SAVE THE DATE
June 4, 2010
CSRHA Rural Roundtable and CSRHA Board of Directors Meeting, Location TBD
September 9, 2010
CSRHA Rural Roundtable and CSRHA Board of Directors Meeting, Location TBD
November 10-12, 2010
10th Annual Rural Health Conference, Hilton Arden West,
Sacramento, CA
View Calendar of all Rural Related Events
HOT OFF THE PRESS
Find recently published news articles on rural health.
House passes health-care reform bill, The Washington Post, March 2010
As Medicaid Payments Shrink, Patients Are Abandoned, The New York Times, March 2010
State can't cut Medi-Cal payments to hospitals, SF Gate, March 2010
The Rural World: A shortage of doctors and access to health care, Comstocks Magazine, February 2010
Health care: Is Schwarzenegger turning his back on the children? Capitol Weekly, February 2010
California's Rural Health Care on Sick List, Central Valley Business Times, February 2010
A Captive Audience- and Providers- Benefit from Telemedicine, Health Leaders Media, February 2010
Measure on Hospitals' Hiring of Doctors Sparks Hospital, Clinic Debate, California Healthline, February 2010
Medical Patient Care Hard to Find, The Union Democrat, January 2010
RURAL REPEATS
Find important rural related research publications.
Rural Providers and eHealth: The Future is Now, California State Rural Health Association, February 2010
Inpatient Stays in Rural Hospitals, 2007, Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, January 2010
Overlooked and Undercounted 2009: Struggling to make ends meet in California, United Way, December 2009
Closing the Health Care Workforce Gap, Center for American Progress, December 2009
Rural Primary Care Physician Payment, 2006-2009: What a Difference Three Years Doesn't Make, RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis, November 2009
FDA Office of Women's Health Fact Sheets, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
CSRHA would like to thank our Corporate Sponsor:
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CSRHA BULLETINS
Up-to-date articles written by CSRHA staff on an array of topics.
In dramatic fashion on March 21, in a late Sunday evening special session, the U.S. Congress House of Representatives (House) debated and held three votes on federal health care reform. In the end the House passed the bill that reconciled the Senate and House versions of the health reform bills by a vote of 220 to 211. Only 216 votes were needed to pass the bill. To read article click here.
In our field, we hear a lot about the challenges and opportunities of Health Information Technology (HIT), the State Budget, National Health Reform, and workforce shortages. But do you know how these issue areas affect your local region? At CSRHA’s recent Southern California Rural Roundtable, local stakeholders and community leaders were able to discuss these issues from their unique local perspectives, and in so doing, will help lend their voices to the ongoing state and national dialogue through CSRHA’s outreach and advocacy efforts. To read article click here.
The California Legislative Rural Caucus Informational Hearing, Rural Health in California- The Big Picture was a huge success! The hearing covered a wide range of issues important to the entire rural health community, including general geography and demographics of rural California, safety-net infrastructure, continuum of and access to care, health information technology, workforce, emerging issues and the future vision of rural health in California. The topics were presented by 19 rural health experts and created an engaging dialogue between panelists and Legislators. To read the article click here.
Amidst the state and federal push for accelerated and wide-spread adoption of health information technology (HIT), rural health care providers struggle to keep up, leaving many concerned over a potential expansion of the “digital divide.” The California State Rural Health Association released its latest policy brief, "Rural Providers and eHealth: The Future Is Now" on February 16, 2010. The report is a must read for any policymaker or health writer trying to understand and/or keep up with the rapidly evolving health information technology movement in California. To read article click here.
CSRHA’s Annual Rural Champion Awards Luncheon was held on November 20th, 2009 during its 9th Annual Rural Health Conference. The lunch was in honor of five outstanding individuals for their remarkable health achievements in rural California. To read article click here.
California State budget cuts…a national economy in recession…national health care reform…ARRA…the HITECH Act…Meaningful Use. Healthcare providers and rural providers in particular have more challenges than ever right now, along with some major opportunities – if we can take the risks to meet them. All of these issues were at the forefront of CSRHA’s 9th Annual Conference in November at the Sacramento Convention Center. To read article click here.
