Rural Spotlight

Guide to Using the Accountable Health Communities Health-Related Social Needs Screening Tool: Promising Practices and Key Insights

June 1, 2023

Guide to Using the Accountable Health Communities Health-Related Social Needs Screening Tool: Promising Practices and Key Insights

Click HERE to download “A Guide to Using the Accountable Health Communities Health-Related Social Needs Screening Tool: Promising Practices and Key Insights” from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

In this document, CMS describes the health-related social needs (HRSN) Screening Tool from the Accountable Health Communities (AHC) Model and share practices for universal screening.

HRSNs are individual level, adverse social conditions that negatively impact a person’s health or health care. HRSNs are distinguished from social determinants of health — the structural and contextual factors that shape everyone’s lives — and can be identified by the health care system and addressed in partnership with community resources.

Identifying and addressing HRSNs can have many benefits, including improvements to a person’s health and reduced health care spending.

Accountable Health Communities Health-Related Social Needs Screening Tool

Free Candida Auris Pocket Card for Your Staff

June 1, 2023

Free Candida Auris Pocket Card for Your Staff

Candida auris is a yeast (type of fungus) that causes serious infections and can spread in health care settings.

It can spread through facilities via contact with contaminated environmental surfaces or equipment or from person to person.

Symptoms might not be noticeable because individuals infected with Candida auris are often sick with another serious illness or condition.

Click HERE to download pocket cards to share with staff in your facility to help them identify and stop the spread of Candida auris. For best results, print on card stock and flip on the long edge (to line up front side of card to back side). HQIN recommends laminating the page before cutting the cards to distribute. If laminating, print on regular copier paper and use a (heavy) 5 mil laminating pouch.

Simple Strategies: Team Approach to Improving Sepsis Reimbursement and Reputation

June 1, 2023

Simple Strategies: Team Approach to Improving Sepsis Reimbursement and Reputation

Health care staff in billing, coding, quality, clinical documentation integrity, utilization review, information technology, nursing and physician services have key roles in the administrative processes of sepsis.

Interdisciplinary collaboration between these roles can help ensure standardized processes are developed to avoid unnecessary impacts to reimbursement and reputation.

Click Here to Download this Resource

Opioid Resources for Patients and Caregivers

June 1, 2023

 

Opioid Resources for Patients and Caregivers

Opioid-related adverse events are a critical patient safety issue with added attention to preventing overuse.

Click here to download a summary of resources to support safe education.

Next Health Equity Now Huddle is June 6

June 1, 2023

Next Health Equity Now Huddle is June 6

Be sure to attend next week’s (June 6) Health Equity Huddle (HEH). Health Quality Innovators’ (HQI) Health Equity Manager Temi Olafunmiloye, BS, will lead a discussion about the May 23 Learning Session on “Assessing Disparities in Readmissions.” Click HERE to review the May 23 session if you missed it.

Also, the next Learning Session is a continuation of “Addressing Disparities in Readmissions,” which will be held on June 20. Building on the previous session, participants will focus on developing strategies to respond to common issues in disparities in readmissions, including providing early discharge planning and follow-up for high-risk patients, eliminating language and literacy barriers, and facilitating culturally competent patient education.

When: Tuesday, June 6, 12 pm ET

Future HEH Sessions:

  • June 27
  • August 1

Future Learning Sessions:

  • June 20
  • July 18

Click HERE to learn more about the Health Equity Now series.

Register Here for All Health Equity Sessions

Register Now for June 8 Office Hours: “Post Fall Management: Getting to Types of Falls, Repeat Falls and Determine Preventability”

June 1, 2023

Register Now for June 8 Office Hours: “Post Fall Management: Getting to Types of Falls, Repeat Falls and Determine Preventability”

Join Office Hours next week for a session on “Post Fall Management: Getting to Types of Falls, Repeat Falls, and Determine Preventability”. This session will be hosted by nationally recognized fall prevention expert Pat Quigley, PhD, MPH, APRN, CRRN, FAAN, FAANP, FARN.

