CSRHA Seeking Input from Rural Stakeholders on Health Reform

Dear CSRHA Members and Colleagues:

CSRHA is curreintly coordinating rural stakeholders to participate in the development of a policy brief that will outline rural specific concerns related to the current healthcare reform proposals and make recommendations that address those concerns.  The brief is intended to be a consensus document that will be a result of input from rural health stakeholders from throughout the state and will be disseminated statewide to legislators, CSRHA membership, and media outlets.

CSRHA will be hosting a Rural Response Development Meeting in partnership with the Central Valley Health Policy Institute (CVHPI) on Monday, July 16 from 9:30-11:30 AM, at the Regional Council of Rural Counties Conference Room in downtown Sacramento.  (Exact location TBD)  Call-in capabilities will be available, but limited.

To ensure balanced representation from all regions of California and organizatial affiliations, CSRHA strongly encourages rural stakeholders representing the Central and Southern regions of the state, especially those representing rural and critical access hospitals, to participate.

The goal of the meeting will be to develop consensus among the stakeholders around issues critical to rural regions and to assist CSRHA in developing recommendations for ensuring a stable and viable rural healthcare delivery system as California transitions to a new healthcare model. 

We would be honored if you would be willing to join us on Monday, July 16th, as we develop our rural response to healthcare reform.  Please RSVP to cmartin@csrha.org to confirm your participation in the meeting.  A subsequent email will provide you with the exact location for the meeting, as well as an agenda and other materials needed.

Preparing for the meeting:

In order to prepare for our discussion, we are asking that each attendee and phone participant complete the following tasks prior to the meeting:

  1. If you are not yet familiar with the current major healthcare reform proposals, you may want to review the key provisions of each. An easy way to do this is to go to: www.calhealthreform.org.  This website is sponsored by the California HealthCare Foundation and it provides very easy to understand analysis of each of the major proposals.

  2. Please review the Central Valley Health Policy Institute’s report, Health Reform 2007: Impact on the Valley.

  3. After reviewing the report, please complete the Rural Response Scorecard. This scorecard includes each issue outlined in the CVHPI report. Please review each issue, then rate the importance of the issue on a scale of 1-5, 1 being the least important to rural, and 5 being the most important to rural. Finally, provide specific recommendations for reframing the issue to best reflect a rural perspective, if needed. Scorecard results will provide the framework for the rural health stakeholder meeting on July 16. Please complete ther scorecard no later than Friday, July 13 at 12:00 pm.

If you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

Cathy Martin
Executive Director

Note: If you are unable to participate in the meeting, we still welcome your feedback. To fill out the Rural Response to Health Care Reform scorecard, click here.



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