As our CSRHA community grows so does our ability to advocate on behalf of all of California’s 5 million rural residents. It is very important, especially in the current political climate that the needs of rural are not left behind. Currently we are asking, you, our members to help spread the word about CSRHA. To read article click here.
GUEST ARTICLES
Guest articles have been submitted to CSRHA by individuals who have a particular expertise in a certain issue area.
Written by: Peter Bowhall, ClaimRemedi
Many of us have heard about the new 5010 standard for electronic healthcare transactions. So what is 5010, what are the benefits, how will it impact our claims and other billing functions, when do we need to be ready and—finally, what can we do to get ready? To read article click here.
Denise Chambley, Pharm.D., Director Medical Services, GlaxoSmithKline
Almost every day there are announcements somewhere of a partnership. Everything from corporations donating money towards disaster relief efforts, to the Government working with other countries to improve world peace, to couples uniting in marriage. These are all partnerships involving individuals or groups coming together around a shared common interest. Implicit in partnering is some level of risk-taking and vulnerability while each partner gives something of themselves in order to gain something in return. To read article click here.
Written by: Matt Morris
While costs in healthcare trend strongly up and to the right, the same is now true for having patient data lost or stolen. Within the last year new legislation is requiring notification of a patient information breach, as small as one lost or stolen chart, to both the California Department of Public Health and Health and Human Services. Worse yet is the requirement that includes notification to the individuals, and in some cases the local media in an effort to “get the word out” to those who could be impacted. To read article click here.
Written by: Sara Clarenbach, J.D., Director
Advocacy, Community Engagement & Media Relations,
Salud Para La Gente
Elderday, a program of Salud Para La Gente, is an adult day health center (ADHC) located in the City of Santa Cruz, which provides health and therapeutic services to adults with physical, emotional, social and cognitive impairments. With 136 participants currently enrolled and over 80 attending daily, Elderday is the only adult day health care center on the Central Coast from Half Moon Bay to Santa Maria. To read article click here.
Written by: Arlyn Duval
Managing Medications while working in a Rural Health Clinic here on the California/Mexico border is always interesting and challenging. There are many difficulties with Medications – I will address only the problem of limiting factors such as ability to go physically to the pharmacy or the clinic, ability to purchase the medications written by the provider and the patient’s interpretations of the directions on how to use the medications. To read article click here.
Written by: William Deane
Over the years, many misconceptions have developed about the definition of the terms “urban” and “rural” and how they apply to rural health clinics. Federal and State programs use different terminology to explain the location and service area characteristics of clinics. With the arrival of the results of the 2010 census, we will become aware of these terms again. To read article click here.
POINT OF VIEW: OpEds from the field
Point of view articles do not reflect the views of CSRHA but reflect the view of the author.
Written by:
Carmela Castellano-Garcia,
President/CEO California Primary Care Association
Last year’s state budget cuts helped to further strain the healthcare safety net and in many rural communities the cuts caused the end to their access to healthcare. The Potter Valley Health Center in the Ukiah area was forced to close as a result of these cuts and this closure caused a loss of 27 jobs and a loss of access for 3,300 rural Californians. To read article click here.
Written by: Ken Freeman
I can only speak for the Yuba Community College District SBDC, but am sure that the other 22 Community College based SBDC’s have also provided much assistance to Health care firms. To read article click here.
Written by: Chuck Hershey
In their capacity as the technical network lead for the California Telehealth Network (CTN), The University of California at Davis Health System published a Request for Proposals (RFP) in November of 2008. This extensive RFP solicited bids by vendors to supply the CTN with the network infrastructure and monitoring tools necessary to connect at least 319 (now 852) non-profit health care facilities into one common wide area network. To read article click here.
Written
by: Kurt Hahn
As an active participant in the recent debate on National Health Care Reform I believe there were a large number of missed opportunities. To read article click here.
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