Attendees will learn how to:

  • Examine post fall practices as a key intervention to reduce repeat falls
  • Differentiate post fall intervention strategies
  • Apply quality improvement principles to ensure positive safety outcomes

When: Thursday, June 8, 12:00 – 12:45 p.m. ET

Register Here for Office Hours

Social Determinants of Health Screening Moves Beyond Pilot Program for VCU Health System

June 1, 2023

Social Determinants of Health Screening Moves Beyond Pilot Program for VCU Health System

VCU Health System (VCUHS) systematically screened patients for health-related social needs to identify and address factors outside of the clinical setting that impact patients’ health. Screening for social determinants of health (SDOH) is still relatively new for many health care providers but VCUHS committed to this practice at the beginning of a pilot model and continued the work beyond the trial end date.

VCUHS used the Accountable Health Communities Health-Related Social Needs Screening Tool as part of its program that focused on Richmond-area (Virginia) Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries for five core needs: food, housing, utilities, transportation and safety. It became one part of several programs VCUHS is currently implementing to address their patients’ needs to address inequities in health outcomes.

Click HERE to read more.

Your Participation is Requested – Missouri Immunization Coalition Survey

June 1, 2023

Your Participation is Requested – Missouri Immunization Coalition Survey

The Missouri Immunization Coalition (MIC) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit existing to reduce the spread of vaccine-preventable diseases through education, advocacy, promotion, and collaborative partnerships.

This is the fifth survey MIC has created to learn about the experiences and needs of our partners. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the necessity of a systems approach to successfully respond to public health crises. Therefore, it is essential to assess the preparedness of healthcare organizations and their capacity to coordinate with a multidisciplinary set of stakeholders to handle such emergencies effectively.

This 7-10 minute survey aims to identify gaps in pandemic preparedness among healthcare organizations and resources/guidance needed for Missouri’s public health workforce to be fully equipped for future crises. By gathering valuable insights from healthcare professionals, we can improve pandemic preparedness and ensure that our healthcare organizations are fully equipped to respond to any public health emergency.

The survey will be open until Friday, June 16, 2023. Your response will be greatly appreciated.

Take survey now

Community Impact and Benefit Activities of Critical Access, Other Rural, and Urban Hospitals

June 1, 2023

Community Impact and Benefit Activities of Critical Access, Other Rural, and Urban Hospitals

The Flex Monitoring Team has released a new report on the community impact and benefit activities of Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs), and urban hospitals. The report enables State Flex Programs and CAH administrators to compare the community impact and benefit profiles of CAHs nationally to the performance of CAHs in their state.

The national report and state-specific reports can be found on the Flex Monitoring Team website.

View National Report

View State Profiles

Apply Now! Funding Opportunity for Health Equity Researchers, up to 3 grants totaling up to $1 Million

June 1, 2023

Apply Now! Funding Opportunity for Health Equity Researchers, up to 3 grants totaling up to $1 Million

Are you a health equity researcher at a minority-serving institution who is looking for funding? This opportunity is for you!

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Office of Minority Health’s (CMS OMH) Minority Research Grant Program (MRGP) proudly announces a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), grant number CMS-1W1-23-001, for researchers conducting health equity research at minority-serving institutions (MSIs).

If you are a researcher at one of the eligible minority-serving institutions (MSI), you could receive up to $333,000 to fund your health equity research. The goal of the program is to support research that explores disparities affecting racial and ethnic minorities, people with disabilities, sexual and gender minorities, persons who live in rural areas, and persons otherwise adversely affected by persistent poverty or inequality.

CMS will award up to 3 grants, totaling up to $1 Million for eligible MSIs.

Eligible MSIs include:

  • Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs)
  • Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs)
  • Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)
  • Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs)
  • Newly eligible in 2023:
  • Predominantly Black Colleges (PBCs)
  • Native American Serving Non-Tribal Institutions (NASNTIs)
  • Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions (ANNHSIs)

View FAQ Document

Don’t miss your opportunity to APPLY NOW for the MRGP and partner with CMS to grow your research credentials, increase public knowledge of health equity, and join the ranks of other published MRGP awardees.

The deadline to submit application is Wednesday, July 12, 2023, at 3 p.m. ET