California Leaders Met with Congress to Advocate for Rural Health

California State Rural Health Association (CSRHA) members and friends carried a rigorous schedule in Washington D.C. advocating for federal rural health funding as part of the National Rural Health Association’s Rural Health Policy Institute on February 27-March 1, 2006. The delegation spent a full week meeting with 12 congressional members, two senators and 4 representatives from the President’s Administration.

Colly Tettelbach, president of CSRHA led the California delegation throughout the week. “Rural leaders from California advocated a strong, uniform message about issues of importance to California’s rural health communities”, said Tettelbach. “We were very successful in our effort to highlight California and to educate our elected officials about our needs.”

Four specific messages were presented by the California delegation, including:

  • protect federal rural health funding;
  • expand health information technology resources and funding to support access and quality healthcare in California’s rural areas,
  • provide equitable treatment and recognition of California as a rural State through improvements in rural definitions;
  • support for mental health services and workforce incentive programs

A special meeting was coordinated with Dr. Elizabeth Duke, administrator of the Health Services Resource Administration (HRSA). Judith Shaplin, Past President and Speranza Avram, President-Elect of CSRHA personally thanked Dr. Duke and her staff for their assistance with improving the federal definition of rural called RUCA, which stands for Rural Urban Commuting Areas. During the presentation Judith Shaplin said, “This change in federal policy provided California with 18 new census tracks and 85 new communities to be identified as rural. We now have the opportunity to apply for funding through the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy and thank you for making this possible.”

Other federal meetings were held to learn more about programs offered at the federal level. CSRHA board members met with the deputy administrator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to share CSRHA’s recent submission of a federal grant to help rural health facilities with capital campaigns and to learn about other USDA programs assisting rural communities. CSRHA is pleased to report the USDA grant was subsequently funded for $223,000.

Speranza Avram and Judith Shaplin met with HRSA’s associate director of the newly created office of Health Information Technology center, Cheryl Austein-Casnoff, to learn about the direction and plans for this program. “Ms. Austein-Casnoff and her staff were very interested in the work we are doing in rural California to expand access to health information technology. She is committed to making sure that safety-net providers are actively involved and represented at the federal level as health information technology initiatives are being developed,” explained Avram.

For more information about this office go to: http://newsroom.hrsa.gov/newssummary/january2006.htm.

CSRHA wishes to recognize the following rural health leaders who led the effort to advocate for recognition of California as rural state and for federal funding and programs.

Speranza Avram, Northern Sierra Rural Health Network
Kirk Boudreaux, Valley Family Health Center
Brian Keefer, California Mental Health Planning Council
Edward Lujano, Castle Family Health Centers
Lauri Medeiros, California State Rural Health Association
Judith Shaplin, Mountain Health and Community Services
Dr. Brenton Smith, Valley Family Health Center
Colly Tettelbach, California State Rural Health Association
Kathy Yarbrough, Rural Health Design Network

The following Congressional offices in Washington DC were visited:

U.S. House of Representatives:

Jerry Lewis
Bill Thomas
Mike Thompson
John T. Doolittle
Ken Calvert
Duncan Hunter
Grace Napolitano
Wally Herger
Devin Nunes
Bob Filner
Dennis Cardoza
Dan Lungren

U.S. Senators:

Diane Feinstein
Barbara Boxer

Article Posted 03/31/06