing Beds

August 3, 2023

NRHA Webinars on Patient Surges, Utilizing Swing Beds

NRHA partner Relias, will host a webinar Thursday, August 10 at 2 p.m. CDT, on strategies and solutions for a sustainable health care workforce. Discover actionable strategies that have proven successful in combating the nursing shortage, improving nurse retention, and enhancing workforce engagement.

Speaker: Felicia Sadler, MJ, BSN, RN, CPHQ, LSSBB, VP of Quality at Relias

When: August 10, 2:00 – 3:00 PM CDT

Register Now

NRHA partner, Allevant, will host a webinar at 1 p.m. CDT, September 20 on swing bed culture and attention to wellness vital to rural health care. Transitional care makes available the full resources of the CAH and focuses on measured outcomes and evidence based processes to ensure patients get the best care possible.

When: Thursday, September 20, 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. CDT

Register Now

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